Fur flies over Darwin Festival bookings

The Northern Territory Arts Minister Gary Higgins has blasted the Darwin Festival (August 4 to 21) for booking expensive names like Peter Garrett (pictured) and his solo band over local acts when the event looked like losing $400,000 this year.

“Is that a responsible step to take?" he said. He was also unimpressed that the staff of four had been increased to 10 – but festival organisers insist they were necessary to stage the event over 18 days.

Higgins, who’s already put the boot into festival management ("The skills are lacking there, they haven’t been able to cut their expenses"), said he is seriously thinking about dismissing the board and putting the festival into administration. In May, auditors Deloitte were called in after the 2015 event lost $350,000 (its report "was not very complimentary") and the Government was asked to put more money in. He warned that grants for NT acts might have to be diverted to put an additional $94,000 into the festival.

Other music artists announced for the 2016 program include Sarah Blasko, Narbalek, B2M and Yalana Alana.

Organisers explain that the deficit was caused by a drop in sponsorship and rise in production costs.

In a statement, they responded, “Darwin Festival has won its reputation in the Darwin community by bringing together a mix of local, interstate and international artists and events annually. We are bewildered by the statements from Arts Minister Gary Higgins today that the festival should only feature local acts in the future, with the Minister questioning why the festival would bring in an interstate artist like Peter Garrett this year.

“Darwin Festival is tasked by the NT Government to bring in acts from the region through annual Asian engagement funding with NT Major Events initiative FestivalsNT.”