St Kilda Festival Review

The St Kilda Festival Review Report – Final | CONFIDENTIAL 1

The St Kilda Festival Review Report – FINAL Prepared by Cultural Value for the City of Port Phillip January 2010


Disclaimer

This report has been prepared by Cultural Value for the City of Port Phillip and is intended for their use. The information contained in this document is given in good faith and has been derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. The document is provided solely for informational purposes. No warranty as to accuracy or completeness of this information is given and no responsibility (direct or indirect) is accepted by Cultural Value for any loss or damage arising from reliance on the information provided. Opinions and information are subject to change without notice.

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The St Kilda Festival Review Report – FINALPrepared by Cultural Value for the City of Port Phillip January 2010


CONTENTS FIGURES & TABLES ................................................................................................................................. 5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................... 6

RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 10

1. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................. 13

1.1 Project Origin and Purpose .................................................................................................. 13

1.2 Project Scope ....................................................................................................................... 13

1.3 Project Context .................................................................................................................... 13

1.4 Project Constraints .............................................................................................................. 14

1.5 Project Methodology ........................................................................................................... 14

2. POLICY CONTEXT ............................................................................................................................. 17

2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 17

2.2 Explicit Policy Alignment ..................................................................................................... 17

2.3 Alignment Opportunities ..................................................................................................... 19

2.4 Policy and Strategy Gaps ..................................................................................................... 20

3. ST KILDA FESTIVAL ........................................................................................................................... 24

IMPACT ASSESSMENT .......................................................................................................................... 24

3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 24

3.2 Community Strengthening .................................................................................................. 25

3.3 Host Community Impacts .................................................................................................... 30

3.4 Community Behaviour ......................................................................................................... 40

3.5 Cultural Programming Impacts ............................................................................................ 47

3.6 Economic Impacts ................................................................................................................ 56

3.7 Indirect Cost Impacts ........................................................................................................... 63

3.8 Environmental Impacts ........................................................................................................ 66

4. SUSTAINABILITY ............................................................................................................................... 72

4.1 Definition ............................................................................................................................. 72

4.2 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 72

4.3 Sustainability Assessment ................................................................................................... 72

5. ST KILDA’S IMAGE & THE FESTIVAL ................................................................................................. 76

5.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 76

5.2 Media Perception and Publicity .......................................................................................... 76

5.3 General Perceptions ............................................................................................................ 77

6. RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................................................... 81

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................ 84

APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................................... 87

APPENDIX ONE: Key Findings Links to the Recommendations ....................................................... 88

APPENDIX TWO: Stakeholders Consulted ....................................................................................... 92

APPENDIX THREE: St Kilda Festival – An Overview .......................................................................... 94

APPENDIX FOUR: St Kilda Festival – Precinct Areas Map ................................................................ 97

APPENDIX FIVE: Benchmarking ‐ Festivals and Events .................................................................... 98

APPENDIX SIX: Website Forum Report .......................................................................................... 108

APPENDIX SEVEN: Event Calendar – October to March 2009‐2010.............................................. 112


FIGURES & TABLES Figure One: Existing Policy Alignment ................................................................................................. 17

Figure Two: Overview of Alignment .................................................................................................... 18

Figure Three: Council Plan alignment opportunities ........................................................................... 19

Table One: St Kilda Festival Positive and Negative Impacts – Key Themes ......................................... 25

Table Two: CoPP Market Research analysis ........................................................................................ 26

Figure Four: Age: CoPP and Festival Comparison ................................................................................ 27

Figure Five: Income: CoPP and Festival Comparison........................................................................... 28

Table Four: Festival Sunday Attendees by Residence ......................................................................... 33

Figure Six: Complaints breakdown 2009 ............................................................................................. 34

Figure Seven: Festival Sunday attendance numbers ........................................................................... 47

Figure Eight: Programming and Production budget comparison ........................................................ 54

Table Five: 2003 In‐scope expenditure and economic impact of the St Kilda Festival for Metropolitan Melbourne ($M) ............................................................................ 58

Table Six: 2009 Direct in‐scope expenditure and total in‐scope expenditure of the St Kilda Festival for the Region and State ($M) ................................................................................... 59

Table Seven: Festival Funding Sources 2009 ....................................................................................... 60


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The St Kilda Festival represents a unique and differentiated festival model with no near equivalents

in Australia. It contributes to the civic identity and cultural life of St Kilda and Melbourne, delivering

successfully on many of the Council’s broad strategic objectives. While the Festival’s impacts on its

host community are significant, at no stage during the Review did it become apparent that the

Festival’s negative impacts had outweighed the overall community benefits. The challenge for the

Festival moving forward will be to continue to deliver tangible benefits to the host community,

minimise negative local impacts and enhance its programmatic model so that it is engaging for

participants.

POLICY

The City of Port Phillip has created an event that delivers on many of the strategic objectives of

Council, as identified in the Council Plan 2009‐2013. As a major event that engages widely with the

local community, it also has the capacity to deliver on greater policy objectives, particularly the

Council’s goals regarding the engagement of young people, cultural vitality in the region, and

environmental sustainability.

To secure the Festival’s continued ability to meet Council objectives effectively, decisions regarding

its future direction need to be considered strategically. The introduction of a multi‐year funding

arrangement is viewed as a priority recommendation as it is critical to enabling the Festival to

effectively plan longer‐term programmatic aspirations and operational needs. The security of multi‐

year funding should also enable the Festival to diversify its income sources by leveraging new

partnership funding.

The Review has also identified policy inconsistencies that need to be addressed. The Festivals

Framework (2003) makes a number of statements that appear to be in conflict with the current

status of the Festival’s funding while the existing Events Policy (Draft 2009) does not consider

internally produced events. Rectifying these issues will improve the coherence and transparency of

the funding and operating environment in which the Festival exists.

There are a number of complexities that arise in the delivery of a major festival within a local

government portfolio. A gap has been observed in the existing strategic documentation to support

communications and planning between the Festival and the Council. A Development Strategy is an

effective way to provide an overview of the strategic direction of the Festival in a manner that

informs decision‐making and sets out program and delivery implications for Council.

COMMUNITY IMPACT

As a major event, Festival Sunday impacts on the host community in both positive and negative

ways. The positive impacts extend to community strengthening through active and passive

participation, constructive engagement of young people, stimulating the local economy, creation of

artistic development opportunities and showcasing of the local area. The negative impacts are

primarily related to resident amenity issues, in particular excessive noise and antisocial behaviour of

participants in addition to more general concerns about the event’s size, its artistic policies and

current programmatic model.

To better understand the community impact of the Festival moving forward, the collection and

analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data is important. In the past, there has been little

consistency with regards to the type and frequency of data collated. Market research, attendance

surveys and economic impact surveys has been undertaken on an ad hoc basis when funding is

available. In order to better understand community impacts it is crucial that a minimum level of


research is undertaken and adequately funded. Baseline reporting requirements also need to be

established with emergency service partners to enable more effective incident management

analysis post event.

Programmatically, the St Kilda Festival offers multiple entry points for participation by the local

community and statistical evidence suggests that local attendances and active participation are at

healthy levels. The ongoing development of local engagement strategies is critical to the Festival’s

future to ensure the retention of local identity and local support for the event. The Review has

found that there is an opportunity to strengthen the local component of the ancillary events

program on Festival Sunday. This could be achieved through multiple mechanisms but additional

funding support for local cultural partnerships, in particular, the development of an annual

Community Cultural Development project, is considered an optimal approach.

Though statistically minor, negative behaviours related to excessive alcohol consumption are real

challenges for the Festival while also representing realities that are already present in St Kilda (and

in the broader community). The Council has implemented numerous strategies to curb alcohol

consumption on Festival Sunday over the last 10 years but there are still some ‘grey areas’. The fact

that alcohol can currently be purchased at take‐away liquor outlets within the Festival precinct but

not consumed, appears to send contradictory messages to Festival participants and makes the

enforcement of an alcohol free zone fraught.

The efficacy of the Council’s strategy to directly manage the sale of alcohol within the Festival

precinct (through the operation of a number of bars) appears to have been a positive one. There is

merit in exploring the feasibility of the expansion of this strategy. There is a need, however, to

ensure that any further development of this strategy is effectively managed and does not simply

create more avenues for people to consume alcohol. An opportunity exists to develop the in‐house

bar concept through partnerships that reposition these areas as ‘cultural experience zones’ that

provide broad entertainment offerings.

The Review identified that the Festival’s event management team is highly regarded and has

worked consistently to minimise the impacts of the event on the host community. A significant

effort has made to improve sound attenuation issues, which was identified as one of the major

impacts to local amenity. The Review also identified local amenity concerns regarding traffic

management on Festival Sunday which does impact on host community access and egress on the

day. A feasibility assessment of the merit of extending road closures on Festival Sunday should be

undertaken to determine whether this is a beneficial strategy for reducing resident impact.

The Review has also found amenity issues related to a general concern by residents (and non‐

residents) that the number of public toilets was inadequate on Festival Sunday. The inference from

residents is that this impacts on local amenity by encouraging incidences of public urination on

private property. While this view cannot be supported by direct causal evidence, the provision of

adequate toilet facilities and directional signage is an issue that requires close monitoring by the

Festival’s event managers in 2010.

SUSTAINABILITY

While the Review has found that there is still strong community support for the Festival overall, a

number of concerns need ongoing management to ensure this support remains steadfast. Funding

levels and the clarity of intent of the overall Festival program are foremost issues to address. The

Review has identified historic underinvestment in programming and a commensurate undervaluing

of the contribution of Festival presenters with adequate remuneration.


The Council needs to remain aware of the risk of normalising a culture of purchasing artistic services

for lower‐than‐market‐accepted prices and in turn devaluing content while over‐capitalising on the

goodwill surrounding the programming of the Festival.

Supporting increased levels of programming investment, concurrent with the opportunity to

enhance the artistic policy is considered a positive step in ensuring the St Kilda Festival’s continued

longevity and appeal. There is a danger that a broad programmatic offering that is untargeted, will

lead to audience confusion, generic programming outcomes and host community disengagement.

Building and maintaining a sustainable programming model supported by an artistic policy is pivotal

to the Festival’s business development. However, any changes to the current programmatic model

need to be considered holistically, and review all existing program delivery including Festival

Sunday, Yalukit Wilam Ngargee and Live N Local.

The enhancement of the existing programmatic model will benefit from funding to support the

engagement of independent arts and cultural advice to assist the Festival producer in any

programmatic changes. As part of a longer‐term strategy, additional support should be provided to

the Festival Producer and program delivery team through the establishment of a fixed term panel of

industry peers to provide guiding advice on contemporary programming matters and issues.

Beyond programming, the Review has identified a number of opportunities to provide funding and

support to optimise the value of Festival staff skills and ensure the sustainability of the Festival in

the years ahead. An assessment of the existing capacity of the Festival team to effectively source,

develop and service relationships with major sponsors, build a volunteer program and offer

mentorship and training opportunities needs to be undertaken. Any financial investment in these

areas should be made on the basis of clearly established need and benefit to the Festival’s

development and longevity.

While the Festival has made some significant inroads in its ambition to demonstrate

environmentally sustainable practice, the Review identified that Council has not supported ongoing

funding in this area. An opportunity exists to redirect the sizeable revenue received from parking

infringement notices issued on Festival Sunday toward environmentally sustainability initiatives. In

the first instance, this funding could be used to support the reestablishment of the Festival’s

partnership with Sustainability Infrastructure Victoria.

ST KILDA’S IMAGE

As a highly visible, long running event that holds memories for many people, the St Kilda Festival is

squarely positioned to attract criticism and praise that is sometimes entwined with opinions held

about the local area more broadly. For some in the host community, Festival Sunday may represent

wider concerns about increasing commercialisation, unchecked growth and loss of local identity. To

others, including those outside the host community, Festival Sunday encourages their sense of

connectedness to the area and supports their firm belief that St Kilda belongs to everyone, not just

to those who call it home, or work in the area now.

These opinions may represent the extreme polarity of views, however, they need to be borne in

mind when making decisions about the St Kilda Festival’s own development. While a possible point

of tension, as a celebration of culture the St Kilda Festival presents an opportunity to simultaneously

acknowledge this convergence of views and to act as a catalyst for increased harmonisation

between them.


The Review has found that the allocation of resources toward marketing and communications could

improve the Festival’s ability to clearly demonstrate on its significant ability to deliver on Council’s

strategic objectives, particularly its successful engagement of young people. The St Kilda Festival has

the opportunity to build on its positive profile within the community and celebrate its success as a

free, bayside, outdoor community‐anchored cultural festival.


RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendations build on the key findings and take into consideration all of the

information received during the review process (a matrix that illustrates the linkages between the

key findings and the recommendations is at Appendix One). The recommendations detail specific

actions that will assist the Council to deliver on its strategic objectives and support the sustainability

of the St Kilda Festival beyond 2010. To ensure a strategic implementation process is undertaken,

the Council is encouraged to work closely with the Festival team to determine a priority level and

the timeline for action it assigns each recommendation.

1. Establish a long‐term commitment to the St Kilda Festival by introducing a multi‐year funding arrangement that will enable the Festival to plan strategically, improve its ability to leverage diversified income sources and to deliver against Council’s broader objectives.

2. Review the purpose and applicability of the Council’s Festivals Framework (2003) to the St Kilda Festival moving forward.

3. Develop a new (or amend the existing) Events Policy to ensure that there is improved transparency regarding the St Kilda Festival to the local community and other stakeholders.

4. Improve strategic decision‐making by providing resources to support the creation of a Development Strategy that will aid communications, planning and policy implementation between the Festival and Council. This should become part of the annual planning cycle and inform Council’s budget process.

5. Enhance the value of current research and reporting activity related to the St Kilda Festival (including Festival Sunday) by:

i. establishing consistent methodology and frequency of research to enable comparison from year to year. The following frequency is recommended as a minimum:

a. Festival Sunday attendance surveys – annual b. Live N Local attendance survey – annual c. market research surveys (residents/traders) – every three years d. economic impact analysis – every three years

ii. incorporating additional questions into future research:

a. attendance surveys (country of origin and/or ethnicity of Festival Sunday participants)

b. market research surveys:

reasons for traders not opening on Festival Sunday

level of benefit from traders who do open on Festival Sunday

(to non Festival Sunday attendees) programming that is likely to encourage resident participation

iii. establishing baseline reporting requirements with emergency services partners to enable meaningful comparison of public safety related data from year to year.

6. Provide additional funding to support the local component of the ancillary events program on Festival Sunday. This should include the opportunity to explore partnerships with local cultural organisations and the development of an annual Community Cultural Development project.


7. Undertake a feasibility analysis regarding the Council’s overall alcohol management strategies for the St Kilda Festival to:

a. establish the viability and effectiveness of closing take‐away liquor outlets within the precinct on Festival Sunday, in consultation with Liquor Licensing Victoria and other key partners

b. expand the number and area of the existing Council‐operated bars in the Festival precinct as an effective community behaviour control measure

c. assess the opportunity to develop partnerships to reposition existing Council‐operated bars as ‘cultural experience’ zones that provide broad entertainment and cultural offerings including comedy, live music, video art etc.

8. Monitor and review the adequacy of public amenities during Festival Sunday in 2010. Provide funding for additional temporary public conveniences and improved directional signage to public amenities where deemed necessary.

9. Consider the feasibility and benefit of extending road closures on Festival Sunday from 2011 to reduce impact on local residents and promote public transport usage.

10. Build on and secure the ongoing sustainability of the arts and cultural program of the St Kilda Festival by:

a. addressing immediate funding programming shortfalls, including Live N Local, and providing a longer‐term investment strategy to support the implementation of the Festival’s programmatic policy

b. allocate once off funding to engage independent arts and cultural advice to support and work with the Festival Producer to develop a programmatic policy or framework

c. as a longer term strategy, support the Festival Producer and program delivery team through the establishment of a fixed term panel of industry peers to provide guiding advice on contemporary programming matters and issues.

11. Assess the Festival team’s existing capacity to undertake the following activities and prioritise investment of additional resources where needed to ensure the sustainability and relevance of the Festival in the years ahead:

a. source, develop and service relationships with major sponsors

b. build, recruit and manage a volunteer program in the mid to long term

c. develop mentoring programs to support participants through the Call for Events and Call for Entries programs

d. share event management expertise, through the development of case studies, training or mentoring initiatives with other Local Government Authorities, festival associations and event organisers.

12. Redirect equivalent revenue from parking infringement notices on Festival Sunday towards the delivery of the Festival’s environmental targets. These may include continuation of the partnership with Sustainability Infrastructure Australia (or equivalent partner), improved marketing of sustainable transport options to Festival Sunday, increased pre‐event maintenance of green spaces and sound attenuation.

13. Provide appropriate resources for marketing and communications to ensure the St Kilda Festival can improve its capacity to:

a. demonstrate clarity in its delivery of Council’s strategic policy objectives, particularly the Festival’s successful engagement of young people

b. build on its positive profile within the community

c. celebrate its success as a free, bayside, outdoor community‐anchored cultural festival.


Section 01 ST KILDA FESTIVAL BACKGROUND


1. BACKGROUND This section provides background information on the St Kilda Festival Review, identifies the project

scope and constraints.

1.1 PROJECT ORIGIN AND PURPOSE

The City of Port Phillip Council Plan 2009–2013 identifies the St Kilda Festival Review as one of the

actions to be undertaken as part of strategic objective 3.2: ‘Creative, active and culturally diverse

life’. In June 2009, a proposal to review the St Kilda Festival (the ‘Festival’) was tabled at the

Strategy and Policy Review Committee meeting. The proposal outlined that 2010 was a milestone

year for the Festival as it celebrates its thirtieth anniversary and its two major sponsorship deals

arrangements enter their final year.

The proposal noted that while the Festival can be seen as a highly successful event it also presents

some challenges in terms of its impact on the local area. The review was seen as a timely response

to reassess the public value of the St Kilda Festival, its impact on the local community and the

sustainability of the event moving forward.

1.2 PROJECT SCOPE

In June 2009, the City of Port Phillip Council (the ’Council’) formally approved the scope of the St Kilda Festival Review. The Consultant Brief identified the core questions that define the project scope for the St Kilda Festival Review as:

Does the St Kilda Festival deliver on this Council’s strategic objectives and is it consistent with this Council’s policies?

Determine the net community impact and benefit, considering:

o What are the benefits and to whom do they accrue?

o What are the impacts and whom do they affect?

o Consider any indirect costs to the community

Is the St Kilda Festival sustainable when measured in terms of cultural, social, economic and environmental outcomes?

Consider the impact on the image of St Kilda.

1.3 PROJECT CONTEXT

The review of the St Kilda Festival was commissioned by the City of Port Phillip to inform the

direction of the Festival beyond 2010. Cultural Value was engaged to assist the Council to

understand the Festival’s capacity to deliver on strategic objectives, its impact on the host

community and to consider the sustainability of the event against cultural, social, economic and

environmental outcomes. To address the scope, Cultural Value employed methodology that

involved an extensive analysis of both qualitative and quantitative information including a range of

data analysis, benchmarking, consultation and documentation review.

The St Kilda Festival is wholly supported, managed and produced by the City of Port Phillip who is

the primary funder and underwriter for the event. Approaching its thirtieth anniversary and now a

fixture in Melbourne’s busy cultural event calendar, the Festival has changed significantly since its

inception in 1980, as has the local area. What began as a two‐day celebration of local culture

designed to help shift the public perception of St Kilda, has since become a week‐long event with

multiple programmatic offerings culminating in Australia’s largest ongoing outdoor cultural event.

2007 was a major turning point in the Festival’s history. Following its cancellation in 2006, the

Festival relaunched with a new major private sponsor and a significant investment from the


Victorian State government. It introduced two new programming initiatives, Live N Local and Yalukit

Wilam Ngargee and reemphasised its position as an event that offered ‘something for everyone’.

Now in the final year of these major sponsorship deals, the Festival has an opportunity to reflect on

the success of this strategy and how it might continue to develop in the years ahead.

Festival Sunday has been the main focus of this report as it is the largest component of the Festival,

averaging attendances of 300,000 people, and has the greatest impact on the host community. This

main day in particular represents a differentiated model in the festival landscape predominantly

due to its scale and its free, open access philosophy. It draws strong local participation and attracts

a large, demographically and socio‐economically diverse audience base from metropolitan

Melbourne. Festival Sunday’s programmatic focus is on live music, with an emphasis on providing

opportunities for emerging artists. It also provides multiple entry points for community participation

through an open program that includes varied activities.

