Tasmania puts great emphasis on its festivals – there are many, of all shapes and sizes, and seemingly growing by the month. Big dollar earners, good coverage material for the media. Tassie, the Festival State.
Yet in the welter of happy news presentation there are problems faced by festival organisers when it comes to having suitable bases where they can plan for their big events. I cite the case of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival (AWBF for short) which has become such an important annual attraction on Hobart’s waterfront and backed by State Government funding.
The festival has a rental office in the Salamanca Arts Centre, but there are problems – the office has no parking provided. And the office is on the top floor with many narrow steps. It’s also dusty, dirty and cold and when it comes to volunteers trying to find parking they have to pay (if they can find a space).
When the festival is looming it’s even tougher making deliveries and moving material to the festival site. So the AWBF has given its support to the idea of using space at South Hobart’s old State School. To borrow from the real estate mantra – it is “location, location”. A spacious, solid building, handy to the city, plenty of parking. I know the AWBF would be more than happy to pay an affordable rental for space there (as would others).
Festival manager Rob McGuire, in searching for a suitable replacement office site, said he became aware that many festivals were often “in the same boat” as the AWBF: “More particularly many events and festivals have a need for lots of extra space as it gets closer to their event and less space for the rest of the year – but tend to rent the space needed to meet maximum capacity. Similarly many festivals and events have the need for meeting space, storage space, telephones, photocopiers, computers, admin support and a host of other needs. I have no doubt that much of the funds provided by the Tasmanian Government to various festivals and events are used on the above items.”
A pertinent observation – have our Government’s fiscal number crunchers in Treasury bothered to examine this aspect?
Rob McGuire sees “a real need for a centralised space that could be shared by many festivals and events and other community organisations with the end result being more funds available to be spent on the actual festivals and events than is currently the case – as many facilities and equipment could be shared. The Adult Education Centre at South Hobart would be ideal for some of these organisations.”
He advances a rational case for the recycling of the old State School/Adult Education Centre as a community asset. It seems to fit the bill. But is the Government listening? Let not festivals founder on the shores of intransigence.
