Through Arts Queensland’s Organisations Fund, a new music festival stream is offering funding of a minimum of $100,000 per year for four years to multi-day, not-for-profit music festivals and not-for-profit organisations which run multi-day music festivals.
“Our investment will ensure Queensland’s arts and cultural festivals provide access to high quality arts experiences, platform local artists and stories, and work to supercharge tourism outcomes across the state,” said the state’s arts minister, John-Paul Langbroek.
“Ensuring we have a calendar of world-class festivals and events will boost the state’s reputation as a key cultural destination and deliver on the Crisafulli Government’s commitment to Destination 2045, and the development of Queensland’s 20-year tourism plan.”
The January 30 announcement of the funding came in the same month that both Splendour in the Grass and Groovin the Moo announced that they would not hold their music festivals in 2025. Both festivals also cancelled their 2024 iterations at short notice.
Splendour in the Grass has even been removed from the website of its parent company, Secret Sounds, although the event’s cancellation statement suggested the event will be back at some point.
“Think of it as a breather so we can come back even bigger and better when the time is right,” said the social media statement from Splendour in the Grass.
“Lots of other huge events on the horizon so keep an ear to the ground in the coming months – we can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on!”
Meanwhile, Groovin the Moo organisers said they were working “on finding the most sustainable model” for their touring regional festival.
While Queensland’s new fund won’t be able to assist the likes of Splendour as it is based outside of Queensland, perhaps it might inspire other states to follow its lead in lending a hand to music festivals, which are clearly still struggling.
Events like music festivals also help raise the profile of the event industry in general as a potential career path for young people.