1.4 PROJECT CONSTRAINTS

It should be noted that the project scope and methodology for the St Kilda Festival Review did not

include the following:

Yalukit Wilam Ngargee – the Indigenous celebration that opens the St Kilda Festival was outside the scope of this Review

Programming – while the report does consider the impact of programming, it does not make specific recommendations regarding artistic content which is out of the scope of the Review

Research – the report relies on the analysis of existing statistical data. No additional quantitative research was commissioned as part of the Review, however, extensive qualitative research was undertaken

Sponsors – the timing of the Review coincided with the negotiation of new sponsorship arrangements. Due to the nature of these negotiations, it was not possible to interview sponsors as part of the consultation process

Political Impacts – the Review scope did not consider political impacts that are associated with the Festival Review.

1.5 PROJECT METHODOLOGY

1.5.1 OVERVIEW OF METHODOLOGY

The Review was focused on four major tasks, each of which involved a range of data analyses,

benchmarking, consultation and documentation reviews:

An analysis of the St Kilda Festival’s alignment with existing Council policy and strategic objectives

A review of the negative and positive impacts of the Festival on the host community and its contribution to public value for the broader community

An assessment of key sustainability challenges facing the Festival beyond its thirtieth anniversary in 2010

The development of a number of recommendations to assist future strategic decision‐making.

During the course of the Review constructive working relationships were developed with the

Council, Festival team and key stakeholders, including the host community, to identify issues of

concern, current good practice and opportunities for development. There was an emphasis on

maintaining impartiality at all times to ensure quantitative and qualitative evidence was effectively

analysed to provide clear recommendations on the future of the Festival.


1.5.2 DATA COLLECTION

Information was gathered and analysed through a combination of quantitative and qualitative

research approaches, including:

market research (host community)

Festival Sunday attendance survey data

economic impact assessments

Council policy and strategy documentation analysis

Festival complaints data

Reference Group input

findings from group workshops

telephone and in‐person interview findings

data from an online forum

written submissions

review of literature related to event management.

1.5.3 CONSULTATION

A multi‐methodological consultation process was used to inform the St Kilda Festival Review. The

aim of the consultation was to canvas a diversity of views regarding the Festival from multiple

stakeholders through a variety of mechanisms to assist Council’s decision‐making regarding the

future of the Festival beyond 2010.

It is acknowledged that a major event of this nature will attract a continuum of views from the host

and broader community; as such, achieving a consensus view was not the objective of consultation.

The consultation included:

input from four Reference Group meetings

thirteen one‐to‐one interviews with key internal and external stakeholders;

four group workshops with Festival staff, (CoPP) staff, Festival presenter groups and Councillors

an open online forum that received 1,414 unique visitors, 212 comments and five email submissions

two additional email submissions received directly.

A list of organisations and individuals that contributed to this study is provided in Appendix Two. A

detailed overview of the Festival is at Appendix Three.


Section 02 POLICY CONTEXT Does the St Kilda Festival deliver on this Council’s strategic objectives and is it consistent with this Council’s policies?


2. POLICY CONTEXT This section explores the St Kilda Festival’s alignment with the Council’s key policy and strategy

documents and reviews whether the Festival delivers on the Council’s strategic objectives.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

There are three key policy and strategy documents that have been considered in this section:

COUNCIL PLAN 2009–2013

The CoPP released its Council Plan in July 2009. This document provides the overarching framework

for the delivery of the Council’s strategic objectives for this period. The Council Plan identifies four

strategic priority areas: engaging and governing the city, taking action on climate change,

strengthening our diverse and inclusive community, and enhancing liveability.

COMMUNITY PLAN 2007–2017

The Community Plan was developed following extensive consultation with the local community and

establishes a long‐term vision for the CoPP. The Community Plan identifies ten community priorities

for action, which also informed the development of the Council Plan.

CREATIVE FUTURES STRATEGY

The Creative Futures Strategy sets the direction for Council’s library, arts and festivals services. It

forms part of the Active and Creative Framework which includes the Sport and Recreation Strategy,

Youth Development Framework and Events Management Strategy.

There are a number of additional Council policy and strategy documents that have informed this

Review including: St Kilda Festival Business Plan 2011–2013, Festivals Framework 2003, Events

Policy 2009 (draft), Event Policy 2003, Event Strategy 2008, Open Space Strategy 2009, Port Phillip

Health and Wellbeing Plan 2007–2011, Tourism Strategy Plan 2007–2010, and the Waste Wise

Strategy 2006–2009.

2.2 EXPLICIT POLICY ALIGNMENT

The documentation review has reviewed the three key policy and strategy documents to identify

their explicit alignment with the St Kilda Festival. Explicit alignment in this instance refers to

instances where the Festival, or events generally, are noted as part of the delivery mechanism for

Council’s key strategic actions. An overview is provided in Figure One below.

Figure One: Existing Policy Alignment


The documentation analysis identified one strategic action in the Council Plan related to the St Kilda Festival – ‘Review the St Kilda Festival 2010 and beyond’. The Community Plan contained two references that were particularly pertinent to the Festival regarding event management impacts and ensuring broad access to cultural events. As the Council’s creative framework, the Creative Futures Strategy was most clearly aligned with the Festival and contained seven specific actions that have some impact on the Festival’s future delivery.

Figure Two provides an overview of how the high‐level objectives of these three documents align

directly to goals identified in the St Kilda Festival Business Plan 2011–2013.

Figure Two: Overview of Alignment


2.3 ALIGNMENT OPPORTUNITIES

The review has undertaken a detailed analysis of the Council Plan and identified a number of

instances where the St Kilda Festival is currently delivering, or has the potential to deliver,

on key Council strategic objectives. These are represented below (Figure Three) as alignment

opportunities.

Figure Three: Council Plan alignment opportunities

An analysis of the key alignment opportunities for existing Council policy/strategy

documents and the St Kilda Festival has highlighted the following:

The Festival has the potential to be a significant contributor to the Council’s stated objectives with regard to climate change. As a large‐scale event, with a strong Melbourne profile, it is in a position to build on the achievements it has already made in this area and continue to move towards its carbon neutral ambition.

The Festival is aligned to and already delivering on numerous strategic objectives related to community strengthening identified in the Council Plan. In particular, it is engaging with a large youth population and providing opportunities for cultural participation across a wide demographic within the local community.

As a major event, the Festival impacts on local liveability in a positive and negative way and has the potential to be developed as an exemplary model for managing the balance between resident and visitor impact.


The Festival is a major contributor to economic development and is providing opportunities for building the economic capacity of the local population.

2.4 POLICY AND STRATEGY GAPS

Documentation analysis has identified a number of gaps that offer opportunities for the St

Kilda Festival to more strongly align with existing Council policy and strategy documents.

2.4.1 FESTIVALS FRAMEWORK 2003

The Festivals Framework is an overview document that defines the typology of festivals that

the CoPP supports and seeks to establish an investment priority. The three types of festivals

identified are:

o Level 1: Small local, neighbourhood celebrations

o Level 2: Larger scale ‘theme’ festivals

o Level 3: Flagship events

The St Kilda Festival, with St Kilda Film Festival, is identified as one of the City’s two flagship

events. The document specifies that the Council may need to manage the growth of these

events to ensure they remain relevant to both the local community and visitors. The

framework makes a number of statements that appear to be in conflict with the current

status of the Festival, including:

‘Council’s funding to Festivals decreases over time’ – a review of the Festival’s financial reports over the last three years suggests that Council contribution has in fact increased despite a growing diversification of funding sources. Although, the framework does suggest that there may be reasons for longer term support of a festival, this is based on the recognition that it takes time for a festival to gain broader support and establish financial stability – this is not an argument that can be readily applied to a festival with a thirty‐year history.

‘Grant money should be seen as seed funding only’ – the level of investment in the St Kilda Festival extends beyond seed funding, although there is an emphasis in the current business plan to reduce proportional investment of Council over the next three years.

‘Flagship Festivals should be the Council’s third funding priority’ – although this review has not assessed the Council’s broader festival investment funding priorities, this comment does not appear to be consistent when considering the level of annual investment made in the St Kilda Festival.

2.4.2 EVENTS POLICY 2009 (DRAFT)

The Events Policy 2009 (draft) and its predecessor, Event Policy 2003, are documents that

provide policy guidance on the hosting of events in the CoPP. They establish a clear set of

objectives and key selection criteria that relate exclusively to externally produced events.

There is currently no policy that establishes a comparative framework for hosting internally

produced events such as the St Kilda Festival. This means that there is currently a differing

level of public awareness of expectations for internally and externally produced events. This

represents a gap in existing policy in terms of the objectives stated in the Council and

Community Plans related to the impact of events on the local community.

2.4.3 ST KILDA FESTIVAL BUSINESS PLAN 2011–2013

The St Kilda Festival Business Plan identifies a number of key issues that will shape the

Festival during 2011–2013, including the benefit to and impact on the local residential and

business community and environmental impacts.


RESIDENT AND TRADER IMPACT

The following goals and actions are identified:

Goal 9: To balance protection of amenity and business opportunity with production of a large scale event.

o 9.1 Devise and continually implement events held within trader precincts to enhance economic impact for local businesses

o 9.2 Develop and implement a Festival environmental impact minimisation plan

o 9.3 Monitor sound levels throughout Festival Sunday to ensure residential comfort and amenity

Performance Indicators:

o Trader satisfaction levels in post‐event surveys hosts

To be consistent with the strategic objectives identified within both the Council and

Community Plans, there is an opportunity here for host community satisfaction regarding

amenity to be measured beyond a single narrowly defined performance indicator.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Although the Business Plan does identify the development of ‘environmental impact

minimisation measures’ in the report, there is currently no goal or performance

measurement that relates specifically to achieving an environmental target. This may be the

direct result of funding uncertainty for the implementation of environmental measures,

however, it is a gap in alignment with the strategic objectives of the Council and Community

Plan.

2.4.4 DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

The Festival currently produces an annual business plan which is a hybrid business and

strategic plan in nature. It provides financial information, sets operational context and

identifies risk management planning but also establishes a number of high level goals,

strategic actions and performance indicators. This is acceptable business practice, however,

the review has identified an opportunity/gap in terms of optimising strategic decision‐

making between the Festival and Council.

The Festival team delivers a unique service for Council. Its qualities are that of an ‘arms‐

length management model’ more than a typical local government division. The St Kilda

Festival has its own brand, profile and partnerships, however, it is supported by Council

resources and is subject to its guiding legislation, policies, approval and procurement

processes. This environment creates a level of operating differentiation not commonly

found in other areas of Council.

The introduction of a concise Development Strategy may be an effective way to provide an

objective assessment of the strategic direction of the Festival in a manner that informs

decision‐making and sets out high‐level program and delivery implications for Council. The

Development Strategy could outline how the Festival plans to deliver in terms of competitive

differentiation, cost leadership, program response and anticipate how this will impact on the

key stakeholders, including the host community.

The benchmarking has identified the St Kilda Festival as a major festival, however, it has a

number of unique characteristics that could see it strategically develop into a


flagship/hallmark event of national and international significance. A Development Strategy

would help articulate issues related to the Festival’s growth and provide a transparent

appraisal of the key factors that hold influence on the Festival’s ongoing development. The

Culture and Recreation Department would have ‘ownership’ of the Development Strategy

which would need to be tabled with Council at a time that informs future festival planning

and its budget allocation cycle. The Development Strategy would represent a proactive

response that should build upon existing briefing processes already in place.

KEY FINDINGS

The following key findings relate to the St Kilda Festival’s alignment to and delivery against the CoPP’s key policy and strategy documents:

The Festival has clear alignment to the Council Plan, Community Plan, and Creative Futures strategy and delivers against its identified policy outcomes. Further analysis has shown that there is an opportunity for this alignment to be strengthened.

There are elements in the Festivals Framework, Events Policy, and St Kilda Festival Business Plan that represent inconsistencies with the current strategic goals of Council.

There is an opportunity/gap to optimise strategic decision‐making between the Festival and Council through the introduction of a Development Strategy to inform high‐level program and delivery planning.


Section 03 ST KILDA FESTIVAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT Determine the net community impact and benefit, considering:

What are the benefits and to whom do they accrue?

What are the impacts and whom do they affect?

Consider any indirect costs to the community


3. ST KILDA FESTIVAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

This section considers the positive and negative impacts the St Kilda Festival has had on the

community from a socio‐cultural, environmental and economic perspective.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Major festivals and events impact on the host population and major stakeholders in a

number of ways, both negative and positive. This report focuses on the socio‐cultural,

economic and environmental impacts of the St Kilda Festival and identifies where those

impacts are most strongly felt and by whom.

3.1.2 RESEARCH CONTEXT

Considerable work in the events sector has been undertaken to better understand the

impacts of major events, however, the primary focus of this activity has been in the area of

economic impact assessments. This has been driven in the main by the need of event

funders and organisers to demonstrate the financial value major events can bring to a

community. Economic impact assessments can help support the argument for investment of

public monies and, as a result, help to address public expectations.

The socio‐cultural impacts of major events have been less consistently evaluated, initially

because their importance is not front‐of‐mind but also because their largely intangible

nature defies capture through the use of simple metrics. The most consistent solution

applied to understanding the variety of socio‐cultural event impacts has been through a

combination of statistically acceptable market research and qualitative analysis obtained

through various consultation methodologies.

Over the last decade, a renewed and growing public interest in environmental matters has

also seen a steady increase in major events organisers seeking to demonstrate their ‘green’

credentials by developing measures to evaluate environmental impacts. In addition to a

genuine desire to minimise environmental impacts, event organisers have become aware

that the public are increasingly viewing ‘green’ consciousness as one of the critical success

factors in the delivery of major events.

3.1.3 IMPACT ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK

In order to address the impacts of the St Kilda Festival, an analysis of current event impact

research was undertaken to determine a broad framework for evaluation. Table One ‐ St

Kilda Festival Positive and Negative Impacts – Key Themes (below) identifies the continuum

of positive and negative impacts that the research and consultation process has identified as

being consistent themes requiring consideration to successfully review the future of the St

Kilda Festival.


Table One: St Kilda Festival Positive and Negative Impacts – Key Themes

Impact Category Positive Negative Socio‐Cultural Shared community experience Host community alienation Revitalising/expanding cultural experiences Lacking cultural focus

Building community pride and belonging Negative community image Validation of community groups Poor visibility of community groups Increased community participation Loss of host community amenity

Social cohesion Social dislocation (anti‐social behaviour etc)

Community capacity building Growing community irrelevance Artist development Artist exploitation

Economic Destination promotion and increased tourist visits

Host community resistance to tourism

Higher visitor yields Damage to reputation, local amenity Increased revenue Market exploitation, revenue loss Job creation Indirect costs

Environmental Showcasing the local environment Environmental damage Providing models for best practice Pollution (noise, air, waste etc) Increasing environmental awareness Disregard of environment

Improved transport and communication Traffic congestion

(c) Source: Adapted from Hall, 1989 (Bowdin et al., 2001)

The themes identified in the table above have been further synthesized to better

understand the key impacts of the Festival that can be adequately assessed by a qualitative

and/or quantitative evidence base. The key issues to be addressed in this report are

presented according to the following impact areas:

Community strengthening

Host community

Community behaviour

Cultural programming

Economic impact

Indirect costs

Environmental impact

Image.

3.2 COMMUNITY STRENGTHENING

The following impacts sub‐section discusses the diversity of participation in the St Kilda

Festival and the impact it currently has on community strengthening.

3.2.1 INTRODUCTION

A community’s sense of connectedness is drawn from its ability to share a vision, to be

tolerant of others’ views, to participate and to celebrate. The St Kilda Festival has had many

evolutions in its thirty‐year history but its open access spirit and low barriers to participation

have always been its hallmark characteristics. Even before music became the unifying

vehicle that brought people together, its biggest asset was as a cultural gateway that

supported openness and tolerance. Thirty years on and the definition of community has

become a much more global concept and one to which the Festival is having to adapt, as is

the host community.


3.2.2 AUDIENCE DIVERSITY

The St Kilda Festival Business Plan 2011–2013 identifies three broad participant markets:

18–35 year olds living in Victoria interested in music, all ages interested in music and cultural

activities, and Victorian families.

To better understand the current demographic profile of Festival Sunday attendees, an

analysis of the CoPP’s market research has been undertaken (Table Two below). Where

possible, this information has been compared with Census data to provide some opportunity

for comparison between the CoPP resident and attendee demographic.

Table Two: CoPP Market Research analysis

CoPP Census Data 2006

Median (2007‐2009) 2009 2008 2007

Gender

Male 50% 49% 47% 50% 49%

Female 50% 51% 53% 50% 51%

Age

16 – 17 n/a 5% 7% 5% 4%

18 – 24 10% 25% 31% 17% 27%

25 – 34 28% 32% 29% 32% 34%

35 – 49 25% 23% 21% 28% 19%

50 and over 26% 15% 13% 16% 16%

Unanswered n/a n/a n/a 2% 1%

Where do you live?

St Kilda n/a 15% 15% 20% 11%

City of Port Phillip n/a 8% 12% 8% 5%

Melbourne n/a 53% 52% 47% 59%

Victoria n/a 11% 12% 11% 10%

Australia n/a 6% 3% 7% 7%

Overseas n/a 7% 6% 7% 8%

Highest level of education

Secondary School n/a 32% 34% 35% 28%

Trade Qualification 9% 8% 5% 8% 10%

Certificate/Diploma 9% 16% 12% 17% 18%

University Degree

35%

32% 35% 28% 33%

Postgraduate Degree or higher 8% 12% 1% 11%

Unanswered n/a 1% 2% 1% 1%

Annual personal Income

Under $25,000 16% 28% 33% 29% 21%

$25,001 ‐ $40,000 13% 15% 12% 12% 20%

$40,001 ‐ $60,000 16% 23% 23% 22% 24%

$60,001 ‐ $80,000 11% 14% 15% 16% 10%

$80,001 ‐ $100,000 7% 6% 7% 4% 8%

$100,001 or more 27% 10% 10% 9% 10%

Unanswered/other 11% 5% n/a 7% 7%


The key findings of the research indicate the following:

GENDER

Over the last three years, the gender of attendees has been evenly divided between male and female, consistent with CoPP gender distribution.

AGE

25–35 year olds represent the highest proportion of Festival Sunday attendees (32%) and also represent the highest proportion of CoPP residents (28%).

Festival Sunday is attracting a significantly higher proportion of the 18–24 demographic (25%) than is residing within the CoPP (10%).

Festival Sunday is attracting a significantly lower proportion of the 50+ demographic (15%) than is residing with CoPP (26%).

Overall, Festival Sunday is attracting a broad age demography.

Figure Four: Age: CoPP and Festival Comparison

RESIDENCE

Over half of attendees (53%) are from outside the CoPP but reside within metropolitan Melbourne.

On average, 23% of attendees reside within the CoPP.

Festival Sunday attracts a small proportion of international visitors (7%) and interstate visitors (6%).

EDUCATION

40% of attendees hold a university (or higher) degree as opposed to 35% in the CoPP.

INCOME

28% of attendees earn under $25,000 p.a. as opposed to only 16% of CoPP residents.

only 10% of attendees earn over $100,000 p.a. as opposed to 27% of CoPP residents.


Figure Five: Income: CoPP and Festival Comparison

3.2.3 AUDIENCE DIVERSITY SUMMARY

These statistics suggest that in terms of age demography, Festival Sunday is successfully

attracting a diverse range of people with particularly strong attendances from the 18–24

demographic (25%), which represents a highly valued market for festivals and major events.

With 53% of attendees from metropolitan Melbourne (other than CoPP), Festival Sunday is

also injecting a significant boost to the local economy and is simultaneously attracting a

broader socio‐demographic to the area.

The statistics indicate that, on average, 40% of attendees hold a university or post graduate

degree (higher than the CoPP average of 35%) and yet 28% of those surveyed earn under

$25,000 p.a. (higher than the CoPP average of 16%). Only 10% of attendees earn over

$100,000 p.a. in contrast with 27% of CoPP residents. These statistics suggest that Festival

Sunday attracts a highly educated but relatively low income attendee ratio that is in contrast

to the relative wealth of the CoPP residents.

There is currently no way to determine participation by ethnic grouping based on existing

data collection, so it is not possible to understand the diversity of attendees according to

cultural origin. Therefore, no evidence‐based analysis can be made as to whether the

Festival is successfully attracting a mix of people that is reflective of it own ethno‐

demography, or that of Melbourne more generally.

3.2.4 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND PUBLIC VALUE

Events are a potential mechanism for strengthening weak community structures in a particular location and to help in developing community cohesion, increased cultural and social understanding and improved community identity and self‐confidence.

