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Canberra Today 14°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Barr won’t stop the music


Tourism Minister Andrew Barr.

The ‘Enlighten’ festival’s debut came at a shock loss but, as FREYLA FERGUSON, discovers it hasn’t dampened the Tourism Minister’s enthusiasm

CANBERRA’S contentious autumn festival “Enlighten” will receive a face lift next year with a greater co-operation with cultural institutions and the inclusion of night markets and comedy and cabaret stages.

Minister for Tourism Andrew Barr said the key features – lighting of national institutions and night time activities – will remain, but “Enlighten’s” relationship with the cultural institutions will expand.

“Event organisers are always looking at ways to improve,” Barr said.

“One of the challenges in the first year was the distance between the national institutions that were lit up with the electric canvas lighting.

“Getting people around the venue was challenging, so we’ve looked at the institutions that are between the institutions that participated in 2011.”

Barr said organisers will not only look at attracting big-name international acts, but a broader range of entertainment.

“In 2012 and beyond, we are looking at comedy stages, cabaret, a variety of different entertainment forms,” he said.

“We are looking at a combination of lighting and night-time markets.

“There will still be entertainment, but it won’t necessarily be locked down into one concert hub.

“It will be inter-dispersed throughout the precinct and there won’t be focus on one international artist each night it will be dispersed among a range of different artists.”

The autumn event, was one of Barr’s 2008 election promises and was to attract crowds of the same scale of Floriade to ensure tourism operators were supported all year round.
The ACT Government has committed $5.3m over four years for the project.

However, its first year attracted more attention as a financial flop.

The four-day event, which included architectural lighting effects and concerts by international acts Frankie Valli, George Benson, INXS and Chris Isaac, is reported to have lost $2.4m of taxpayers’ money.

According to the event report released by Australian Capital Tourism, “Enlighten” attracted 8678 people – the figure included multiple visits, complimentary, promotion and VIP tickets – but the main venue had the potential of attracting a total of 24,000.

Shadow Minister for Tourism Brendan Smith said it appears the Government still has no idea on what the ACT needs to draw people to Canberra.

“The Government promised a significant event, not a concert program,” he said.

“Neither the community or the tourism industry want an autumn event. Running another event in an already full autumn calendar doesn’t get results.”

He said the ACT Liberals would be announcing their own policies on an event to attract tourists in the ACT’s slowest months for tourists – January and July.

“We do recognise there are lessons to be learnt,” Barr said.

“The normal period for an event to reach maturity is five years.

“The point I want to make is that we are not looking to make money for the Government out of the event.

“Very rarely does the Government ever really break even on the staging of these events, but they do deliver two things – firstly an economic boost to the Territory and secondly a social benefit.

“So those two imperatives is what striving the guide to continue our support for ‘Enlighten’.

“Our focus over the long term it to build up that autumn period to rival the spring period in terms of the tourism intake into the ACT.”

“Enlighten” 2012 will run March 2, 3, 9 and 10 and the entertainment line-up will be announced at the end of this year’s Floriade in October.

 

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