More than 15% of the Melbourne international comedy festival’s shows have been hit by Covid-related cancellations, prompting some independent artists to urge the state government to boost its arts funding ahead of next month’s state budget.
Despite the festival helping boost pedestrian traffic in the CBD to pre-pandemic levels, 17% of the 505 scheduled shows were forced to cancel some performances due to Covid or isolation as a close contact.
Throughout the festival, which ends on Sunday, 5% of individual performances were cancelled due to Covid.
The Gold Coast-based performer Clara Cupcakes travelled to Melbourne for the festival but was only able to perform eight of her 14 scheduled performances after she caught the virus.
“It halved my income and while I was able to get the pandemic disaster income, it really doesn’t touch what could have been my potential earnings,” she said.
She urged the state government to consider an add-on arts payment that would support performers.
“There needs to be some acknowledgement of the gig economy because the sector generates so much money for the economy and people take a huge gamble to put on entertainment for people.”
The Melbourne-based comedian Sashi Perera was forced to cancel half of her 12 scheduled performances after her performing partner caught the virus.
“There are so many fixed costs because you’re still paying for the venue for two weeks even though you’re just using it for one week. We’ll be lucky to break even,” she said.
“There’s not just the financial implications but you also lose out on word of mouth opportunities to spread around and you’re not eligible for awards, plus you miss out on review opportunities.”
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Simone Pulga, the director of Melbourne venue The Butterfly Club, said the financial impact of cancelled shows for him was minimal compared to artists. The Butterly Club is an independent or satellite venue, meaning it is not managed by the festival.
“The real losers here are the artists. As a venue, we are in the privileged position where we can reschedule slots. But there is an increased administrative cost,” he said.
“For the artist who works to put something on and then loses shows, it’s catastrophic. Because it’s seasonal, cancellations can be career-defyingly bad. The human impact for the artist is huge.”
Of the 250 performances scheduled at the venue, 39 – or 15% of the original program – were cancelled due to Covid. But Pulga said the venue was often able to find other performers to fill the cancelled slots.
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In December, the Andrews government launched Australia’s first Covid event insurance scheme as a 12-month pilot program for creative, sporting and business events with costs between $20,000 and $10m. Designed to give certainty for event organisers, it provides a 100% payout if a cancellation occurs due to a state or commonwealth public health order such as a lockdown.
Pulga said the state’s event insurance scheme was “useless” in these circumstances because it did not cover artists for when they got Covid.
“The fact it only covers for lockdowns at the same time the state government says there will be no more lockdowns means it fails in these situations,” he said.
Evelyn Richardson, the chief executive of Live Performance Australia, said the arts sector was undergoing a “messy transition” as Covid restrictions were relaxed.
“We’re not sure what will come our way and history tells us we always have to prepare and have contingency plans,” she said.
A Victorian government spokesperson said the state had invested more than $1bn throughout the pandemic to support performers, practitioners and arts businesses.
“We understand the frustration of cancelled shows. The best way to guard against infection is by getting vaccinated, but the reality is sometimes that won’t be enough.”
Susan Provan, the Melbourne international comedy festival director, said it was working with government to determine what support would be needed in the future.
“The government support we’ve received this year has assisted us with significant digital marketing campaigns to build audience confidence and visitation, encouraging people out and back to live events,” she said.
The Melbourne lord mayor, Sally Capp, said the festival had boosted foot traffic in the Melbourne CBD to above pre-pandemic levels on the weekend and between 80-95% of the benchmark on weekdays.
“The city is absolutely buzzing, with laughter and cheer spilling out of the festival venues and into our streets, shops, restaurants and bars,” she said.
Capp said the festival’s success had given Melburnians the confidence that the city was “open for good”.
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