Shone, A. (2001). Successful Event Management: A Practical Handbook, Continuum, London.

As a free open access festival, the St Kilda Festival is an event for which there are few

Australian equivalents in terms of attendance and commensurate local government

investment. The statistics noted above, indicate a diversity of socio‐demographic

representation on Festival Sunday, particularly in relation to age and income capacity.


What this means in practice is that there is a strong multi‐generational mix of attendees

interacting with each other in ways that they are unlikely to in ordinary circumstances or

through their regular cultural event choices.

There are a number of ways that both the host and broader community currently participate

in the St Kilda Festival. In 2009, the Call for Events process (see Section 3.5.5) saw 40 groups

(comprising mostly small community groups) apply to be part of the program of Festival

Sunday. The CoPP also runs an annual competition to design the imagery for the St Kilda

Festival. The winner receives a cash prize and entry is only open to people living, working or

studying in the City of Port Phillip. Through a call for entries process, there are opportunities

for emerging artists to participate in the non‐curated component of the music program for

both Live N Local and Festival Sunday.

There is also a small cohort of volunteers who actively support the Festival predominantly

through donating their time to the Live N Local program and through some production

assistance on Festival Sunday. The benchmarking revealed that for a number of festivals

volunteers are also a vital source of service hours to ensure delivery. The majority of

festivals that were benchmarked rely on volunteer labour and also offer internships to

support the next generation of professional event management students.

Like many other festivals, the St Kilda Festival receives requests for work experience or

internships but there is only limited capacity to support skills development within the

current resource framework. There was general acknowledgement that the training and

servicing of volunteers can also be resource intensive. In terms of the benchmarking

findings, the St Kilda Festival has low levels of volunteerism with 15 volunteers in 2009.

The public value of cultural events in terms of developing community cohesion and social

understanding has been well argued but remains challenging to represent through

quantitative research. Much easier to define are the moments when things go wrong, such

as increased crime, poor behaviour, litter etc. The benchmarking revealed that based on

attendance levels, the Council’s funding contribution represents high public value relative to

its annual investment.

The online forum has provided an opportunity to capture some of the qualitative evidence

that suggests how individuals perceive the St Kilda Festival offers public value to the host

and broader communities:

‘A free festival with great music that brings St Kilda to life. With the beaches, foreshore, parks, as well as bars, pubs, restaurants and music venues ‐ there is no better place to put on an urban festival.’

‘By far my FAVOURITE day of the year! Warm weather, friendly people, great food, music and so much more. It’s the best finding a spot for the day and doing some people watching ‐ very entertaining!... A fantastic, enjoyable day for all ages!!’

‘As a long term St Kilda resident I feel very proud of the festival. There's nowhere else in Melbourne that has this sense of community like St Kilda does on festival day. It's a hugely important part of the culture of the suburb, which is by far one of the most unique in the state…’


‘I love that I can catch the ferry across from Williamstown (on a calm day!) and just wander ‐ never seeing everything ‐ and enjoy all this magnificent festival has to offer…’

Engaging both the local and broader community is critical to the success of the St Kilda

Festival. Active civic engagement, particularly at a local level, contributes to a sense of

community ownership of an event and ways to extend the existing levels of participation

should be part of the Festival’s mission for continuous improvement. This is a prominent

local identity issue that will remain a pertinent one if Festival Sunday continues to attract

large audiences that are predominantly drawn from outside the host community.

3.3 HOST COMMUNITY IMPACTS

This sub‐section reviews the impacts of the St Kilda Festival on the host community,

particularly those living within the Festival Sunday precinct. The majority of the data

available to assess these impacts specifically relates to Festival Sunday, which is reflected in

the analyses that follows.

3.3.1 INTRODUCTION

Host communities play a pivotal role in the success of any major cultural event. They are

usually staged by local people and focus on a unique aspect of that community. An event the

scale of Festival Sunday can present significant challenges to a host population whose

support is vital to it success. Issues created by a temporary influx of people can create flow

on effects that include anti‐social behaviour, traffic congestion and noise disturbances that

affect the quality of life of some local residents.

KEY FINDINGS

The following key findings relate to the St Kilda Festival’s role as a tool for community strengthening:

Festival Sunday currently attracts people that reflect a broad demography, are generally well educated but represent lower income groups when compared with the host community.

Festival Sunday attracts a significantly higher participation rate from a younger demographic, than that represented within the host community. The high youth demographic is a point of competitive advantage for the Festival as it is a highly desirable consumer market and anecdotally a difficult one for other like festivals to attract.

The Festival’s open access philosophy delivers significant public value to the community. It contributes to the civic identity and cultural life of St Kilda and Melbourne and the social and cultural wellbeing of its host community and visitors attracted to the area.

The Festival currently attracts a low level of volunteerism when compared with other festivals.


The St Kilda Festival also has a long history, so it has had time for residents to develop a

sense of ownership of, pride in or displeasure with the event. While the Festival continues

on its own journey so too does that of the host community, whose values and tastes change

as its own demography and leadership changes. Visitors to St Kilda bring their own set of

values and expectations to the Festival and, at times, they may be in harmony or in conflict

with the predominant values of the local area. All perceptions have validity and all need to

be understood against an existing evidence base to determine how each view should

influence decision makers.

3.3.2 CITY OF PORT PHILLIP – AN EVENT DESTINATION

As an iconic Melbourne destination, St Kilda occupies a unique place in the psyche of

Melburnians. From its heights of edgy bohemian chic in the 1980s to its current more

upscale, high liveability profile, its distinctive location has always been a major drawcard for

residents and visitors alike. Particularly on weekends and in the warmer seasons, St Kilda

plays host to large numbers of visitors who come to experience all that it has to offer.

The CoPP is promoted as being an active and creative city and has a long history of event

staging. Its 2009–2010 event calendar identifies sixteen externally produced events between

October 2009 to March 2010 that will take place in the City ranging from triathlons and fun

runs to the Pride March. The only internally‐produced event noted in the events calendar is

the St Kilda Festival, which is by far the largest. Of these seventeen events, eleven require

some degree of road closure. Between December and March, three incidents of consecutive

weekend road closures affect the same locale and roads.

This provides a brief snapshot of the conditions within which residents of the CoPP, and in

particular St Kilda, carry out their day‐to‐day routines. It is important to consider the event

context in which the St Kilda Festival is situated. Anecdotal evidence suggests that resident

tolerance for the Festival may be impacted by the cumulative effect of residing in an

environment that is already prone to high levels of cultural tourism and amenity

disturbance.

3.3.3 FESTIVAL SUPPORT AND PARTICIPATION

Large‐scale events can have a significant impact on the quality of life for local residents

particularly those living within an immediate event precinct. This can be evidenced in market

research findings where local residents within a precinct zone tend to have the most

polarised views. For example, post‐event market research commissioned by the CoPP in

2009 shows that residents living within the Festival precinct were more likely to strongly

support Festival Sunday (34% compared with 26% of total residents), however, they were

also more likely to oppose the day (25% compared to 13% of total residents)1.

Post‐event market research is one of the most accepted methods for understanding host

community perceptions of impacts of an event. In the absence of any consistent longitudinal

data, the table below offers a comparison of the key findings from 2009 and 2001 post‐

event market research surveys undertaken by the CoPP.

The Australian Grand Prix is not included in this analysis.

1 NWC Opinion Research, St Kilda Festival Research Report, 2009.


Table Three: Host community perceptions of Festival Sunday

(d) ‐ (dash) denotes where comparable information is not available

It is not statistically sound to extrapolate any trends regarding host community perceptions

based on this data alone and a caveat should be placed on the 2009 data, where only a

relatively small cohort of people aged between 15 and 24 (a sizeable proportion of the

target demographic for the Festival) were interviewed. However, the information is more

useful when considered in conjunction with other data and information collated during the

consultation process.

The 2001 market research figures indicated a high level of resident support for Festival

Sunday (87%), declining to 67% in 2009. Festival attendance figures for these years are

estimated at 380,000 and 250,000 respectively. Of the 13% of residents not in support of

Festival Sunday, 78% identified the ‘disruptive or anti‐social behaviour of attendees’ as the

main reason. Crowd behaviour also emerged as a concern for both residents and non‐

residents who expressed some level of reservation about Festival Sunday during the

consultation process. This was attributed partly to the combination of high attendance

numbers and the presence of alcohol leading to a perception of the event becoming

‘unwieldy’ (see Section 3.4).

Without strong longitudinal evidence, it cannot be concluded that host community support

for Festival Sunday is, in fact, eroding. Participation rates offer an opportunity to interrogate

this issue further, however, they are not necessarily an indicator of levels of support.

For instance, it is known that while many people may not directly participate in events they

may still be supportive if they believe the event delivers overall benefits for their

community.

Measure

2009 2001 Residents Traders Residents Traders

In support of Festival Sunday 64% 58% 87% 80% Not in support of Festival Sunday 13% 7% 8% 14%

Reasons for opposing Festival Sunday:

Disruptive/anti‐social

Event organisation

Community cultural implications

Impact on businesses

76% 59% 22% 4%

52% 26% 9% 83%

‐ ‐ ‐ ‐

‐ ‐ ‐ ‐

Previously attended the Festival 84% ‐ 78% 75%

Planning to attend the following year 44% ‐ 58% 51% Frequency of attendance:

Once

2–4 times

5–10 times

17% 48% 21%

‐ ‐ ‐

17% 51% 22%

‐ ‐ ‐

Highest ranked attributes of the Festival:

Live music program and stages

General atmosphere of the area

Tourism

88% 84% 80%

83% 66% 66%

76% ‐ 84%

33% ‐ 100%

Satisfaction with impacts of Festival Sunday:

Noise levels

Cleanliness of area

Behaviour of attendees

Number of people

Road closures

Availability of parking

72% 59% 59% 57% 56% 31%

71% 60% 61% 60% 53% 14%

‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐

‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐

Traders open for business on Festival Sunday ‐ 72% ‐ ‐


The host community attendance figures above indicate a relatively stable but high rate of

repeat participation (48% of respondents attended between two to four times). Research

undertaken over the last three years during Festival Sunday itself has shown that host

community participation peaked at 28% (2008) as a proportion of total attendees (see Table

Four).

Table Four: Festival Sunday Attendees by Residence

Place of Residence 2009 (%) 2008 (%) 2007 (%) St Kilda 15 20 11 City of Port Phillip 12 8 5

Melbourne 52 47 59 Victoria 12 11 10 Australia 3 7 7

Overseas 6 7 8

(e) Victoria University, St Kilda Festival Economic Assessment Report, 2009

To provide some context for these numbers, in 2009 Festival Sunday attracted some 250,000

people, swelling the CoPP’s population by more than two‐and‐a‐half times across the course

of the day2. Using the above 2009 market research figures as a guide, a 27% attendance

ratio (combining CoPP‐ and St Kilda‐identified residents) represents local population

participation of 67,500 people. If a 30% error margin is factored in, these figures still suggest

a local participation of some 47,250 people – over half the resident population. Statistically

this would be considered a high success measure by any major event standard.

Active resident participation beyond passive attendance is also achieved through a variety of

programming and production support pathways. Through an open call for entries process,

musicians with a local connection are offered the opportunity to perform as part of the Live

N Local program or on the New Music Stage on Festival Sunday. Through the Live N Local

program, the Festival also directly engages with a variety of local traders and community

organisations to build a seven‐day program of activity that showcases St Kilda’s arts and

cultural talent (see Section 3.5.4). Live N Local also supports community participation

through the use of volunteers to help raise the event profile through marketing support.

Young people from the local community are also offered an opportunity to directly

participate in Festival Sunday. The Push Stage is a unique partnership between a number of

local authorities, including the CoPP; it is an all ages drug, alcohol and smoke‐free stage, by

and for young people. The Festival more generally, both through active and passive

participation, is an important conduit that engages with young people who may otherwise

show disinterest in participating in traditional local government programs.

The open for Call for Events process is also another way for the host community to become

involved in the Festival Sunday program (see Section 3.5.5). From 2007 to 2009 a significant

proportion of applicants to the Call for Events process has been received from local groups

(46%) within the CoPP. In 2009 this figure was 43%, representing a sizeable participation

rate from the local community in ancillary event programming. The local community also has

the opportunity to participate through the Festival’s annual design competition.

2 Based on population figures of 90,000 noted in the CoPP Council Plan.


3.3.4 RESIDENT AMENITY

A number of amenity issues are known to affect the host population during Festival Sunday.

One of the most effective indicators of the nature of some of the issues is the Festival

Hotline, which manages complaints and enquiries regarding Festival Sunday. The CoPP has

extended the standard operating hours of the ASSIST service to ensure that residents have a

single point of contact that is available the day prior to and on Festival Sunday.

In 2009, the Festival Hotline was widely promoted and for the first time all calls were logged

– not just those that reflected specific complaints. The enquiry log provided for analysis

contains all queries related to the St Kilda Festival from 21 January to 6 August 2009, with

the bulk of entries made on Festival Sunday. Of the 129 entries received during this period,

fifty‐three can be considered complaints. A breakdown of the nature of those complaints is

provided in Figure Six below:

Figure Six: Complaints breakdown 2009

The complaints log indicated that the majority of issues were immediately responded to,

with resolution achieved within a twenty‐four‐hour period. Unsurprisingly for a live outdoor

music festival, noise‐related issues represented the most common complaint (36%). It

should be noted, however, that a significant proportion of the noise complaints were not

directly related to Festival sanctioned activities but ancillary noise predominantly associated

with venues located within the precinct. This fact is noted in the sound report commissioned

by the St Kilda Festival in 2009:

‘It is important to understand that not all sound sources within the festival precinct on the day are, in fact, arranged by and under the control of St Kilda Festival. Many of the more intrusive sources of sound were from events which are arranged by third parties…’3

It should be noted that due to privacy issues, it has not been possible to separate multiple complaints from the same individual so it is likely than less than 53 unique complaints were received.

3 Auditoria, St Kilda Festival: Festival Sunday Sound Report, 2009, p.61


The issue of third party noise is one that emerged through the consultation process. A

review of the complaints logged indicates two trader breaches of noise regulations on

Festival Sunday that resulted in a small number of complaints by residents. One of the

venues in question was noted to be a serial offender throughout the year. In addition to

local traders, other anecdotal comments indicated a concern that Festival Sunday

encouraged residents to believe they had a license to party.

Based on existing data, it is currently not possible to understand the extent of the impact of

third party noise on resident satisfaction with the Festival. The 2009 market research

suggests that 72% of residents were satisfied with noise levels overall but it does not isolate

the cause of the 28% dissatisfaction rate. The relatively low number of complaints suggests

that while there is a noise issue that requires vigilance, it is not currently a pervasive one

(see Section 3.8.4).

Traffic management/parking represented 23% of complaints in 2009. They were relatively

minor in nature and mainly related to the illegal parking concerns of residents. Anecdotal

evidence during the consultation period identified some concern about the reduced level of

resident amenity during Festival Sunday in relation to road closures. Though residents

appeared to be well‐informed about the closures, there was some indication that there was

a desire to see the number of road closures extended to further protect those living within

the Festival precinct, as occurs with the Australian Grand Prix.

Crowd behaviour or public nuisance represented 17% of total complaints, with calls mainly

related to instances of urination in a public space or private garden. This issue was also

supported by qualitative evidence during the consultation period that there was a general

concern by some that the number of public toilets was inadequate. It is a common

complaint levied at large scale festivals, often reflective of multiple factors including poor

directional signage, alcohol consumption and lack of patience or willingness to queue. While

it is not possible to make a direct causal link between a perceived lack of public toilets and

incidences of public urination, the provision of adequate toilet facilities is an issue that

requires closing monitoring by the Festival’s event managers.

While the Festival must work towards continuous improvement to minimise the impacts to

residents, there does need to be an acceptance that some residents may not be placated by

these measures. There is a general dislike of the event among some residents and a small

number of the complaints reflected comments of general resident dissatisfaction with

Festival Sunday, with the Hotline being used as a means to express that dissatisfaction.

Overall, the number of complaints received (fifty‐three) is considered to be low and well

within management tolerances given the scale of Festival Sunday and the population of the

host community (approximately 20,000 people in St Kilda alone). This does not mean that

there is not room for improvement but, on balance, the statistics are indicative of a well‐

managed event that enjoys a reasonable level of support and tolerance from the local

community.

Some of the service improvements that have been identified as a direct result of complaints

to date include:

the recruitment of a specific accreditation officer to exclusively manage issues related to access to the Festival precinct (decreasing the volume of complaints related to this issue)


street cleaning is completed by 6.00 am following Festival Sunday, with spot cleaning undertaken as required over the proceeding days

modification of sound amplification on The Push Stage, reducing the sound impact on local residents

the institution of a no glass policy

the introduction of more restrictive alcohol management policies and enforcement

the development of a collaborative approach with all emergency services agencies and internal City services to ensure complaints can be effectively managed.

3.3.5 TRADER IMPACT

This sub‐section reviews the St Kilda Festival’s impact on the local trader community based

on available data.

INTRODUCTION

There is little consistent research to date to understand the extent of the impact of the

Festival on traders. The economic impact assessment of 2009 offers one lens from which to

view this perspective (see Section 3.6) and supports the case that many traders benefit

financially from the influx of visitors during Festival Sunday. The market research also

suggests that traders are likely to benefit from repeat visitation beyond Festival Sunday with

80% of participants likely or very likely to return to St Kilda. What is less clear is the impact

of Festival Sunday on non‐hospitality based traders and the value Live N Local contributes to

the overall trader community.

The CoPP Festival team works with local traders in the lead up to Festival Sunday by offering

ad hoc meetings to provide logistical information and advice in relation to leasing additional

equipment for the day. Generally, however, these meetings appear to be poorly attended

for reasons that may be related to a lack of time and/or interest. Another factor to consider

is that the longevity of the event means that many long‐term St Kilda traders will already

have a good understanding of what to expect from Festival Sunday and are likely to have

their own procedures in place. All traders within the main Festival precinct zone receive a

Community Information Guide prior to the event and are able to contact the ASSIST support

line to address any concerns on the day.

MARKET RESEARCH

The 2001 and 2009 market research suggests a sharp decline in support for Festival Sunday,

from 80% to 58% respectively, although the absence of strong longitudinal data means that

this reading is presented with a strong degree of caution. In 2009, 20% of respondents were

found to be ambivalent about Festival Sunday. Of the 23% of traders who opposed or

strongly opposed Festival Sunday, 83% of this group stated this was because of the negative

impact on their businesses. An additional 52% of traders were opposed to Festival Sunday

based on the disruptive and anti‐social behaviour of attendees.

This is not considered robust evidence to support a trend in trader discontent. A number of

factors could be influencing this result:

It is not clear from the research whether this figure includes existing St Kilda residents


lower attendance figures in 2009 (250,000 as opposed to 380,000 in 2001), contributing to lower sales

a disproportionate number of traders surveyed may not have been hospitality retailers, therefore unlikely to be as supportive of the Festival

the net gain from Festival Sunday revenue may be considered low in the face of

additional costs such as casual staff hire, extended license fees, security, stock etc

timing of the survey which coincided with some dissatisfaction with the Festival’s decision not to move Festival Sunday 2010 which coincides with Valentines Day.

The 2009 data suggests that 72% of traders interviewed were open for business on Festival

Sunday. There is no Sunday trading baseline to compare this figure against nor was there a

follow up question to understand why 28% of traders closed their doors. It is therefore not

possible to infer a direct correlation between Festival Sunday and a trader’s decision not to

open for business. Anecdotal evidence, however, does suggest that some non‐hospitality

traders close on Festival Sunday for reasons ranging from security concerns to a belief that

there is no increase (or, in fact, decrease) in trade.

The 2009 data also indicates that 62% of precinct traders will be open for business, with 28%

definitely unlikely and the remaining 10% undecided. Again, there is no indication of reasons

for not opening.

The most recent business impact evaluation of Festival Sunday was undertaken in 1998 and

consisted of interviews with fifty owners/managers of businesses located in the Festival

precinct. The number of Festival attendees in 1998 was estimated to be 350,000 people. The

key findings of this paper included:

70% indicated an increase in trading on Festival Sunday, 8% indicated a decrease, and 22% experienced no change

46% increased usual staffing levels (64% of these were hospitality traders)

93% rated the organisation of Festival Sunday positively

100% supported the event being held in the CoPP.

The absence of consistent longitudinal data makes it challenging to form any definitive

conclusions about traders’ perceptions of Festival Sunday.

There still appears to be a majority of traders supporting the event – likely influenced by the

sizeable economic returns – however, the data indicates that the seemingly unequivocal

support of the previous decade may have waned (see Section 3.7.3).

