Photographer Rodney Nicholson and long term volunteers Greg Parry and Dennis Farrugia were presented with Life Memberships at last month's Queenscliff Music Festival AGM, while former chair Lisa Meyer (centre) was recognised as the first ever QMF Life Governor - Pictured with Jai Nicholson (front left) and QMF Director Andrew Orvis (right)
The Queenscliff Music Festival is in its healthiest financial position ever, after posting an impressive $112,000 profit from last year's event.
The outcome has boosted the organisation’s bank balance to almost $500,000 – enough to withstand two poor years, according to Director Andrew Orvis.
The figures, revealed at the recent Annual General Meeting, mark a striking turnaround for the event, which this year celebrates it’s 20th year.
“The profit is down on last year, but up on our what we budgeted for and is still a fantastic result. It also went against a long trend of profit, loss, profit, loss etcetera,”said Mr Orvis. “To finally get two good financial results in a row is a big help for the future of QMF.
“We’re certainly in a better financial position than we’ve been, but it was only two years ago we were at serious risk after a $236,000 loss that severely depleted our reserves. Of course we don’t plan for the bad ones, but our history tells us they can happen, so we need to be conservative in our approach.
More than 14,300 patrons attended the 2015 fest, slightly down on the previous year. Sunday was again a sell-out.
Most of the tickets were purchased ahead of the event.
The organisation’s key aim was to encourage festival goers to buy into a full weekend “Queenscliff experience,” Mr Orvis told the AGM.
However it continues to be challenged by competition from other events and a critical lack of storage space, preventing it from investing in its own infrastructure.
“As festivals like Port Fairy and Meredith and others have done over the years, we need to push to have people buying their ticket for the Queenscliff experience, not just for a few good headline bands but for the experience as a whole. I think we’re nearly there and our Early Bird tickets this year are about three percent up on the same time last year so I think that’s proof that people are trusting what we do and know what we’re about,” he said.
“We continue to lead the way as a contemporary music festival that is family friendly, which is very important to us, with a diverse and exciting program. We pride ourselves on discovering artists that many in turn our audiences discover at the festival as well.
“As we move forward over the next 20 years it’s important that we remember where we came from and what we’re all about. I’m a huge fan of promoting the idea that the biggest seller for QMF is Queenscliff, it’s what makes us unique.
“No matter how good a program I could put together each year, the main thing that will get people coming back to QMF is our town and our community.”
“In 20 years time when we celebrate our 40th, I’d really love to think that we’re still striving for the same three key things, excellence, discovery and community spirit, which we were striving for in 1987.”
The outcome has boosted the organisation’s bank balance to almost $500,000 – enough to withstand two poor years, according to Director Andrew Orvis.
The figures, revealed at the recent Annual General Meeting, mark a striking turnaround for the event, which this year celebrates it’s 20th year.
“The profit is down on last year, but up on our what we budgeted for and is still a fantastic result. It also went against a long trend of profit, loss, profit, loss etcetera,”said Mr Orvis. “To finally get two good financial results in a row is a big help for the future of QMF.
“We’re certainly in a better financial position than we’ve been, but it was only two years ago we were at serious risk after a $236,000 loss that severely depleted our reserves. Of course we don’t plan for the bad ones, but our history tells us they can happen, so we need to be conservative in our approach.
More than 14,300 patrons attended the 2015 fest, slightly down on the previous year. Sunday was again a sell-out.
Most of the tickets were purchased ahead of the event.
The organisation’s key aim was to encourage festival goers to buy into a full weekend “Queenscliff experience,” Mr Orvis told the AGM.
However it continues to be challenged by competition from other events and a critical lack of storage space, preventing it from investing in its own infrastructure.
“As festivals like Port Fairy and Meredith and others have done over the years, we need to push to have people buying their ticket for the Queenscliff experience, not just for a few good headline bands but for the experience as a whole. I think we’re nearly there and our Early Bird tickets this year are about three percent up on the same time last year so I think that’s proof that people are trusting what we do and know what we’re about,” he said.
“We continue to lead the way as a contemporary music festival that is family friendly, which is very important to us, with a diverse and exciting program. We pride ourselves on discovering artists that many in turn our audiences discover at the festival as well.
“As we move forward over the next 20 years it’s important that we remember where we came from and what we’re all about. I’m a huge fan of promoting the idea that the biggest seller for QMF is Queenscliff, it’s what makes us unique.
“No matter how good a program I could put together each year, the main thing that will get people coming back to QMF is our town and our community.”
“In 20 years time when we celebrate our 40th, I’d really love to think that we’re still striving for the same three key things, excellence, discovery and community spirit, which we were striving for in 1987.”