COVID-19 in WA: Director paid $18 for three nights’ work at Fringe Festival, calls for more Government support

A theatre producer has walked away with just $18 after three nights’ work at Perth’s Fringe World Festival, after her door takings were wiped out by COVID restrictions. Sally Newman said government support packages directed at helping the events industry limp through capacity limits weren’t trickling down to artists. Most of the funding is directed at event organisers and venues, with artists often missing out on COVID compensation. Ms Newman, owner of creative company Lyrical Infusion, said after spending more than 100 hours writing, rehearsing, casting and producing over three nights, she had little to show for it. Despite the show raking in $7010.50 through Box Office sales, she had to pay $1407.50 in booking fees. She said the organisation “doubled-dipped” by also charging customers a booking fee and called for a review into whether the process was “ethical”. “Booking fees are added to the purchase price when patrons buy tickets, Fringe then charges another more significant fee to producers as well,” Ms Newman told The West Australian. She was then slugged with a venue management fee of $1792.96 and a further $399.25 in “fees and variations after management fees”. That process left Ms Newman with 3410.79 - $3100 which went to staff pay checks and a couple of hundred on promo posters and licensing. Ms Newman believes there should be more financial support offered by the Government and said she had not been eligible for any grants. “The actual money is not passed on to performers,” she said. She said the Fringe Fund - which uses donations to support artists - also only applied to cancelled shows, not shows impacted by capacity limits or vaccine mandates. Ms Newman said she had an upcoming short film debuting at a small theatre, but the venue had not cut her costs after the McGowan Government introduced a 50 per cent capacity limit. Cinemas are eligible to apply for the assistance - even if they don’t lower fees for people using the venues. Ms Newman said this example showed how many artists were hard-done by - especially during COVID. Her pleas for more Government support come on the back of author Tim Winton’s concerns over the arts industries’ reliance on sponsorships from big mining companies. Arts Minister David Templeman passed questions on to his department, which said the Getting the Show Back on the Road funding would support “a percentage” of box office loss due to COVID-19. The department spokesperson said the funding “provides some certainty” to producers and presenters by sharing the risk in undertaking activities with the current COVID environment.

COVID-19 in WA: Director paid $18 for three nights’ work at Fringe Festival, calls for more Government support

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