ALCOHOL RESTRICTIONS

The restriction of alcohol sales has had a direct impact on the eight (approx) take‐away

alcohol traders located within the Festival precinct. It is unclear whether the increased

volume of customers on Festival Sunday nullifies the overall impact on restricted sales;

however, in 2009 at least one major take‐away liquor retailer chose to close its doors in

response to the restrictions.

The promotion of Festival Sunday as an alcohol‐restricted event, also places a responsibility

on licensed traders to ensure they adequately implement Responsible Serving of Alcohol

Although anecdotal evidence has been offered to suggest that the influx of visitors increases incidences of shoplifting, there is no evidence from Victoria Police statistics to support this claim.


policies as an effective means to control drinking at the point of consumption. An active

Festival precinct, with large excitable crowds can create a heightened atmosphere for

traders to manage. An analysis of the 2009 security activity log and of the Victoria Police

debrief on Festival Sunday does not indicate any significant concerns in relation to this issue

(see Section 3.4.3).

LIVE N LOCAL

In 2009, 50 venues participated in the Live N Local program which showcases local venues as

well as local talent. Understanding the impact of Live N Local on traders is statistically

fraught given the research that has been undertaken to date has been largely anecdotal (see

Section 3.5.4). It is also unclear whether the Live N Local program increases the likelihood of

repeat visitation to St Kilda and, in particular, to the hosting venues. Numbers of venues

participating in Live N Local has increased year‐on‐year, which may, in part, reflect both

growing trader enthusiasm and the Festival team’s determination to ensure the program has

every chance of success.

In terms of trader impact and with all statistical caveats aside, common sense would dictate

that an increase in venue entertainment and associated publicity is likely to attract some

degree of increased patronage. Participating venues do not incur any overheads to become

part of the Live N Local program so any additional revenue is received directly by the trader.

Although there are clear benefits to the trader, in order to better understand these benefits

more research and evaluation of audience numbers is required.

3.3.6 HOST COMMUNITY PERCEPTIONS

During the consultations, some residents expressed views that indicated dissatisfaction with

what they perceived to be the escalating ‘commercialisation’ of Festival Sunday, manifested

predominantly through its major sponsorship relationship. While some in the local

community are likely to view any degree of private sector support and partnership to be in

conflict with the Festival’s civic mission, a diversified funding base is also critical if the

Council’s financial investment is to remain at a palatable level to the local community.

Alternatively, some within the community have recognised the value of these partnerships,

both in monetary terms and in the diversity of programming that they have leveraged and

facilitated.

The increasing professionalisation of the event has also been a factor that has alienated

some local residents. What some view as a necessity to deliver an event that has grown to

an unparalleled size, others see as a failure of unchecked growth. A view has emerged from

the consultations that the Festival Sunday operations and programming (including the

professional staging, headline bands and associated promotion) no longer resemble the

‘look and feel’ of a local community council‐sponsored event.

According to this view, these factors have helped create what was once a uniquely St Kilda‐

based event into a music festival that is indistinguishable from other major commercial

music festivals such as Big Day Out or Falls Festival. While there has been a significant

upgrade in some aspects of production levels, the Festival main stage infrastructure itself

has remained unchanged for many years and most of the smaller stages are rudimentary in

nature. There has been a considered effort by Festival organisers to resist an overtly

commercial ‘look and feel’ on Festival Sunday.

The development and growth of Festival Sunday has been a somewhat organic one in

nature. The CoPP has not extensively marketed the Festival intra/interstate or


internationally (the marketing budget is comparatively small for a festival of this scale and

the St Kilda Festival brand has a very low resonance and profile outside of Melbourne).

Tourism Victoria does not in any way support the event financially and the Festival is still

viewed by many current and potential funding partners as a predominantly ‘community’‐

based event, despite its scale. The attraction of high profile bands has not been due to a

commensurate increase in the Festival’s programming budget; it is more a testament to the

appeal of the event to many performers who have a connection to St Kilda and enjoy

performing to an appreciative audience in a non‐ticketed environment.

There are, of course, merits to both sides of this perception and it is a debate that will

undoubtedly continue as long as a major event like Festival Sunday continues to be

supported by public funding. What is beyond dispute, however, is that if the St Kilda Festival

is going to continue to evolve and reflect contemporary values, the support of the host

community is vital and ways to involve local people must always be a priority and measure

of success. Festival organisers must continue to engage and consult with the host

community to ensure an ongoing constructive relationship.

KEY FINDINGS

The following findings relate to the St Kilda Festival’s impacts on the host community:

There are multiple factors influencing the host community’s perception of the Festival but there is currently insufficient and inconsistent data to extrapolate a conclusive trend in opinion.

Current levels of complaints are within an acceptable threshold for an event of this scale, suggestive of relative support and/or tolerance of the St Kilda Festival, however, issues of host community amenity need to remain foremost in the mind of event organisers.

The St Kilda Festival currently provides multiple entry points for participation by the local community and the statistical evidence suggests local attendances and active participation are at healthy levels. The Festival needs to continue to develop local engagement strategies that anchor and support the retention of local identity.

Market research suggests that a statistically sizeable proportion of traders (28%) do not open for business on Festival Sunday, however, a direct correlation between reasons for closure and the event itself cannot currently be substantiated.

There are divergent opinions co‐existing within the host community regarding the future of the St Kilda Festival, making the ongoing engagement of the host community a key factor in its continued success.


3.4 COMMUNITY BEHAVIOUR

This sub‐section will discuss the impacts of the St Kilda Festival that relate specifically to

issues of community behaviour in large crowds and how these are currently being addressed

through event management strategies. Given attendance size and impact, the focus of this

section is on Festival Sunday only.

3.4.1 INTRODUCTION

The logistics of an event the size of Festival Sunday requires very high levels of planning,

coordination and skill. In 2009, the production budget for Festival Sunday represented over

half the overall costs of producing the St Kilda Festival and included items such as security,

fencing, waste management, road closures, sound, lighting and emergency services. Staging

Festival Sunday requires high‐level coordination within Council and with external

stakeholders such as authority groups, suppliers and performers. The overall aim is to

ensure the event runs smoothly, issues can be responded to quickly, risks are proactively

managed and public safety is high.

3.4.2 EVENT PLANNING

The production management team responsible for staging Festival Sunday is very highly

regarded. Throughout the consultation, peers and stakeholders have consistently praised

the Festival team’s professionalism and ability to retain what is a relatively low incident rate

in proportion to attendee numbers. A culture of aspiring to continuous improvement has

helped Festival Sunday become a benchmark in major event management delivery models.

The Council has supported a significant increase in the production budget over recent years

to ensure an event the size of the St Kilda Festival can be delivered professionally.

The following provides a brief synopsis of some of the key innovations that have helped the

event management keep pace with Festival Sunday’s growth:

development of a state‐of‐the‐art CCTV system to cover up to 90% of the St Kilda Festival precinct, accessible to view from multiple locations

introduction of a RF (radio frequency) camera system that enables the deployment of a camera operator to capture real time footage of issues that may be out of range of fixed cameras (an Australian event first)

implementation of alcohol management strategies in collaboration with Victoria Police, Liquor Licensing Victoria and Local Laws (CoPP)

development of customised incident management reporting software (now being adopted by other event management organisations)

development of a low‐level noise PA system to minimise impact to residents

in‐house management control of all stage management activity

installation of a new tram shunt, through a collaborative approach with the Department of Transport, Victoria Police, Yarra Trams and the CoPP’s Traffic Department to improve pedestrian and traffic flows.

The Festival’s event management team works with multiple partners pre, post and during

Festival Sunday to ensure emergency, traffic and public safety services are able to respond

promptly to any issues that may arise on the day. Key partners include Victoria Police,

Metropolitan Fire Brigade, St John’s Ambulance, Metropolitan Ambulance Service, Metlink,

security contractors and CoPP’s internal departments, including Traffic Management.


3.4.3 CROWD BEHAVIOUR

The 2009 market research of the host community showed that of the 13% who opposed

Festival Sunday, 76% attributed this opposition to perceptions of disruptive or anti‐social

behaviour of attendees. The heightened excitement that a festival generates can contribute

to anti‐social behaviour and it may create opportunities for some to exhibit behaviour that is

already present in society. Some factors, such as weather, are beyond the organiser’s

control but can impact on crowd behaviour and attendance levels. The major influences on

crowd behaviour at major events include: crowd composition and size, the presence of

alcohol (and drugs), site configuration and security controls, and programmatic content

(Earl, 2006).The current impact of these factors on Festival Sunday and the existing

management controls in place are discussed below.

CROWD COMPOSITION AND SIZE

Attendance figures suggest that on average 310,000 people attend Festival Sunday, with a

high proportion of attendees (77%) drawn from outside the CoPP. During the consultation

process, there was some concern expressed that the event has grown too large, making it

unwieldy and unmanageable. The current statistical reality is that while the event is large,

Festival Sunday attracts an evenly balanced gender distribution and a broad age

demographic with approximately 80% evenly distributed in the 18–24, 25–34, and 35–49

age categories.

Even gender distribution and a multi‐generational presence are key factors that generally

have positive calming effects on crowds (Tatrai, 2001). While size is a contributing factor to

crowd behaviour, it needs to be considered as only one of multiple factors at play on Festival

Sunday.

ALCOHOL MANAGEMENT

The consultation process has revealed a degree of community concern specifically about the

presence of alcohol on Festival Sunday and its relationship to undesirable behaviours. This is

not an issue restricted to the Festival alone but is something that is being publically debated

on a national scale. Current societal attitudes in Australia reflect both the heightened

awareness of the destructive force of unchecked alcohol consumption and the cultural

norms that inform our tolerance for drinking.

The CoPP is in the process of winding back unrestricted alcohol consumption that has

previously been associated with Festival Sunday. Since 1996, the Council has implemented a

number of strategies to regulate alcohol consumption at the event and 2009 represented

the most dramatic changes to date. The most recent market research indicates that there is

high‐level awareness of the alcohol restrictions in place. In 2009, 83% of Festival Sunday

attendees indicated that they were aware that precinct was an alcohol‐free zone. The

Festival has also introduced a number of internal plans and policies in relation to alcohol

management including: St Kilda Festival 2010 Alcohol Plan, Festival Policy for the

Consumption of Alcohol and the Liquor Service Plan.

A summary of the current alcohol restrictions in place for Festival Sunday is shown below:

implementation of local laws creating the St Kilda Festival precinct as an ‘Alcohol Free Zone’ from 9.00 am to midnight on Festival Sunday, with the exception of licensed premises (including four Council‐managed bars)

Median figure of estimated attendance numbers and resident profiles taken from CoPP’s 2007–2009 data.


restriction on take‐away liquor outlets sales including prohibition on the sale of glass products or beverages with an alcohol content of more than 5%; limiting sales of alcohol to no more than two containers per person; and the requirement to place signage at the point of sale, advising people that they cannot consume alcohol on the street (implemented by Liquor Licensing Victoria)

restrictions on alcohol sales to beer, wine and ready‐to‐drink mixed alcoholic beverages in all Council‐managed bars (all beverages must not exceed an alcohol content of 5%)

no glass products sold or dispensed throughout the Festival precinct – this extends to traders who are not allowed to sell glass products or serve drinks in glass in any footpath trading area

authorisation by Victoria Police to issue on the spot fines to people walking around in the streets with open containers of alcohol

a decision to bring the control of four bars serving alcohol in the Festival precinct under direct Council management in order to better manage risk.

ALCOHOL MANAGEMENT – CURRENT EVIDENCE BASE

To better understand the current impact of alcohol and drugs on attendees of Festival

Sunday, a review of the emergency management meeting debrief documents* was

undertaken in conjunction with interviews with relevant authorities.

The debrief meetings occur between the key emergency management services authorities

and CoPP and are used as a mechanism to capture relevant statistical and anecdotal

information that assist in ensuring a cycle of event management service improvement. The

research findings conclude that:

The extensive alcohol management strategies implemented in 2009 were viewed as a success in terms of having a direct impact on reducing the number of arrests for drunkenness and the visible presence of alcohol on the street.

Of the low number of incidents recorded in 2009, drunk and disorderly incidents represented the largest proportion, followed by robberies (occurring post event) and assault (the only recorded event taking place inside a venue).

The number of incidents means Festival Sunday is considered to be a low risk event with police resources largely dedicated to managing perceptions of public safety levels and crowd control.

Based on anecdotal evidence provided by Victoria Police, the numbers of recorded incidents on Festival Sunday are low by major event standards – major sporting events such as those held at Melbourne’s major arenas attract a stronger police presence, record a much higher rate of drunk and disorderly arrests and incidents with less than a third of the crowd numbers of St Kilda Festival.

Changes in alcohol management strategies have aimed to realign Festival Sunday to family and community values, having a positive effect on its image and the overall festival experience.

Unlike other major large scale music events, Festival Sunday does not have a reputation as a major ‘drug’‐related event.

* The debriefs are confidential in nature and any statistical information contained in this document is expressed in general or

percentage terms to help provide an overall view of the event.


There are numerous limitations with the existing statistical information, making it difficult to

compare year‐on‐year figures due to the inconsistent manner in which information is

reported. There is also no baseline data available to compare a regular summer

Friday/Saturday night activity in St Kilda with Festival Sunday, so it is not possible to

conclude whether the event represents any sizeable increase in alcohol‐related activity than

that of a hot, weekend night during summer. Finally, while the statistics for 2009 reflect a

reduction in overall incidents from the previous year, this needs to be considered within the

context of significantly lower attendance numbers, making it likely that the impact of the

new strategies will only be fully understood over time.

While there has clearly been an improvement in the control of alcohol consumption there

are a number of issues that have not been resolved. For instance, it is still possible to

purchase alcohol (albeit at restricted levels) from take‐away liquor outlets operating within

the Festival precinct. Once the alcohol has been purchased, there is no legal way to consume

it within the precinct. This creates a fraught environment for law enforcers who will only

have limited ability to police consumption in a crowd of 300,000 people.

The consultation did reveal some public support for a total alcohol ban for the Festival

precinct; however, a counter view suggested that this strategy was not enforceable, as the

point of consumption could never be controlled.

SITE CONFIGURATION AND SECURITY

The festival footprint is large, stretching from Fitzroy Street to Acland Street and

encompassing Catani Gardens, the Esplanade, South Beach Reserve, O’Donnell Gardens and

Belford Street. As a predominantly non‐gated event there are very few options for

restricting pedestrian access and resultant flows, which can create challenges in terms of

policing crowd behaviour and overall logistics.

As an outdoor event that snakes through public land, residential and trader precincts, the

Festival event managers have had to develop risk management strategies to effectively

manage worst‐case scenarios. At times this has had programmatic implications such as the

closure of the Acland Street stage in 2003 to improve emergency vehicle access and egress.

To a Festival Sunday attendee (or trader), the reasons for these decisions may not be widely

understood and can be a cause for disappointment.

Attempting to reduce attendance numbers through increased fencing and/or ticketing is

both costly and (consultation has indicated) at odds with the open‐access spirit of the St

Kilda Festival. The preference has been to manage the large footprint through the

implementation of state‐of‐the‐art technology, high security and emergency services

presence, diverse event programming and extensive pre‐event planning (see Section 3.4.2).

A review of the emergency management debriefing notes suggests that, although the

footprint is large, continuously improving practices and coordination between the

emergency control centre and other site operations has enabled effective crowd

management. The security activities log suggests that alcohol related anti‐social behaviour,

although minor, was evident throughout the Festival precinct and not isolated to particular

sites. However, because of the limited detail available from police records it is not possible

to confirm whether arrests reflect this pattern also or whether there are, in fact, particular

hotspot areas.

In 2009, the decision to bring the management of four bars inside the Festival Sunday

precinct under the direct control of Council was specifically made to better manage crowd


behaviour in relation to alcohol consumption. Although there has been some public criticism

of this decision due to what outwardly may be viewed as a conflict of interest, it in fact

appears to have been an effective alcohol management strategy. The debriefing notes

suggest that there were only minor issues within the bars themselves, mainly relating to

perimeter fencing breaches and some overcrowding.

The continuation of this strategy will require closer attention over time to better understand

its impact on crowd behaviour. There is also an opportunity here to explore the expansion of

the smaller Council‐run bars and develop them as broader ‘cultural experience zones’ that

lessen their emphasis as areas that exist solely for alcohol consumption. In tandem, a

feasibility assessment that reviews the closure of all take‐away liquor outlets within the

precinct on Festival Sunday could be considered as part of a revised alcohol management

strategy.

PROGRAMMATIC CONTENT

The way in which an event is programmed can have an impact on influencing crowd

behaviour. Festival Sunday is programmed as a family‐friendly event, however, the majority

of children’s oriented programming ends at 5:00pm. Part of the rationale for this is to

ensure time‐based crowd management strategies that control the flow of pedestrians

throughout the day. As the day progresses and the crowd builds, families are more likely to

return home as a new type of crowd heads for the major stages to enjoy the live music on

offer.

There is a responsibility placed on Festival Sunday’s programmers to understand the

potential implications of the type and timing of artists and acts they program. Different acts

will attract different crowds, and depending on style and popularity, each act may represent

a different risk in terms of crowd behaviour, particularly when alcohol consumption is

involved. The 2007 event management debrief observes that there can be issues when high

energy ‘hardcore’ rock bands are programmed back‐to‐back, as the crowd may not have

sufficient time to calm itself down. This contributes to the rationale for incorporating a half

hour break between performances on the main stages, when other festivals limit it to 15

minutes to keep the crowd atmosphere heightened.

With crowd control issues in mind, Festival Sunday is currently programmed to appeal to a

broad audience. An emphasis is placed on creating high quality live music experiences for

attendees. This is part of the reason for the emphasis on programming artists with multi‐

generational appeal who have experience performing live and a strong stage presence, as

opposed to some other music genres which may be associated with the display of extreme

behaviours including explicit language, drug and alcohol abuse.

The broader cultural events that the Festival programs, such as BMX demonstrations, salsa

etc, are part of the overall crowd management strategy. When high crowd numbers are

present, it is not possible for all people to be watching the live music at once and these

ancillary cultural events offer an entertainment alternative that creates conducive

atmospheres that promote constructive engagement and the directed release of built up

energy for attendees. It was noted during the consultation phase that such events were

particularly suited to both managing the high energy needs of teenagers and young people

throughout the duration of attendance and welcomed by family members accompanying

young participants.


3.4.4 ALCOHOL MANAGEMENT CONTROL LIMITATIONS

The Festival has developed a working relationship Liquor Licensing Victoria (LLV) to ensure

that there is a strategic approach to management of alcohol consumption on Festival

Sunday. The Festival works with traders each year to coordinate the applications for all

extended licenses to make sure they are in place before Festival Sunday. As the CoPP also

manages bars within the Festival precinct it seeks proactive engagement with LLV on this

matter, however, it has no control over the timing in which LLV issues licenses or the

conditions that may be imposed within those licenses.

This presents some impediments to effective alcohol management on the day of the event.

The primary concern is that the late issuing of a liquor license (usually less than a week prior

to the event) means that there is little opportunity to forward plan, particularly if new

conditions are applied to that license.

For instance, in 2009 there were a number of conditions placed on licensees regarding the

type of liquor that could be made available for sale on Festival Sunday. If a liquor license is

not issued until just prior to the event date and after stock has already been purchased, it is

possible that traders and the Council will have inadvertently purchased unsellable stock. This

is major concern, particularly for traders who significantly adjust their stock purchasing in

line with preparation for Festival Sunday.

This and other alcohol management requirements imposed by LLV can place a strain on the

effective working relationships between the Council and traders, as traders do not

necessarily recognise that these decisions are beyond the Council’s control. This situation

requires constant management and communication to ensure that the Council can continue

to have constructive working relationships with both LLV and the affected traders.


KEY FINDINGS

The following key findings relate to community behaviour at Festival Sunday:

A number of factors influence the behaviour of people in crowds and over time the St Kilda Festival management has implemented a variety of strategies to improve, monitor and respond to poor community behaviour on Festival Sunday.

The Festival works closely with emergency services partners who acknowledge that Festival Sunday is a well‐managed event with low incident rates when compared with other events of this type and scale.

Current evidence suggests that the extensive alcohol management strategies implemented by the Council to control alcohol‐fuelled behaviour are having a positive impact, however, a stronger evidence base and more analysis over time is required to substantiate this claim.

There are some anomalies in the way that alcohol restrictions currently operate that confuse the overall ‘alcohol‐free event’ message of the Festival and require further consideration.

