NSW gov announces $43m ‘Event Saver Fund’

The New South Wales (NSW) government has established a AUS$43 million support fund to boost the confidence of event organisers.

The Event Saver Fund will cover major events, taking place between Wednesday 15 December 2021 and Saturday 31 December 2022, that are “cancelled or significantly disrupted” by Covid-19 public health orders.

Only one claim can be made per eligible event and the maximum amount that can be paid per eligible event is $10m, according to the guidelines. Exceptions for the latter may be made for not-for-profit organisations at the sole discretion of the minister for the arts.

According to the guidelines, the financial support provided by Event Saver is intended to “contribute towards eligible
unrecoverable costs incurred by organisers of affected events; it is not intended to compensate event organisers for loss of revenue or loss of profit”.

The Event Saver fund, first announced in October 2021, comes after the Victorian state government launched an interruption insurance scheme for music festivals last November.

“It will go a long way to providing improved confidence for major festivals and events scheduled for 2022”

“Today’s announcement of an Event Saver Fund for major events has come just in time for organisers impacted by recent restrictions due to the current Omicron wave in NSW,” says Australian Festivals Association (AFA) MD Julia Robinson.

“It will go a long way to providing improved confidence for major festivals and events scheduled for 2022 and help relieve the financial burdens associated with cancellations.”

However, Byron Bay Bluesfest (pictured) promoter Peter Noble told The Music News that an insurance safety net is also needed to cover any shortfall.

The Australian festival industry has been calling for a nationwide insurance scheme for more than 18 months.

“Australia now lags behind New Zealand, the UK, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Estonia in delivering a solution to this issue,” reads a recent statement by united live music and entertainment industry bodies including Live Performance Australia.

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