There are inconstancies in the way data is reported from emergency services organisations each year, making year‐to‐year comparison difficult.

The Festival event management team is highly regarded and has helped Festival Sunday become a benchmark in major event management delivery models.


3.5 CULTURAL PROGRAMMING IMPACTS

This sub‐section considers the impacts related to the Festival’s programming from a range of

perspectives.

3.5.1 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The vision of the St Kilda Festival is:

’To promote Australian music and emerging Australian musicians, through a premier event that provides high profile opportunities for musicians to reach new audiences’; and

‘To celebrate Australian music, and provide a large scale outdoor celebration that encourages people to participate in and gain access to a broad variety of music and activity’.

The St Kilda Festival’s programming model has continuously evolved since its inception as a

community celebration in 1980 with a focus on celebrating the local area. Music has always

been a strong element of the program but it was not until 1986 that music became a central

programmatic driver with the incorporation of a live rock concert. The Festival has had a

number of significant moments in its programmatic evolution, most recently following its

2006 cancellation. This was a turning point in the Festival’s history, taking the opportunity to

extend the program offer from 2007 and address concerns regarding the impact of Festival

Sunday on host community amenity.

In 2009, 270,000 people attended Festival week. The program included seventy‐six free

performances and events, fourteen umbrella events, two ticketed events, eleven exhibitions

and two workshops. Of those performances and events forty‐nine were staged outdoors.

Over 320 artists participated, forty of whom were Indigenous artists, forty‐eight bands

performed on Festival Sunday with a further seventy performing across Festival week, in

some fifty venues. The Festival leveraged thirty‐eight strategic partnerships to bring the

program to life.

The Festival Sunday program represents the largest growth component of the St Kilda

Festival overall, from 5,000 people in 1980 to a peak of 400,000 people in recent years (see

Figure Seven below).

Figure Seven: Festival Sunday attendance numbers


Festival Sunday’s programming now includes three main music stages, a new music stage,

The Push and Songwriters’ Stages, Kidzones, Foxtel Village and over twenty cultural events

with diverse offerings including: swing, hip hop, Latin and Bollywood dancing, BMX and

street art demonstrations, volleyball and kite‐boarding.

The introduction of the Live N Local initiative in 2007 has provided additional opportunities

for emerging bands and performers from any music genre to find new audiences. The

initiative has also helped to diversify the Festival’s offer by incorporating a program over the

week that includes the performing arts (comedy, dance, theatre), writing, film and the visual

arts. It also includes cultural tours, night markets, music industry sessions, forums and a

comedy convention.

Although outside the scope of this review, in 2007 the St Kilda Festival also launched Yalukit

Wilam Ngargee – a stand‐alone cultural festival that celebrates Indigenous Bay culture over

Festival week. Its main focus, the music day, is the popular opening celebration of Festival

week that includes performance, visual arts, market stalls, children’s activities and

workshops.

3.5.2 PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

Whilst the Festival has continued to build a successful programming model, there is

currently no formalised artistic or programming policy in place. As the Festival is not a

corporate or non profit entity, there is no like governing group or artistic committee

structure as may be typical of other comparable major festivals to inform and guide artistic

policy. In addition, no peer or industry advisory body is in place to provide advice and input

to support the Festival Producer to establish long‐term arts and cultural programming

strategy. Program approval processes are currently dependent on Council’s annual budget

cycle processes.

Overarching curatorial and programming decisions are based on the respected expertise and

shared knowledge of the Festival’s Producer and contracted Music Programmer. In the

instance either were to leave the Festival it would present a significant risk to Council in

regards to the smooth continuation of the program and the continuation of related

knowledge, networks and expertise.

The non‐curated component of the Festival’s program is conducted through public call for

application, with respondents addressing set selection criteria. All applications are assessed

for suitability by the relevant Festival officer and endorsed by management. A programming

debrief is conducted to review performances annually. This debrief incorporates the music

program, ancillary cultural activities, Live N Local and Yalukit Wilam Ngargee.

Having no documented programming guidelines or policy in place for the St Kilda Festival

presents a number of risks to Council including:

the absence of a longer‐term programming strategy that documents the programmatic intent and delivers public benefits aligned to Council priorities

documented minimum levels of services and support for artists participating in the Festival

limited external and internal clarity about the participant and cultural focus of the Festival

a limited ability for the Festival Producer and programming staff to deliver longer term program planning, reducing the capacity to innovate and develop projects, particularly community based initiatives over time


reduced clarity regarding the dual role of the Festival Producer (combining General Manager and Artistic Director responsibilities), in terms of allocating the division of time dedicated to program creation and development activities, and administrative responsibilities

lack of long‐term succession planning.

MUSIC‐LED PROGRAM

The 2009 market research suggests that music is still the main reason people attend the St

Kilda Festival (24%), albeit only marginally higher than to socialise (22%) which is likely to be

influenced by the atmosphere the music provides. The configuration of the Festival Sunday

music stages for 2009 included:

South Beach Reserve – the major headline acts and large crowds are testament to the drawcard nature of the performers

World Music an, Blues/Roots Stage – established and emerging artists in Alfred Square and O’Donnell Gardens

New Music Stage – ten unsigned bands perform to large audiences off Acland Street, with one band voted by the public to perform on the Main Stage in the following year

The Push Stage – an all ages drug, alcohol and smoke‐free stage by, and for, young people presented by FReeZA Push Start and the Cities of Port Phillip, Stonnington, Kingston and Bayside

Songwriters Collective – performances by up‐and‐coming songwriters, with the stage sited on the foreshore.

Genre‐specific stages have been part of the St Kilda Festival since the mid 1980s. An analysis

of research indicates that although the World Music and Blues/Roots stages attract good

audiences on Festival Sunday, the genres themselves are restrictive programmatically. As

the blurring and mixing of genres occurs and the creation of new ones becomes more

prevalent, many artists consider it irrelevant to be programmed or ‘pigeon‐holed’ into any

one genre.

The inclusion of stages identified in this way is increasingly losing relevance to performers

and does not reflect their current practice or current market programming practice. The

inclusion of genre specific stages is currently being reviewed by the Festival and is likely to

change in 2010.

Throughout the consultation period, the South Beach Reserve stage drew both praise and

criticism from people. It is perceived by some to be emblematic of all that is not working

with Festival Sunday (loud, brash, overproduced, programmatically narrow, overly

commercial, generic, tourist centric,) and everything that Festival Sunday should embody

(fun, free, unifying, spirited, scenic, diverse and contemporary music oriented). Festival

programming, or any cultural programming, should and when successful, draw public

feedback due to the nature of difference in individual tastes, values and opinion.

The consultation revealed a high level of interest in the future program and an appetite for

even more diversification within the musical program. Suggested genres include more hip‐

hop and electronic music and the introduction of classical music, choral and opera

performances. Showcasing music from specific cultures was also suggested. This indicates a

sustained interest in the music program from the broader public and an interest in its

development and growth looking forward.


There are also differing views of St Kilda’s current place in the broader Melbourne music

scene, with some viewing gentrification as an issue affecting the area’s cultural vitality and

affordability for artists and others viewing the area as still supporting new musical talent. No

cultural mapping work has been undertaken in the CoPP to test these theories but in terms

of opportunities for emerging musicians, the St Kilda Festival does offer a broad program

that is unrivalled when considered with potential audience exposure in a festival

environment.

The New Music stage, in particular, represents an opportunity for emerging artists to gain

access to large audiences that would not ordinarily be possible. Through an open call for

entries process, ten bands are chosen to perform new content in a high exposure

environment that helps build profile and experience. A public vote decides the most popular

act of the day, the winner collecting a $5,000 prize and the opportunity to open the program

by performing on the main stage in the following year.

The current programming also supports emerging artists by showcasing them with more

prominent and experience artists on the other main stages. It is an aspiration of the Festival

to develop a more formalised mentoring program to assist emerging artists to develop their

business skills in areas including risk management, marketing and sponsorship. This

currently occurs in an informal, ad hoc capacity, however, the Festival team sees this an

opportunity to use their extensive knowledge to support young artists in a more structured

capacity through mentoring, information sessions and workshops. Similarly Live N Local

offers a unique opportunity for emerging artists with a local connection to play in venues

across St Kilda and hone their craft as they build new audiences (see Section 3.5.4).

3.5.3 PERFORMANCE CONSTRAINTS

The research and consultation has also brought to light the fact that established musicians

playing on Festival Sunday receive a proportion of what would be considered an industry ‐

standard performance fee. This situation is typical for many not for profit Festivals that find

it challenging to match commercial rates. In 2009 an additional $30,000 was injected into

the Festival’s programming budget as it became clear that the some musicians were

declining the offer to participate in Festival Sunday based on performance fee issues.

The calibre of the artists that the Festival continues to attract illustrates the quality of the

Festival team’s networks, the high level of goodwill that surrounds the St Kilda Festival and

the genuine desire of artists to play to large audiences in both an event and an iconic area

that is rich in musical history. A number of artists are attracted to the Festival by the notion

of performing for public benefit, rather than commercial interests. The demographic of the

audience also holds particular appeal.

The negative impact is that in an increasingly competitive Festival calendar this goodwill is

being tested. There is a constrained ability for Festival programmers to attract a consistently

strong line‐up that can meet public and sponsor expectations whilst competing for acts with

other festival programs. The increased competition in the event calendar has seen the

introduction of ‘exclusivity’ clauses in artist contracts, mostly for ticketed events, which

places restrictions on artist appearances around specified timelines.

These conditions limit St Kilda’s capacity to attract headline acts at the very peak of public

appeal. However, the Festival is able to successfully respond in this highly competitive

environment by supporting and ‘breaking’ new and emerging acts prior to their highest level

of public appeal or programming well established acts with a loyal fan base. This is a


significant point of programming differentiation between the St Kilda Festival and other

music festivals.

3.5.4 LIVE N LOCAL

Introduced in 2007, Live N Local offers a broad programming mix over the seven days

between Yalukit Wilam Ngargee and Festival Sunday. In 2009, 228 entries were received,

resulting in forty‐three bands being selected to perform, and fifty venues hosting events that

ranged across the performing, written and visual arts. The program also included cultural

tours, night markets, music industry sessions and forums. The event is managed by the

Festival’s Live N Local coordinator who presides over a total budget of $25,000 (approx) of

which $14,500 supports programming and the remainder is allocated to marketing. A

diverse and high level of programmatic offer is delivered over this period of time within very

tight budget constraints.

The origins of the Live N Local initiative stem from host community concern about the

growth of Festival Sunday which some residents considered was not only impacting on local

amenity but had also lost sight of its community origins. A programming refresh brought

forward Live N Local as an opportunity for the host community to re‐engage with the St

Kilda Festival in a way that showcased local talent in local venues. How successful Live N

Local has been in facilitating this repositioning cannot yet be established.

It is estimated that 10,000 people attended Live N Local in 2009. This attendance number is

derived from anecdotal advice gathered by the Live N Local team in consultation with local

venues. It is currently not possible to differentiate between the numbers of people

specifically attending these venues to participate in Live N Local activity and those who may

have attended the venue on that day regardless of any Festival programmed activity.

From the market research undertaken in 2009 the following was concluded:

47% of residents were aware of Live N Local overall, with the highest level of awareness shown in the immediate Festival precinct (67%).

CoPP residents located beyond the immediate Festival precinct showed a 37% awareness of Live N Local and traders showed a 53% awareness of Live N Local.

Those respondents who were aware of Live N Local were more likely to live in St Kilda (60%) and had previously attended Live N Local (100%) or Festival Sunday (54%).

The highest proportion of respondents who had attended Live N Local in the past were from the St Kilda ward (66%).

Although respondents aged 50–59 showed the highest level of awareness of Live N Local (57%), respondents aged 15–24 were more likely to attend (23%).

As the only statistical research on Live N Local to date, no firm conclusions can be drawn

from this information. However, the figures do indicate a fair level of awareness considering

the program’s relative newness and lack of market penetration throughout the City of Port

Phillip more broadly. It compares favourably to Yalukit Wilam Ngargee, which was launched

in the same year but showed an overall awareness of only 20%. The highest level of

awareness and attendees was from the St Kilda area, a significant proportion of who were

repeat participants. Although an older demographic showed the greatest awareness, the

youngest demographic demonstrated the highest likelihood to attend.


From this information, it is not possible to extrapolate whether there has been an

acceptance of Live N Local as an alternative offering to the host community. Anecdotal

evidence through consultation suggests that the program is not yet drawing a critical mass

of local participation. It was suggested that many of those who disapprove of the direction

of Festival Sunday were more likely to attend Yakulit Wilam Ngargee than Live N Local. This

was primarily thought to be because it was a daytime, family‐friendly and small‐scale event

that more closely resembled the St Kilda Festival in its early period.

In 2009, the profile of Live N Local was increased, predominantly through the presence of an

information booth in Acland Street, which is believed by the Festival to have had a positive

increase in attendance numbers. Anecdotally, the comedy component is thought to be the

most successful in terms of audience appeal and size, with the music component drawing

less consistent crowds. Comedy is recognised within the sector as being a highly accessible

artform, with a broad appeal to Australian audiences.

In terms of artist development, it is not known what impact Live N Local is having for

musicians as no research has currently been undertaken to track musicians’ career

progression following appearances at the Festival. What is known is that since 2007, ten

artists who performed in the Live N Local program have subsequently gone on to perform on

main stages as part of Festival Sunday. There are also a significant number of artists who

reapply to be part of Live N Local each year, indicating that musicians are finding the

experience a valuable one. Consultations also revealed anecdotal support for the Festival’s

programming of emerging musicians and a high degree of respect for the administration of

the Live N Local call for entries process.

The interest in participating in Live N Local through the call for entries process is strong.

While some musicians also perform on main stages on Festival Sunday, overall, Live N Local’s

linkage to the Festival program in an ongoing way needs to be established. If the initiative is

to be made part of the mainstream program, it needs to be funded to a level that supports

its success. Its role in the Festival calendar could be made clearer as can its target audience.

The initiative is unlikely to be attracting its original target market ‐ local residents who were

unsupportive of the direction of Festival Sunday and seeking a return to a smaller, daytime,

community‐oriented festival program. The existing evidence suggests that it is now more

likely to attract a younger demographic who are likely to be Festival Sunday supporters.

3.5.5 ANCILLARY CULTURAL EVENTS

The historically low levels of programming funding has placed pressure on the Festival team

to look to alternative sources to develop program content, particularly for Festival Sunday.

The Call for Events process, established in its current format in 2007, enables community

groups to participate in Festival Sunday by showcasing their event in front of sizeable and

new audiences.

In 2009, the Festival received forty applications from groups wishing to be programmed as

part of Festival Sunday. Of those applications twenty‐two were successful and a further four

were programmed through other Festival opportunities.

The groups were diverse and included activities such as kiteboarding, volleyball, Latin dance,

swing and Bollywood dancing, BMX and street art demonstrations, cultural tours and the

Jewish Museum heritage walk. The benefit of participation for groups became evident

during the consultation process as a number of participants acknowledged clear business


development opportunities. The comment below was received from one Festival Sunday

presenter:

‘We love the festival and for the past few years…have used the event to 'sell' our sponsors and potential sponsors on the following season. It has been a very important vehicle for us to show our sponsors a great event’.

Another presenter noted the importance of participation in Festival Sunday by

acknowledging that it is an opportunity to develop new audiences and that it successfully

attracts new clientele to its business year‐on‐year.

Although all individuals and groups can apply as part of the Call for Events process, a

significant number of applicants are deterred once they become aware of the overhead

costs related to participation. The CoPP is not able to offer infrastructure, financial or

organisational support to help bring the event to fruition on Festival Sunday. For a small

community group, the costs can be prohibitive unless a sponsor can be brought on board

and this can then create issues with the Festival’s existing sponsors, so it needs to be

managed sensitively.

In 2009, a number of events reluctantly withdrew from the process citing a lack of capacity

to meet overhead costs. For Festival 2010, the Festival team is attempting to ameliorate this

issue by offering a small community grants fund to applicants from the CoPP to assist with

overhead costs. The Festival would also like to develop a structured mentoring program that

offers advice and support to applicants and helps build event management capability in the

community.

The Festival’s website states that, 'the St Kilda Festival values open and accessible

entertainment, so preference will be given to events that do not charge admission’. While

ticketing events may be against the Festival’s ethos, the Festival does enter into contractual

arrangements with ancillary entertainment providers that do charge user fees. The

consultation revealed a strong resistance to programming that was generic by nature and

that charged user fees, such as carnival rides. In 2009 two events that charged for audience

participation received very low patronage during Festival Sunday, supporting the contention

that a user‐pays model is unlikely to be successful in a predominantly free entertainment

environment.

3.5.6 PROGRAMMING BUDGET

The St Kilda Festival delivers exceptional programming content and quality under very

constrained budget conditions. Largely due to budget limitations, the Festival has restricted

capacity to address shortfalls in artist performance fees, develop existing programs and

connections, support creative developments, commission new works, engage professional

artistic advice or broker new creative partnerships.


Figure Eight compares the programming budget to the production budget from 2003‐2009.

Figure Eight: Programming and Production budget comparison

Although there has been a comparable percentage growth annually, the programming

budget commenced at a very low baseline – a funding ‘gap’ for programming was already in

existence. In 2003, the difference between the programming and production budget was

$288,099; in 2009 it stands at $762,709. These figures do not reflect an ‘overblown’

production budget; in fact, this budget line is also under a number of financial constraints

and faces year‐on year challenges meeting service needs. Event production costs have

increased through necessity and demand to minimise resident impact and create a safe,

secure environment of Festival Sunday.

Making the case for programming budget increases has been challenging for the Festival and

it has resulted in some compromised choices in ancillary programming. Managing public

safety, improving event quality and mitigating risks often take precedence in annual budget

cycles. Conveying the importance and public value of programmatic content can be more

challenging than explaining the need for greater security. However the quality of participant

experience is equally important as their safety at the Festival. However, it is not possible to

develop a sustainable program and vision without reasonable levels of investment.

Developing and maintaining a sustainable programming model that is supported by artistic

policy is pivotal to the future success of the Festival’s business model. Supporting increased

levels of programming investment, concurrent with the development of an artistic policy is

considered a positive step in securing the St Kilda Festival’s continued longevity, relevance

to the community and broad appeal.

The Council needs to remain aware of the risk of normalising a culture of purchasing artistic

services for lower‐than‐market‐accepted prices and in turn devaluing content while over‐

capitalising on the goodwill surrounding the programming of the Festival.

The programming budget excludes the program manager fees of $10,000 p.a. There are no 2006 figures due to the Festival’s cancellation.


3.5.7 PROGRAMMING CONSIDERATIONS

Before implementing any programmatic changes it is important that the Festival considers

the overall St Kilda Festival program from a holistic perspective. For instance, although

Yalukit Wilam Ngargee was outside the scope of this review, there may be significant gains

from reviewing its potential to deliver outcomes to the community that Festival Sunday

cannot. Similarly, any changes to the Live N Local program should be made with an

understanding of what it is currently delivering, who its market is, and how it can deliver

maximum public benefit within the context of the overall Festival program.

The Festival needs to negotiate a balance between delivering on the broad goals of Council

policy and ensuring the programming intent does not become diluted to the point where the

target market is unclear. This is particularly pertinent to Festival Sunday which, as the high

profile day, needs to set a clear programming direction that anchors the remaining Festival

celebrations. Given the average visit to a festival is typically between one to three hours, it is

conceivable that the Festival’s program can maintain a position of ‘something for everyone’

and afford to become more programmatically targeted (in terms of offering specific

participant experiences) throughout the week and on Festival Sunday. This may include

specific activities developed for families, children or young people under 30 in the program.

Many arts and cultural festivals operate through a split CEO arrangement, a General

Manager and an Artistic Director, with both reporting to a Chair of a Board of Directors. The

St Kilda Festival combines these roles in the Festival Producer position. In this instance

administrative and operational concerns often outbalance artistic policy or programmatic

development. While a reappraisal of this arrangement may be appropriate in the longer

term, in the interim it is advisable that the Festival seeks independent artistic advice to

support the curatorial team prior to making any major programmatic changes. The benefit

of a sustained commitment to programmatic development through additional artistic

oversight will assist the Festival to recognise its intrinsic strengths and to plan creative risks

in programmatic areas.


3.6 ECONOMIC IMPACTS

This sub‐section of the report is concerned with the economic impact of the Festival on the

City, attributable only and exclusively to the Festival as an event. It also addresses the

current financial impacts of the Festival through an analysis of existing revenue sources.

3.6.1 ECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

The City has undertaken two significant economic impact studies over the course of the

Festival’s history. The first, a combined attendee profile and economic impact evaluation

was undertaken in 2003 by Victoria University, Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research.

The second, also undertaken by Victoria University in 2009, was an economic assessment

report. Both reports focus exclusively on Festival Sunday.

BACKGROUND – FESTIVAL AND EVENT EVALUATION

There are a variety of evaluation approaches that are commonly used to provide insight into

event performance, these include: economic, social and environmental impact, business

leveraging, branding, media and participant satisfaction.

KEY FINDINGS

The following findings relate to the current status of cultural programming for the St Kilda Festival:

The current Festival programmatic focus is on live Australian music, particularly the development of emerging musicians for whom it provides a unique opportunity for exposure and development.

There is currently no overarching artistic policy or guideline for the Festival which, given the high level of public interest in the program, represents a number of risks for Council in terms of accountability and sustainability.

The Live N Local initiative delivers a broad programmatic offering at low cost but it is not currently possible to understand its impact artistically, or its patronage by the local population.

While the ancillary cultural program fulfils multiple roles in terms of delivering programmatic content, increasing revenue streams, and offering active participation and exposure to community groups, its long‐term purpose and benefit requires further consideration.

The Festival delivers an impressive diversity and depth of programmatic content under very restrictive budgetary constraints. This has strongly impacted on its capacity to innovate within the current programmatic model and address industry level performance fees for artists.

The target audience for the Festival’s programs requires clarity. The program is robust enough to maintain a position of ‘something for everyone’ whilst becoming more programmatically targeted throughout the week and on Festival Sunday.


Victoria University’s Centre for Tourism and Services Research, formerly the Centre for

Hospitality and Tourism Research led a standardisation process for the economic evaluation

of events that resulted in the development of a festival and event evaluation tool known as

‘Encore’. Encore has been used to assess the economic performance of festivals and major

events locally, nationally and internationally. Currently, the University of Technology Sydney

(UTS) in partnership with CRC for Sustainable Tourism (Cooperative Research Centre for

Sustainable Tourism) is updating Encore; the project, Encore Festival and Event Evaluation

Tool: Review and Redevelopment, is due for completion in 2010.4

Note: There is an opportunity for the City to take into consideration the results of this

research project as it is completed in 2010 and adopt any improvements to the Encore tool

as they are released.

ECONOMIC IMPACT FINDINGS

It is commendable that the City has allocated a portion of resources towards the review and

evaluation of the Festival to help understand its market, assess performance, improve

service delivery, build on benefits and manage costs. However, commissioned reports must

be comprehensive and consistent to be of best value and to ensure a considered analysis

has taken place. Comparison between the 2003 and 2009 reports is not possible as each had

different research objectives and approaches. With this type of quantitative evaluation

approach validity, consistency and subsequent comparability are more reliant than other

evaluation approaches, due to the precision with which the key variables are collected.

In economic terms, the outcomes of each of the evaluations are included below based on a

common estimated attendance ‘population’ of 250,000. In‐scope expenditure represents

the amount of money that would not have been spent in the region had the event not been

held. It is determined by extrapolating the survey results to the estimated population and

incorporating the organiser’s expenditure.

4 UTS: http://datasearch.uts.edu.au/business/grants/detail.cfm?ProjectId=2009000631


ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT FINDINGS (2003 REPORT)

Table Five: 2003 In‐scope expenditure and economic impact of the St Kilda Festival for Metropolitan Melbourne ($M)

Economic Contribution $M

In‐scope expenditure

International visitors 0.7

Interstate visitors 0.8

Regional Victoria visitors 1.7

TOTAL 3.2

Economic impact

Indirect 1.2

Direct 1.6

TOTAL 2.8

The following observations have been made regarding the 2003 report:

Data used to determine the economic impact included attendee expenditure figures collected via face‐to‐face interviews with 350 people, and income and expenditure related to staging the Festival, with estimates of the percentage of expenditures that were made in metropolitan Melbourne provided by the Council.

The direct in‐scope expenditure for the region (St Kilda) was not included as part of the evaluation.

There were a very small number of non‐metropolitan Melbourne residents in the sample (<15%) and a high likelihood that many visitors to metropolitan Melbourne were not doing so specifically to attend the St Kilda Festival.

The 2003 Festival Sunday induced high levels of economic activity in metropolitan Melbourne.

For every 50,000 people, the economic impact increase was estimated to represent an additional contribution of $500,000.

Based on an estimated attendance of 250,000 people, the economic impact of the 2003 St Kilda Festival Sunday for metropolitan Melbourne was estimated to be $2.8 million.


ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT FINDINGS (2009 REPORT)

Table Six: 2009 Direct in‐scope expenditure and total in‐scope expenditure of the St Kilda Festival for the Region and State ($M)

Economic Contribution

Region (St Kilda) $M State (Victoria) $M

Direct in‐scope expenditure

International visitors 3.0 8.3

Interstate visitors 1.7 4.1

Capital City visitors 7.8 ‐

Other Intrastate visitors 1.9 ‐

TOTAL 14.6 12.5

Total in‐scope expenditure

Attendees 14.6 12.5

Organiser 0.07 0.12

TOTAL 14.7 12.7

The following observations have been made regarding the 2009 report:

Data used to determine the direct economic contribution included attendee expenditure figures, face‐to‐face interviews with 378 people and income and expenditure related to staging the Festival, with estimates of the percentage of the expenditures that were made in the St Kilda region provided by the Council.

The direct economic contribution of Festival Sunday 2009 is shown for the St Kilda region and Victoria.

Attendance of those living within postcode 3182 (St Kilda) was estimated at 15%.

The overwhelming majority of attendees and visitor expenditure came from metropolitan Melbourne (Capital City visitors).

Based on a sample size of 618 and an estimated total attendee population of 250,000 people, the direct in‐scope expenditure of the 2009 Festival Sunday for St Kilda is estimated to be $14.6 million.

Based on an estimated attendance of 250,000 people the total economic contribution of Festival Sunday 2009 to St Kilda is estimated to be $14.7 million.

Based on an estimated attendance of 250,000 people the total economic contribution of the 2009 St Kilda Festival Sunday to Victoria is estimated to be $12.7 million (see note below).

Note(s): The St Kilda Festival 2009 Economic Assessment Report cautions that the in‐scope

expenditure figure for Victoria is dependent on the expenditure made by interstate and

international visitors. This cautionary note is based on the indication by those surveyed that

their attendance at the Festival was the driver of their trip to Victoria or Australia. It is likely


that this question may have been misinterpreted to some degree, resulting in an over‐

emphasis in the overall figure for economic contribution to Victoria.

The following three techniques are most frequently used in economic impact analysis within

the public sector:

Input–Output analysis (I‐O)

Input–Output Econometric modelling (IOE)

Computable General Equilibrium modelling (CGE).

In helping to understand the broader benefits of cultural programs, these models and

techniques can be complemented by analysis that demonstrates the merit value of an

initiative. The current evaluation methods for the St Kilda Festival do not measure the

longer‐term public good and the positive externalities of the Festival, nor do they provide

detail on the technique or model used to undertake the economic evaluation. This would be

helpful in future to enable a clearer understanding of the factors influencing the final

outcome.

3.6.2 OTHER FINANCIAL IMPACTS

The following section outlines additional financial impacts related to existing funding

arrangements currently in place to support the delivery of the St Kilda Festival.

FUNDING MIX

Since the Festival’s inception, Council has been the primary funder and underwriter of the

event. The Festival itself has no assets or liabilities that can be isolated from the City’s

budget. The last three years of financial records indicate that the Council’s contribution to

the Festival represents between 30 to 40% of its annual income.

In 2009, Council’s contribution was augmented by additional State Government funding (8%)

and revenue from earned income sources (20%). See Table 12 below. A significant

proportion of the Festival’s funding is derived from private sources (30%), the vast

proportion of which is from its partnership with principal sponsor FOXTEL. In addition the

ratio between financial and in‐kind support in 2009 is 0.18. In short, the funding base for the

Festival is diverse with risk shared between a number of sources.

Table Seven: Festival Funding Sources 2009

INCOME PERCENTAGE Council Contribution (budgeted) 34% Private Funding – Sponsorship 30%

Earned Income 23%

State Government Funding 8% Council Cost Recovery 5%

CURRENT EXPENDITURE

The most significant Festival expense is the production budget, which has increased some

269% since 2003 levels and represented 62% of overall expenditure in 2009 (see Table

Eight). This increase has been necessary to effectively manage costs associated with growing

Earned income includes itinerant trading fees, permanent trader fees, catering income, call for entries fees and program advertising sales


Festival audiences and public expectation around security and the reduction in impacts to

the host community. Administration, which includes five FTE staff members, represents the

second largest expense (20%).

Table Eight: Festival Expenditure 2009

EXPENDITURE PERCENTAGE

Production 62%

Administration 20% Programming 7%

Marketing and Communications 7% Other 4%

MULTI‐YEAR FUNDING

The overall financial results of the Festival for the last three years have shown operating

deficits that have been underwritten by the Council. This places the Festival in a unique

position in comparison with some of its competitors in terms of managing financial risks as

well as an ability to carry operating deficits (at both an accounting and cashflow level).

Council currently considers its level of funding commitment to the St Kilda Festival on an

annual basis, meaning there is effectively no guaranteed funding for the Festival from year

to year. This is an issue that seriously hampers the Festival’s ability to leverage additional

sources of income from other government and non‐government partners who are less

inclined to invest without ongoing support from the principal funder. Limiting the flow of

resources to an annual cycle also restricts the Festival’s capacity to undertake planning and

development activities and negotiate best quality programming year to year.

The risk this funding strategy presents was most evident in 2006 when the Festival was

cancelled, with Council citing the Commonwealth Games and lack of financial support as

causal factors. A significant level of public support for the continuation of the Festival was

received and lobbying for its continuation saw the return of an enhanced Festival in 2007.

This was made possible with increased financial support by the Council combined with a

significant contribution from State Government and FOXTEL as principal sponsor.

The Festival’s current business plan suggests that Council’s ideal annual contribution to the

Festival should represent approximately one third of the income required (in kind

sponsorship excluded) to stage the Festival. The financial goal is to increase other revenue

sources to reduce Council’s total contribution to 33% by 2012–2013. The forecast budget

anticipates a sizeable increase in the Festival’s recurrent grant from Arts Victoria and from

its sponsorship deal with FOXTEL.

This Review coincided with negotiations for the continuation of support from both FOXTEL

and Arts Victoria from 2011 onwards, with the results yet to be determined. Should

additional funding not be forthcoming from these sources, the current Business Plan will

require significant adjustment.†

Production expenditure includes infrastructure which comprises: signage, traffic management, marquees, fencing 34%; safety,

security and emergency services 10%; waste, land management and toilets 9%; staging, audio‐visual and lighting 9%.

†At the time of writing, Arts Victoria funding was secured for a further three years, however, only a marginal increase in

investment was forthcoming leaving a $100,000 p.a. shortfall in the Festival’s projected budget.


As the primary funder and underwriter, the Council is in a position to provide some funding

certainty to the Festival by determining a minimum funding level for a set period of time

through a multi‐year commitment. This would support the Festival to introduce planning in

the medium term and assist the development of mitigation strategies to avoid operating

deficits in future years. It would also represent a public commitment to the St Kilda Festival

and assist the Festival team in continuing to develop its relationships with other potential

funders.

OTHER FUNDING SOURCES

Given the Festival’s strong desire to remain an unticketed event, funding from other

government and private sources represents a critical element in the future sustainability of

the Festival. These partnerships also ensure Council’s capacity to maintain a level of shared

risk through a diversified funding base. State and Federal funding can be accessed for

community celebrations, however, there is a lack of clarity on funding entry points for this

category, with festivals having to seek funding from a number of possible programs.

Access to funding for the Festival for artistic outcomes through bodies such as Arts Victoria

and the Australia Council are readily accessible with set guidelines. The Festival has a well‐

established funding relationship with Arts Victoria that could continue to be nurtured to

explore additional project funding for specific artistic activity. Similarly, the Australia Council

has indicated that it is open to a discussion regarding the strategic fit of the Festival within

its funding guidelines.

Securing funding from private sources has been increasingly difficult for Australian arts and

cultural organisations in the face of the recent economic downturn. Trends indicate monies

from this source of funding are being concentrated among fewer organisations and private

funders are shifting away from cash funding to in‐kind, or a mix of both. Servicing the

expectations and requirements of private sources of funding is also a hidden cost in terms of

Festival staff resources and time.

It is unlikely that the Festival team has the capacity to source, develop and maintain

relationships with any new major sponsors. If the Council is seeking to reduce or stabilise its

investment over time, it will need to boost this capacity.


3.7 INDIRECT COST IMPACTS

This section provides an overview of potential indirect costs related to the St Kilda Festival

that may impact on the community.

3.7.1 DEFINITION

Indirect costs can generally be identified as secondary costs that are not considered

immediately attributable to the main outcomes of the Festival. This can include items like

road closures, security, land preparation and repair etc. These costs are all identified in the

St Kilda Festival’s budget but are technically indirect as they are not the direct costs of

Festival delivery outcomes. For the purposes of this report, these items have not been

included in the discussion that follows as they are costs that have already been quantified

and are not pertinent to a discussion regarding indirect impacts to the community. A

number of indirect costs are outlined that are not easily quantifiable but may impact on the

community. A broad definition of community is used that extends beyond the host

community.

3.7.2 REPULSION EFFECT

In the Victorian Auditor General’s 2007 report, State Investment in Major Events, there was

an attempt to quantify the economic impact of Victorians leaving Melbourne as a direct

response to the Australian Grand Prix – known as at the Repulsion Effect.

The report estimated that in 2005, $900,000 was diverted from the State based on evidence

in community surveys. There has been no attempt to date to establish whether there is an

active Repulsion Effect as a result of Festival Sunday.

KEY FINDINGS

The following key findings relate to the economic impact of the St Kilda Festival:

The St Kilda Festival Sunday represents a very high level of economic contribution to the local region ($14.7 million), however, the complete picture is not clear as the evaluation has been limited to Festival Sunday only.

There has not been consistent funding for economic impact evaluations of Festival Sunday to support decision‐making, impacting on the Festival’s ability to better meet service demands and public expectation.

The Festival Business Plan indicates Council’s funding contribution toward its total operating budget will be one‐third by 2012/2013, with the remainder of income to be drawn from a mixture of other government, private and earned sources.

The Festival attracts a diversified funding base, however, Council funding does not currently extend beyond an annual commitment. This factor, combined with limited resources within the Festival team, restricts opportunities to further leverage financial resources from other government and non‐government supporters.


The only statistical data available that could be used for modelling purposes is the

identification that 8% of the population was not home on Festival Sunday in 2009, as

observed in the NWC Opinion Research (2009). However, there was no follow‐up question

to understand whether there was any causal link between people not being at home and

Festival Sunday itself. Anecdotal evidence did not suggest at any stage that this was a

concern with any significant merit. While some residents expressed dissatisfaction, very few

volunteered that they actually left their home as a direct result. The Repulsion Effect cannot

be considered to be active in St Kilda based on the evidence available and is unlikely to

represent a sizeable indirect cost to the local economy.

3.7.3 TRADER CLOSING

Market research data (NWC Opinion Research, 2009) suggests that there are a statistically

significant number of traders closing their doors on Festival Sunday (see Section 3.3.5). This

statistic may be an anomaly, however, there is a potential risk here for Council if a direct link

to trader closing and Festival Sunday can be established in that traders may at some stage

seek compensation for business impacts. This represents an indirect and currently

unquantified cost to Council.

3.7.4 HEALTH SERVICES

There has been isolated commentary through the consultation that there may be a

significant cost to the community related the anti‐social behaviour present on Festival

Sunday. In particular, there has been a reference to a perceived spike in hospital emergency

admissions at one inner Melbourne hospital. As previously noted in, Festival Sunday is

currently perceived to be a ‘low risk’ event by emergency services and the statistics made

available for this review support this contention.

While there were a number of transportations from Festival Sunday to hospitals in 2009, the

number is considered well within tolerances for a public event of this scale. Only a

proportion of cases can be attributed to alcohol/drug consumption and/or resultant anti‐

social behaviour. The cases noted were diverse and included symptoms such as chest pain,

falls and convulsions. Patients were dispatched to multiple hospitals, unlikely to result in a

spike of any significance in emergency admissions at any one hospital. To further interrogate

this in terms of indirect costs to the community, it would be necessary to compare these

statistics to a baseline of regular Friday or Saturday night activity in St Kilda.

Based on current evidence, however, it is not possible to conclude that anti‐social behaviour

on Festival Sunday represents a significant indirect cost to the community. There may be

more localised indirect costs resulting from anti‐social behaviour, such as the impact on local

community strengthening but this is difficult to measure and to attribute costs.

3.7.5 GOODWILL

There is a significant amount of goodwill that enables the St Kilda Festival to be produced

each year, including:

Festival Staff – the Festival team within CoPP is a small, dedicated group that consistently goes above and beyond the requirements of their roles to ensure the Festival is of the best quality and runs smoothly each year. This is a typical pattern in festival and event management business models. In addition to the St Kilda Festival, this team is also responsible for producing the St Kilda Film Festival, managing a grants program and attending to usual Council business. To produce the St Kilda Festival, the team regularly works extended hours and


under conditions that would not be expected of other CoPP staff receiving equivalent remuneration. This is particularly acute in the build up to the delivery of the Festival and while the Festival is running. There is little budget capacity for overtime costs to be paid, so time in lieu is offered as an alternative. The hardworking nature of the Festival team was consistently acknowledged by peers, colleagues within Council and by external stakeholders. There is a real risk of experienced staff ‘burn‐out’ resulting in loss of corporate memory, which is a risk factor acknowledged within the broader festivals and events sector. There is an unquantified indirect cost that has been identified here in terms of unpaid officer time.

CoPP staff – supporting the Festival team are a number of CoPP staff that operate across numerous departments within Council. Their contribution in terms of time spent working on the Festival has not been established, representing an indirect and unquantified cost to Council.

Suppliers – each year the production team engages a number of suppliers to undertake event management operations. Some suppliers provide services at a reduced cost because of the community nature of the Festival and the relationships that have been built over time. This has created somewhat of a ‘false economy’ as the true market value of services is not currently being carried within the Festival’s production budgets. As the years have progressed, this has placed pressure on the relationships between the suppliers and festival producers that mean the current prices are not likely to be sustainable in the longer term. This indicates an indirect cost requiring the consideration of Council regarding the ‘future‐proofing’ of delivery budgets.

Artists/Performers – despite an increase in 2009, performance fees are still significantly below an industry‐accepted standard. Concessions are made by some acts due to the community nature of the Festival and the benefits they receive from playing an outdoor event in St Kilda, in front of large appreciative audiences. However, it is not sustainable practice to continue to effectively undervalue this contribution in an event positioned as a celebration of arts and culture. It also places significant tension on the ability of the Festival’s programmers to negotiate competitively, and in good faith, with artists and agents, straining the development of important artistic relationships.

KEY FINDINGS

The key findings below relate directly to potential indirect costs to the St Kilda Festival and their impact on the community:

There is currently little evidence to support the attribution of indirect costs in relation to the Repulsion Effect (people leaving St Kilda because of Festival Sunday) or on health and emergency services.

There are a number of issues surrounding unquantified indirect costs that relate to ‘goodwill’ factors that contribute to the staging of the event, including hours worked by Festival staff and remuneration rates for artists and suppliers.


3.8 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

‘St Kilda has (a) significant opportunity to demonstrate leadership in this area by aiming for 100% sustainable transport by all attendees…’5

The public’s expectation of the environmental management of events such as the St Kilda

Festival is changing and there is now a growing need for event managers to demonstrate

awareness of, and strategies to manage environmental impacts. This section discusses the

present‐known environmental impacts of the Festival Sunday.

3.8.1 INTRODUCTION

In 2008 the St Kilda Festival initiated a three year partnership with Sustainability

Infrastructure Victoria (SIA) to better understand the current environmental impact of

Festival Sunday. The longer term goal is to establish the St Kilda Festival as a genuinely

carbon neutral event by developing best practice in environmentally sustainable event

management. In 2009, a report was released by SIA which focused on the Festival’s energy

consumption, waste and water management, transport and vendor resource use. This

section focuses exclusively on the environmental impact of Festival Sunday.

3.8.2 SIA REPORT DETAIL

The SIA’s 2009 report identified a clear approach to understanding the Festival’s current

environmental footprint including:

assessing existing environmental impact data – specifically greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water consumption and waste generation)

benchmarking current performance against existing industry standards and best practice

investigating appropriate sources of funding to support activities required to achieve the Festival’s environmental goals

ensuring alignment with the Council’s environmental policy, Toward Zero SES 2007.

The report found that the St Kilda Festival had already implemented a number of positive

initiatives which could be promoted more strongly including water reduction strategies, high

levels of recycling and the requirement of vendors to sell only items that are recyclable.

More specifically, SIA found:

The current environmental footprint demonstrated minimal water use with the primary usage attributed to temporary toilets, pre‐event lawn watering and water barriers.

An extensive public place recyclables collection program is already in place and an annual recycling education program is currently undertaken assisting Festival Sunday to achieve Bronze Waste Wise status.

Key energy use and most GHG emissions were attributable to attendee commuting behaviour, with 33.6% of attendees driving to the Festival.

The majority of energy usage was provided by diesel generators with only an estimated 5% sourced from mains electricity.

Key waste and resource use impacts were attributed to food vending/stalls and staff catering.

5 Sustainable Infrastructure Australia, St Kilda Festival: Sustainability Assessment and Recommendations Report, 2009, p.12


In benchmarking Festival Sunday, the report found that there were no genuine carbon

neutral festivals in the marketplace. The most common approach to carbon neutrality was to

purchase carbon offsets (Big Day Out, V Festival) rather than addressing direct energy usage.

The Meredith Music Festival and East Coast Blues and Roots Festival had shown leadership

in terms of waste management through initiating practices such as onsite sorting of recycling

and only allowing recyclable packing and plastic on site. Meredith has also introduced

compostable toilets on site.

The report made a number of recommendations moving forward including:

a staged implementation for carbon offsetting to reduce financial impost and to allow time to understand the implications of a national emissions trading scheme

a more detailed mapping of current energy usage and increased sophistication of data systems

ensuring all materials sold by vendors has minimal packaging and can be recycled through on‐site facilities

ensuring all food stalls use only compostable plates and utensils and trial the recycling of organic waste produced by staff catering tents

sort waste onsite, post‐event to ensure maximum recycling

detail specific recycling targets to assist achieving Gold Waste Wise accreditation

incorporating metering and consumption data reporting requirements in toilet facilities contracting arrangements

expanding facilities for bike users

developing a clear communication strategy to discourage attendees from using vehicles as the preferred mode of transport to the event.

The report outlines a three‐year action plan to move toward the achievement of these

recommendations and identifies key funding sources that may be leveraged. The cost of

achieving carbon neutrality is not detailed in the report but is understood to be significant.

Developing a partnership approach with key sponsors is the only way Festival Sunday can

make substantial inroads in achieving its environmental aims.

At the time the report was issued a three year partnership with SIA had been envisaged,

however, Council funding to support the‐partnership in its second year was rejected. There

is some uncertainty as to the current status of this relationship and the ambition to achieve

carbon neutrality remains one without financial support. In 2010, the Festival will aim to

implement as many environmental recommendations as possible within budget constraints

but there will be no ongoing monitoring of Festival Sunday.

This represents a lost opportunity for the Festival and Council to support its environmental

objectives as defined in their respective business and council plans. Without the

development of a substantial partnership arrangement the Festival is not in a position to

leverage additional funding from environmental funders, as there is not capacity within the

existing team to seek, develop and maintain these relationships.

Revenue derived by the City from parking infringement notices issued on Festival Sunday is

one mechanism to boost existing funding for initiatives that support the Festival’s

environmental objectives. The number of parking infringement notices issued on Festival

Sunday increases by approximately 400% from an average Sunday in St Kilda. As the leading


cause of GHG emissions, it seems appropriate to redirect infringement notice revenue to

initiatives that are aimed at the reduction of environmental impact.

3.8.3 PUBLIC PARKS AND GARDENS

There are a number of green spaces including within the Festival Sunday precinct – Catani

Gardens, Alfred Square, O’Donnell Gardens and South Beach Reserve. The SIA did not

consider the impact on these spaces in any detail in its 2009 report, however, consultation

was undertaken with the CoPP’s Parks and Open Space services as part of the review. The

City has acknowledged that high patronage, in times of drought, can have an impact on both

turf that is stressed or dry and tree roots, which may suffer from compaction.

To minimise this impact on public parks and gardens, the Council currently undertakes a

number of proactive measures prior to Festival Sunday, including:

implementation of increased irrigation cycles when appropriate (one month prior)

inspection of trees throughout the site and removal of any defective branches or dead trees (one month prior)

pruning of palm trees within the area (one month prior)

audit of all relevant irrigation systems so that they are in working order (one week prior)

highlighting irrigation lines to minimise occurrences of damage (one week prior);

defined root protection zones around trees and the use of bollards

ensuring that, when required, turf is replaced with warm season grasses which are more drought tolerant.

Overall, Festival Sunday is believed to have no long‐term impact on public parks and gardens

because of sound preparation prior to the event. While there may be some perception of

environmental degradation, there is no evidence to support this. There is existing damage to

some trees in Catani Gardens and South Beach Reserve does have less turf coverage than

other green spaces, but this is not as a result of Festival Sunday. There are additional

measures that the Council would like to put in place but these need to be managed annually

according to funding constraints.

3.8.4 SOUND ATTENUATION

As a music festival, there is an expectation that Festival Sunday will be noisy. This is an issue

of concern for some residents, particularly those living within the Festival precinct (see

Section 5.3.4). In 2009, the Festival commissioned a sound report to better understand the

current impact of noise and how the Festival could improve its performance through the

development of a Noise Abatement Plan.

The report was undertaken by Auditoria, a specialist acoustic company, who measured

acoustics from 10.00 am to 11.00 pm on Festival Sunday 2009. There was a thorough review

of the multiple sound systems, mechanical noise sources such as power generators and

identification of other noise sources including events not engaged by St Kilda Festival, such

as private parties, street performers and crowd noise.

The report acknowledged that as a temporary outdoor event on public land, there are

currently no EPA guidelines with regards to noise. The report did, however, make a number

of recommendations to address noise level issues and reduce impacts on the host

community, including:


adoption of correct sound system design practices that take into account the design of sound systems with appropriate audience coverage and sound level. These practices minimise the spill of energy towards unwanted areas and, at the same time, provide Festival attendees with a pleasant experience

establishment of permanent monitoring stations on Festival Sunday at the front of house position of the biggest stages and continuous monitoring of the different zones

establishment of proper record‐keeping practices of the different monitoring positions to ensure that the data can be used as a future reference

ensuring that companies hired to provide mechanical services (such as generators) use appropriate noise isolation on their equipment

provision of written notification by St Kilda Festival management regarding Festival Sunday at least fourteen days prior to the event to those residents inside the ‘notification boundary’ designated in the report.

The report acknowledged that a number of noise impacts are beyond the control of St Kilda

Festival management (such as private parties and unruly crowd noise) and encouraged the

event managers to work with authorities to identify issues so they could be dealt with

promptly. Currently, the Festival works closely with the Council’s Local Laws officers in the

lead up to Festival Sunday to pre‐emptively manage any illegal or potentially non‐compliant

activities. On Festival Sunday itself, Local Laws and Planning Enforcement officers are

present to continually monitor issues that may arise which breach noise regulations. Officers

are supported by an onsite acoustic consultant who can be dispatched to accurately

measure offending noise levels and assist with the enforcement of laws.

The Festival has accepted all recommendations in the report apart from two concerning the

repositioning of the World and New Music Stages. After careful consideration the former

was rejected on the basis of multiple factors including minimal sound attenuation gains and

increased noise bleed to other stages, while the latter was rejected due to the need to

provide sufficient emergency vehicle access. The Festival has adopted the recommended

Noise Abatement Plan without exception and has established a benchmark in relation to

sound levels. This reflects good practice.


KEY FINDINGS

The following findings relate to the St Kilda Festival’s environmental impacts:

The 2009 report by Sustainability Infrastructure Victoria has identified existing examples of good environmental practice and made recommendations for continued improvement, however, funding to continue this partnership was not supported by Council in the last budget round.

The primary source of Greenhouse Gas emissions was related to private vehicle travel to Festival Sunday and represented the most significant opportunity for improvement to achieve carbon neutral status.

The Festival is not deemed to have any long‐term impact on the City’s parks and gardens, however, there are additional measures that could be implemented to further minimise impact.

The Festival has adopted the majority of recommendations from the 2009 Sound Report and is implementing the Noise Abatement Plan, including the establishment of a benchmark to address sound attenuation.

Monitoring of Festival Sunday has shown that there are noise impacts not generated by the Festival that are more difficult to measure and affect some members of the host community negatively.


Section 4 SUSTAINABILITY Is the St Kilda Festival sustainable when measured in terms of cultural, social, economic and environmental outcomes?


4. SUSTAINABILITY This section addresses the sustainability of the St Kilda Festival from socio‐cultural,

economic and environmental perspectives.

4.1 DEFINITION

The working definitions of sustainability that have been used to guide the development of

this section are:

The concept of 'sustainability' provides an integrated approach to meeting our social, economic and environmental goals in a way that is equitable within and between generations. For local government it is about planning and providing for the needs of individuals and communities, protecting ecosystems and their services and creating prosperity. Australian Local Government Association

Development seeking to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, 1987

4.2 INTRODUCTION

The St Kilda Festival’s longevity has demonstrated its ability to survive and thrive through

numerous internal and external evolutions. 2006 represented a significant turning point for

the Festival, when multiple factors combined to see it cancelled for the first time in its

history. In 2007 it presented a new face to the public, a revamped and extended program

offer and a commitment to recast the Festival into a format that supported an appreciation

of Australian music in an environment that respected community values. In 2010, the

Festival will celebrate its thirtieth birthday, a significant milestone for this well‐loved cultural

icon. It faces a number of challenges if it is to continue to balance the expectations of its

funding partners, presenters, audiences and the host community.

4.3 SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT

The following tables provide an overview assessment of the key sustainability challenges the

St Kilda Festival faces. The information has been drawn from consultation and the evidence

base that has formed the basis of the previous sections of the report.

4.3.1 SOCIO‐CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY

Impact Area Sustainability Challenge

Community Strengthening

Festival’s continued ability to attract an audience that represents a broad demographic without negatively impacting on programmatic focus

Balancing the Festival’s free, open‐access philosophy in the face of financial pressure and host community concern regarding attendance growth

Effectively articulating and demonstrating the public value benefit of the Festival in the face of sustained criticism

Host Community Collation of consistent and targeted data to effectively evaluate the impact of the Festival on the host community


Maintaining high levels of host community engagement in the Festival as both passive audience members and active participants

Maintaining a culture of continuous improvement in addressing host community impact issues

Effectively managing concerns of the host community by identifying issues that are specific to the St Kilda Festival, and within its control, as opposed to those that relate to broader local area concerns

Effectively capturing data to understand the impact of the Festival on local traders

Development of consistent and effective strategies by the Festival and Council to respond to host community dissent

Community Behaviour

Financing capacity for continuous improvement in planning, implementation, monitoring and effective management of community behaviour on Festival Sunday

Continued development of relationships with key emergency services partners and improved statistical data reporting

Capacity for development and review of alcohol management strategies, including resolution of current impediments to effective incorporation of State Government regulation into annual strategies

Ability to develop communication strategies to deliver consistent, clear expectations of public behaviour on Festival Sunday

Cultural Programming

Strengthening artistic policy for the Festival

Enhancement of programmatic model

Establishment of recurrent funding by Council to enable the Festival’s capability to strategically plan a culturally rich program that supports public expectations

Clarity of the role of ancillary programming and provision of adequate resource support to ancillary programming presenters

Support for adequate evaluative resources to understand the current value of Live N Local to the host community and establish a clear direction moving forward

Adequate remuneration of musicians/performers

The capacity to view programming holistically, incorporating an overarching clarity of vision for Yalukit Wilam Ngargee, Live N Local and Festival Sunday

St Kilda’s Image Tension between the continued development of the Festival brand and the broader cultural aspirations of the CoPP

Ongoing management of Festival public relations with the media

Recognition that many individuals not currently residing in the area have a strong connection to St Kilda and are key influencers in future decision‐making regarding the Festival


4.3.2 ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY


Economic Assessment

Resource constraints impacting on ability to commission comparable and regular monitoring of the Festival’s economic impacts

Ability to commission economic assessments that use robust economic methodologies that reflect best practice in the evaluation of cultural events

Critical application of data as an effective leveraging tool for additional resources and improved public relations

Financial Assessment Festival’s capacity to attract a diverse funding mix including government, private and earned revenue

Funding uncertainty created by Council’s annual reappraisal of financial commitment to the Festival

Risks associated with current business plan expectations of additional revenue from government grants and private sponsorship

Indirect Costs False economy created by the ‘goodwill’ that currently supports the annual staging of the Festival

Capacity of Festival to identify emerging trends in indirect costs to the community

Policy Alignment Consistency of Festivals Framework and current Council funding practice

4.3.3 ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY


Partnerships Provision of financial resources to sustain existing partnership with Sustainability Infrastructure Victoria

Provision of human resources to actively seek environmental sponsors or grants to contribute to Festival goals

Environmental Activity

Provision of financial resources to implement recommendations from SIA report

Financial constraints impacting on implementation of more extensive pre‐event preparation of public parks and gardens

Continued allocation of resources to improve management of sound attenuation on Festival Sunday

Restricted ability to control sound attenuation from unsanctioned activity

Public Perception Clarity and consistency of the Festival’s environmental positioning in the public domain


Section 5 ST KILDA’S IMAGE & THE FESTIVAL Consider the Festival’s impact on the image of St Kilda.


5. ST KILDA’S IMAGE & THE FESTIVAL The section discusses the relationship between the St Kilda Festival and its impact on the

image of St Kilda more broadly.

5.1 INTRODUCTION

In 1980 when the Festival was first produced, St Kilda had a very different image to that of

today. Widely recognised as being a ‘seedy’ suburb of Melbourne that attracted society’s

‘undesirable’ people and activities, the Festival was introduced as a mechanism to begin to

change public perception of the area. While the experience of that image may linger in some

pockets of community memory, the overriding reality is that St Kilda today is a highly

desirable place to visit, live and work. ‘Edginess’ may be present in some areas but its

gradual gentrification has meant that this is no more visible and active than in many other

inner urban areas of medium density in Melbourne.

Concern regarding the direction of St Kilda’s development is an issue in the local community

but it is not isolated to St Kilda alone. It reflects a broader societal debate highlighting fears

that rapid economic growth and individual wealth creation may have negative longer‐term

impacts on community values and local identity. The Festival is seen by some as reflecting

this issue and, as a highly visible event, is squarely positioned to attract criticisms directly

related to this tension.

5.2 MEDIA PERCEPTION AND PUBLICITY

The Festival has attracted a mixed response in terms of media attention at various stages of

the Festival’s history. Some coverage has been keen to exploit what it has perceived as a

divisive community issue, with other media equally positive in acknowledging the value that

the Festival brings to the broader community. In 2009, the media response to the Festival

was overwhelmingly positive. While coverage on the day was low (due to Black Saturday),

the Festival itself achieved a broad and extensive media coverage that included: seventy‐

seven print media articles/listings, nineteen radio interviews, twelve online and three

television stories (St Kilda Festival, Evaluation Report, 2009).

Festival Sunday is very strongly marketed as a music event with a variety of entertainment

on offer for the entire family. Its acceptance as a family and community event is notable by

the range of press it achieves. In 2009, Festival Sunday received extensive support from ABC

774 and Triple R, radio stations that attract a broad audience demographic. Local coverage

was also strong, with the Festival positively reported on a regular basis in January and

February by the Emerald Hill Weekly and Port Phillip Leader. The media coverage also

captured the younger market predominantly through the penetration of principal sponsor

FOXTEL, in addition to Nova FM and local street press.

There is little doubt that the media has responded positively to the Festival programming

and production changes over the last five years. The introduction of more broadly accessible

programming, improved marketing strategies and a proactive approach to addressing issues

of poor community behaviour have helped make St Kilda Festival a newsworthy event

capable of attracting positive coverage for St Kilda.


5.3 GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

General perceptions among the broader community of the St Kilda Festival, particularly of

Festival Sunday, vary wildly. One of the recurring themes of the consultation was that some

residents no longer identified Festival Sunday as an event that reflected a unique St Kilda

quality that had previously been present. Although many people have differing perceptions

of what this quality may be, words such as artistic, local, unique, community, non‐

mainstream and non‐commercial were offered by way of explanation.

Some view the current incarnation of the St Kilda Festival, in particular Festival Sunday, to be

the antithesis of this atmosphere. Ironically, the Festival was often perceived as

quintessentially St Kilda by others – live music, diverse people, open access, lots of activity,

great venues and a picturesque location supporting beach culture.

While there may be a general consensus that urban gentrification and demographic change

have significantly altered St Kilda over the last thirty years, there are divergent opinions

about whether this change has been to the detriment or benefit of the local area. This is the

one of the key tensions that is never far from the surface in the debate around the future of

the St Kilda Festival. It is one of the challenges that the Festival faces – ensuring it strikes an

appropriate balance between reflecting the values of St Kilda’s heritage and those of current

residents.

The views below represent the extremes of each side of the continuum; they are views held

by both residents and non‐residents of St Kilda. During the consultation phase the online

forum established for the review asked the questions:

Has the Festival changed the way you think about St Kilda? If it's more than just another beachside suburb what else is it?

Some of the diverse array of commentary received on this issue is captured below:

‘…St.Kilda's image has changed, but it’s always been a great place for music, art, culture, festivities...and it will hopefully always be. The festival has definitely helped with its positive image.’

‘How does the final day of the festival enhance St. Kilda's image? What's the message? Come here and go on some crappy rides, buy crappy food from vendors that set up shop for the day, drop as much rubbish as you can, get drunk and be crushed listening to some famous band who have nothing to do with St. Kilda.’

‘…For me St Kilda grew out of seediness and poverty. But there was a real community…The festival captures nothing of this community…The festival doesn't represent what is best about St Kilda, and has changed how others see us.’

‘The Festival is one of the very best tools the council could ever hope for in not only showcasing what St Kilda has to offer on the other 364 days a year but for demonstrating to Australia and the world what a progressive and culturally active this council is.’

‘St Kilda isn't as 'cool' (for want of a better word) as it used to be these days, but the festival as a whole certainly makes me remember why I live just down the road.’


‘The council's hosting of the St Kilda Festival is especially important because it provides a platform to celebrate Australian music that is free and accessible to everyone. It also provides a reason for people to visit St Kilda who otherwise may not come.

‘St Kilda is an iconic suburb whose residents are anything but uniform…The changing of the direction of the festival in the early 2000's has alienated many residents...I find this ironic as one of the reasons that visitors attend is to get a "slice of St Kilda life”.’

While a possible point of tension, as a celebration of culture the St Kilda Festival presents an

opportunity to simultaneously acknowledge this convergence of views and to act as a

catalyst for increased harmonisation between them. An event of this nature has the capacity

to bring diverse people together to share experiences that break down traditional societal

barriers.

A common negative perception of Festival Sunday that emerged was its association with

anti‐social behaviour and a concern about how this reflected back on St Kilda’s image to the

broader populace. This is an issue that could be equally levied at St Kilda on any evening on

a summer’s weekend, or in fact on the Melbourne CBD or a number of other inner

Melbourne entertainment precincts. The statistical evidence suggests that incidences of

anti‐social behaviour on Festival Sunday are well within the acceptable management

tolerances for an event of this scale. While there is a need to manage poor behaviour on

Festival Sunday, it is not a factor that can be easily isolated as having a major impact on a

declining perception of St Kilda’s overall image.

Another common opinion was that the perception of an overwhelming presence of anti‐

social behaviour on Festival Sunday was somewhat disingenuous and was a view more likely

to be held by people who generally disliked the Festival or had not attended in recent years.

The latter part of this comment reflects an opinion that a number of programmatic and

event management changes have been implemented to create an environment that is well

managed and has a broad multi‐generational appeal.

Within the context of Festival Sunday’s impact on the image of St Kilda, these views may

demonstrate the longer‐term affect of what is perceived to be anti‐social behaviour by some

Festival attendees and the host community. Market research in 2009, however, indicates a

high proportion of likely repeat visitation to St Kilda (80%), suggesting an overwhelmingly

positive impact on individual’s perceptions of St Kilda following attendance at Festival

Sunday.

Despite the criticisms, the St Kilda Festival does remain a unique celebration in Melbourne’s

cultural landscape that raises the profile of the local area and attracts a very strong local and

non‐local patronage. Festival Sunday is a highly accessible and very social event that

encourages people from diverse walks of life to interact and enjoy the experiences on offer,

in an environment that is distinctly ‘Melbourne’.


KEY FINDINGS

The following findings relate to the impact of the St Kilda Festival on the image of St Kilda:

The Festival has a high local profile and attracts large attendances from outside the immediate community to an already well‐established tourist destination. Some host community criticism of its impact on the local area may also reflect existing local concerns related to amenity.

The current general media perception of the Festival is a positive one, likely influenced by strategic changes in programmatic and event management practices in recent years.

The Festival is a popular event attracting high repeat visitation to the area, indicating that the St Kilda Festival has more of a positive than negative impact on the image of St Kilda.


Section 6 RECOMMENDATIONS


6. RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendations build on the key findings and take into consideration all of

the information received during the review process (a matrix that illustrates the linkages

between the key findings and the recommendations is at Appendix 1). The

recommendations detail specific actions that will assist the Council to deliver on its strategic

objectives and support the sustainability of the St Kilda Festival beyond 2010. To ensure a

strategic implementation process is undertaken, the Council is encouraged to work closely

with the Festival team to determine a priority level and the timeline for action it assigns

each recommendation.

1. Establish a long‐term commitment to the St Kilda Festival by introducing a multi‐year funding arrangement that will enable the Festival to plan strategically, improve its ability to leverage diversified income sources and to deliver against Council’s broader objectives.

2. Review the purpose and applicability of the Council’s Festivals Framework (2003) to the St Kilda Festival moving forward.

3. Develop a new (or amend the existing) Events Policy to ensure that there is improved transparency regarding the St Kilda Festival to the local community and other stakeholders.

4. Improve strategic decision‐making by providing resources to support the creation of a Development Strategy that will aid communications, planning and policy implementation between the Festival and Council. This should become part of the annual planning cycle and inform Council’s budget process.

5. Enhance the value of current research and reporting activity related to the St Kilda Festival (including Festival Sunday) by:

i. establishing consistent methodology and frequency of research to enable comparison from year to year. The following frequency is recommended as a minimum:

a. Festival Sunday attendance surveys – annual b. Live N Local attendance survey – annual c. market research surveys (residents/traders) – every three years d. economic impact analysis – every three years

ii. incorporating additional questions into future research:

a. attendance surveys (country of origin and/or ethnicity of Festival Sunday participants)

b. market research surveys:

reasons for traders not opening on Festival Sunday

level of benefit from traders who do open on Festival Sunday

(to non Festival Sunday attendees) programming that is likely to encourage resident participation

iii. establishing baseline reporting requirements with emergency services partners to enable meaningful comparison of public safety related data from year to year.


6. Provide additional funding to support the local component of the ancillary events program on Festival Sunday. This should include the opportunity to explore partnerships with local cultural organisations and the development of an annual Community Cultural Development project.

7. Undertake a feasibility analysis regarding the Council’s overall alcohol management strategies for the St Kilda Festival to:

a. establish the viability and effectiveness of closing take‐away liquor outlets within the precinct on Festival Sunday, in consultation with Liquor Licensing Victoria and other key partners

b. expand the number and area of the existing Council‐operated bars in the Festival precinct as an effective community behaviour control measure

c. assess the opportunity to develop partnerships to reposition existing Council‐operated bars as ‘cultural experience’ zones that provide broad entertainment and cultural offerings including comedy, live music, video art etc.

8. Monitor and review the adequacy of public amenities during Festival Sunday in 2010. Provide funding for additional temporary public conveniences and improved directional signage to public amenities where deemed necessary.

9. Consider the feasibility and benefit of extending road closures on Festival Sunday from 2011 to reduce impact on local residents and promote public transport usage.

10. Build on and secure the ongoing sustainability of the arts and cultural program of the St Kilda Festival by:

a. addressing immediate funding programming shortfalls, including Live N Local, and providing a longer‐term investment strategy to support the implementation of the Festival’s programmatic policy

b. allocate once off funding to engage independent arts and cultural advice to support and work with the Festival Producer to develop a programmatic policy or framework

c. as a longer term strategy, support the Festival Producer and program delivery team through the establishment of a fixed term panel of industry peers to provide guiding advice on contemporary programming matters and issues.

11. Assess the Festival team’s existing capacity to undertake the following activities and

prioritise investment of additional resources where needed to ensure the sustainability and relevance of the Festival in the years ahead:

a. source, develop and service relationships with major sponsors

b. build, recruit and manage a volunteer program in the mid to long term

c. develop mentoring programs to support participants through the Call for Events and call for entries programs

d. share event management expertise, through the development of case studies, training or mentoring initiatives with other Local Government Authorities, festival associations and event organisers.

12. Redirect equivalent revenue from parking infringement notices on Festival Sunday towards the delivery of the Festival’s environmental targets. These may include continuation of the partnership with Sustainability Infrastructure Australia (or


equivalent partner), improved marketing of sustainable transport options to Festival Sunday, increased pre‐event maintenance of green spaces and sound attenuation.

13. Provide appropriate resources for marketing and communications to ensure the St Kilda Festival can improve its capacity to:

a. demonstrate clarity in its delivery of Council’s strategic policy objectives, particularly the Festival’s successful engagement of young people

b. build on its positive profile within the community

c. celebrate its success as a free, bayside, outdoor community‐anchored cultural festival.


REFERENCES

Australian Local Government Association URL: http://alga.asn.au

Allen, J. Harris, R. Huyskens, M. 2001 ‘Event Management: An Australian Bibliography’

Australian Centre for Event Management, University of Technology, Sydney

British Arts Festivals Association, March 2008 ’A Survey of Arts Festivals in the UK’ Festivals

Mean Business 3 produced by sam, University of Brighton supported by the Arts Council of

Wales

Bureau of Tourism Research, ’Occasional Paper No.16 Evaluating the Tourism Impact of

Hallmark Events’

City of Port Phillip, ‘Annual Report 2008‐2009’

City of Port Phillip, ‘Council Plan 2009‐2013’

City of Port Phillip, ‘Community Plan 2007‐2017’

City of Port Phillip, ‘Community Summit Participation Discussion Guide’

City of Port Phillip, ’Creative Futures Strategy 2008’

City of Port Phillip,’ Open Space Implementation Plan Framework’

City of Port Phillip, ‘Open Space Strategy 2009’

City of Port Phillip, ‘Port Phillip Health and Wellbeing Plan 2007‐2011’

City of Port Phillip, ‘Tourism Strategy Plan 2007‐2010’

City of Port Phillip, ‘Waste Wise Strategy 2006‐2009’

City of Port Phillip,’ Population and Household Forecasts’, prepared by forecast.id

Earl, C. 2006 ‘Public Health Management at Outdoor Music Festivals’ Masters Thesis,

Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane

Fredline,L. Deery, M. Jago, L. 2004 ‘Host Community Perceptions of the Impacts of the

Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne: a comparison of resident reactions in 1999

with 2002’ CRC Sustainable Tourism, Melbourne

Getz, D. 2008 ‘Event Tourism: definition, evolution and research’ Tourism Management 29

403‐428

Getz,D. ‘Policy for sustainable and responsible festivals and events: Institutionalization of a

new paradigm’ Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, online publication

date 1 March 2009

Janeczko, B. Mules, T. and Ritchie, B. 2002 ‘Estimating the Economic Impacts of Festivals and

Events: A Research Guide’ CRC Sustainable Tourism

Mackellar, J. ‘An integrated view of innovation emerging from a regional festival’

International Journal of Event Management Research, Volume 2, Number 1, 2006, Southern

Cross University, Australia

Malkovic, T. ‘Doing the sums on big events’ URL:

http://www.charteredaccountants.com.au/A121952458

Manchester International Festival, ’Sustainable Events Management Case Study’


Maughan, C. ‘The Life Cycle of a Festival: preliminary thoughts’ IFEA, Athens, Greece

O’Sullivan, D. ‘Public sector evaluation of festivals and special events’ Journal of Policy

Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, online publication date 1 March 2009

Roberston, M. ‘Mixed research methodologies in evaluating perceptions of social and

cultural impacts of festivals’ the Ideas Exchange, Victoria University, School of Hospitality,

Tourism and Marketing

Victoria University, Centre for Tourism and Services Research, May 2009, ‘St Kilda Festival,

Economic Assessment Report’

Impacts 08 – Langen & Garcia, May 2009 ‘Measuring the Impacts of Large Scale Cultural

Events: Literature Review’

Raj, R. 16 Dec 2003,‘The Impact of Festival on Cultural Tourism’ the 2nd DeHaan Tourism

Management Conference, Nottingham

Small, K. Edwards, D. Sheridan, L. 2005 ‘A Flexible Framework for Evaluation the Socio‐

Cultural Impacts of a (Small) Festival’, International Journal of Event Management Research,

Volume 1, Number 1, 2005, University of Western Sydney, Australia

The Higher Education Academy, May 2007 ‘Resource Guide: The Impact of Events’

Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Network,

The World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987 ‘Our Common Future’ URL:

http://un.org

Victoria University, Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research, March 2003, ‘The St Kilda

Festival 2003 Attendee Profile and Economic Impact Evaluation’

Victorian Auditor‐General’s Office, May 2007 ‘State Investment in Major Events’

UTS: URL http://datasearch.uts.edu.au/business/grants/detail.cfm?ProjectId=2009000631

UTS, ’Events and Place Making’ Event Research Conference 15‐16 July 2002, Australian

Centre for Event Management

UTS, ‘The Impacts of Events’ Event Research Conference 13‐14 July 2005, Australian Centre

for Event Management

CITY OF PORT PHILLIP INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS

Ambulance Victoria ‘Health Data’ 2009

‘ASSIST Complaints data’

Auditoria, March 2009 ‘St Kilda Festival 2009 Festival Sunday Sound Report’

‘Budget/Financial Data’ 2009, 2008, 2007

‘Community Celebrations Fund material’

’Draft Events Calendar 2009‐2010’

‘Emergency Management Committee Debrief Minutes’ 2009, 2008, 2007

‘Metropolitan Ambulance Service Brief 2008’

‘Events Policy 2009 (draft)’

‘Event Policy 2003’

‘Event Strategy 2008’,


‘Festivals Framework 2003’

Limelight, ‘Publicity Activity and Results Report’ 2009, 2008, 2007

‘McCall Security Incident Register 2009’

NWC Opinion Research, 2009, ‘St Kilda Festival Research Report’

‘Security Activities Log’ 2008, 2009

SIA Sustainability Report, ‘Sound Report 2009’

‘St John Ambulance Case Statistics 2009’

‘St Kilda Festival Alcohol Plan 2010’

“St Kilda Festival 2009 Community Guide’

‘St Kilda Community Festival Summary Review – Quantitative Research’

‘St Kilda Festival, Evaluation Report 2009’

‘St Kilda Festival Review Reference Group, ‘Terms of Reference’

‘St Kilda Festival Business Plan 2011‐2013’

St Kilda Residents Group, ‘St Kilda Festival Sunday 2009 – Residents’ Group feedback and

observations’

‘St Kilda Festival 2009 Sustainability Assessment & Recommendations Report’

‘St Kilda Festival program’

‘St Kilda Festival marketing material’

‘Strategy and Policy Review Committee, Policy and Planning, Minutes, 7 July 2008, 1

September 2008’

Market Research/Host Community: 2009, 2001, 1998 (traders only)

Visitor Surveys/Economic Impact Assessments: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2003, 1998, 1997, 1996

PRIMARY INFORMATION SOURCES

Reference Group input

Functional Benchmarking of festivals and event organisations

13 x One to One Interviews

4 x Group Workshops

Open Online Forum comments

Written submissions from reference group and online forum participants


APPENDICES


APPENDIX ONE: KEY FINDINGS LINKS TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS

The following table shows the linkages between the key findings in the report and the review Recommendations. The recommendations can be read in full in Section 6 of the report.

POLICY

Key Finding Recommendation

The Festival has clear alignment to the Council Plan, Community Plan, and Creative Futures strategy and delivers against its identified policy outcomes. Further analysis has shown that there is an opportunity for this alignment to be strengthened. (Policy Alignment)

1, 13a

There are elements in the Festivals Framework, Events Policy, and St Kilda Festival Business Plan that represent inconsistencies with the current strategic goals of Council. (Policy Alignment)

2, 3

There is an opportunity/gap to optimise strategic decision‐making between the Festival and Council through the introduction of a Development Strategy to inform high‐level program and delivery planning. (Policy Alignment)

4

The Festival Business Plan 2011‐2013 indicates Council’s funding contribution will be lowered to 33% by 2012/13, with the remainder of income to be drawn from a mixture of other government, private, and earned sources. (Economic)

1, 11a

The Festival attracts a diversified funding base, however, Council funding does not currently extend beyond an annual commitment. This factor, combined with limited resources within the Festival team, restricts opportunities to further leverage financial resources from other government and non‐government supporters. (Economic)

1, 11a

COMMUNITY IMPACTS


Current levels of complaints are within an acceptable threshold for an event of this scale, suggestive of relative support and/or tolerance of the St Kilda Festival, however, issues of host community amenity need to remain foremost in the mind of event organisers. (Host Community)

8,9

The St Kilda Festival currently provides multiple entry points for participation by the local community and the statistical evidence suggests local attendances and active participation are at healthy levels. The Festival needs to continue to develop local engagement strategies that anchor and support the retention of local identity. (Host Community)

6

A number of factors influence the behaviour of people in crowds and over time the St Kilda Festival management has implemented a variety of strategies to improve, monitor, and respond to poor community behaviour on Festival Sunday. (Community Behaviour)

5(iii), 7

Current evidence suggests that the extensive alcohol management strategies implemented by the Council to control alcohol fuelled behaviour are having an impact, however, a stronger evidence base and more analysis over time is required to substantiate this claim. (Community Behaviour)

5(iii), 7


There are some anomalies in the way that alcohol restrictions currently operate that confuse the overall ‘alcohol free event’ message of the Festival and require further consideration. (Community Behaviour)

7

The Live N Local initiative delivers a broad programmatic offering at low cost but it is not currently possible to understand its impact artistically, or its patronage by the local population. (Cultural Programming)

5(i), 10a

While the ancillary cultural program fulfills multiple roles in terms of delivering programmatic content, increasing revenue streams, and offering active participation and exposure to community groups, its long‐term purpose and benefit requires further consideration. (Cultural Programming)

6

There are multiple factors influencing the host community’s perception of the Festival but there is currently insufficient and inconsistent data to extrapolate a conclusive trend in opinion. (Host Community)

5(i)

Market research suggests that a statistically sizeable proportion of traders (28%) do not open for business on Festival Sunday, however, a direction correlation between reasons for closure and the event itself cannot currently be substantiated. (Host Community)

5(ii)

There are divergent opinions co‐existing within the host community regarding the future of the St Kilda Festival, making the ongoing engagement of the host community a key factor in its continued success. (Host Community)

5(i), 3

A number of factors influence the behaviour of people in crowds and over time the St Kilda Festival management has implemented a variety of strategies to improve, monitor, and respond to poor community behaviour on Festival Sunday. (Community Behaviour)

5(iii), 7c

The Festival works closely with emergency services partners who acknowledge that Festival Sunday is a well‐managed event with low incident rates when compared to other events of this type and scale. (Community Behaviour)

5(iii)

Current evidence suggests that the extensive alcohol management strategies implemented by the Council to control alcohol fuelled behaviour are having an impact, however, a stronger evidence base and more analysis over time is required to substantiate this claim. (Community Behaviour)

5(iii), 7

There are inconstancies in the way data is reported from emergency services organisations each year, making year‐to‐year comparison difficult. (Community Behaviour)

5(iii)

The St Kilda Festival Sunday represents a very high level of economic contribution to the local region ($14.7M), however, the complete picture is not clear as the evaluation has been limited to Festival Sunday only. (Economic)

5(i)

There has not been consistent funding for economic impact evaluations of Festival Sunday to support decision‐making, impacting on the Festival’s ability to better meet service demands and public expectation. (Economic)

5(i)

There is currently little evidence to support the attribution of indirect costs in relation to the Repulsion Effect (people leaving St Kilda because of Festival Sunday) or on health and emergency services. (Indirect Costs)

5(ii)


SUSTAINABILITY

There are a number of issues surrounding un‐quantified indirect costs that relate to ‘goodwill’ factors that contribute to the staging of the event, including hours worked by Festival staff and remuneration rate of artists and suppliers. (Indirect Costs)

10a

The Festival’s open access philosophy delivers significant public value to the community. It contributes to the civic identity and cultural life of St Kilda and Melbourne and the social and cultural wellbeing of its host community and visitors attracted to the area. (Community Strengthening)

11b, 11c, 13

The current Festival programmatic focus is on live Australian music, particularly the development of emerging musicians for whom it provides a unique opportunity for exposure and development. (Cultural Programming)

10

There is currently no overarching artistic policy or guideline for the Festival which, given the high level of public interest in the program, represents a number of risks for Council in terms of accountability and sustainability. (Cultural Programming)

10

The Live N Local initiative delivers a broad programmatic offering at low cost but it is not currently possible to understand its impact artistically, or its patronage by the local population. (Cultural Programming)

10a, 5(i)

The Festival delivers an impressive diversity and depth of programmatic content under very restrictive budgetary constraints. This has strongly impacted on its capacity to innovate within the current programmatic model and address industry level performance fees for artists. (Cultural Programming)

10a, 6


10a

The 2009 report by Sustainability Infrastructure Victoria has identified existing examples of good environmental practice and made recommendations for continued improvement, however, funding to continue this partnership was not supported by Council in the last budget round. (Environmental)

12

The primary source of Greenhouse Gas emissions was related to private vehicle travel to Festival Sunday and represented the most significant opportunity for improvement to achieve carbon neutral status. (Environmental)

12

The Festival is not deemed to have any long term‐impact on the City’s parks and gardens, however, there are additional measures that could be implemented to further minimise impact. (Environmental)

12

Monitoring of Festival Sunday has shown that there are noise impacts not generated by the Festival that are more difficult to measure and affect some members of the host community negatively. (Environmental)

12

The Festival has adopted the majority of recommendations from the 2009 Sound Report and is implementing the Noise Abatement Plan. (Environmental)

12

The Festival currently attracts a low level of volunteerism when compared with other festivals. (Community Strengthening)

11b


The Festival event management team is highly regarded and has helped Festival Sunday become a benchmark in major event management delivery models. (Community Behaviour)

11d

St Kilda’s target audience for its programs lacks clarity. The program is robust enough to maintain a position of ‘something for everyone’ and afford to become more programmatically targeted throughout the week and on Festival Sunday. (Cultural Programming)

10


10a

IMAGE


The current general media perception of the Festival is a positive one, likely influenced by strategic changes in programmatic and event management practices in recent years. (Image)

13

The Festival is a popular event attracting high repeat visitation to the area, indicating that the St Kilda Festival has more of a positive than negative impact on the image of St Kilda. (Image)

13

The Festival has clear alignment to the Council Plan, Community Plan, and Creative Futures strategy and delivers against its identified policy outcomes. Further analysis has shown that there is an opportunity for this alignment to be strengthened. (Policy Alignment)

13a, 1

Festival Sunday currently attracts people that reflect a broad demography, are generally well educated but represent lower income groups when compared to the host community. (Community Strengthening)

13b

Festival Sunday attracts a significantly higher participation rate from a younger demographic, than that represented within the host community. The high youth demographic is a point of competitive advantage for the Festival as it is a highly desirable market and anecdotally a difficult one for other like festivals to attract. (Community Strengthening)

13a, 13c

The Festival’s open access philosophy delivers significant public value to the community. It contributes to the civic identity and cultural life of St Kilda and Melbourne and the social and cultural wellbeing of its host community and visitors attracted to the area. (Community Strengthening)

13, 11b, 11c,

The Festival has a high local profile and attracts large attendances from outside the immediate community to an already well‐established tourist destination. Some host community criticism of its impact on the local area may also reflect existing local concerns relating to amenity. (Image)

13, 8, 9


APPENDIX TWO: STAKEHOLDERS CONSULTED

The following individuals and organisations were consulted during the project. Cultural

Value extends thanks to all who made time to participate in the review process.

Consultation Method Group Name

Community Reference Group

Amenity/Resident representatives Krystyna Kynst

David Brand

Trader representatives Martin Perry

Roger Wyndham

Musicians/artists representatives Correne Wilkie

Bob Starkie

Audience/participants representatives Andrew Browning

Stephanie Crolla

Young people representatives Andrew Picker

Bianca White

Councillor representatives Cr Frank O’Connor

Cr Serge Thomann

Consultation Method Group Attended Small Group Workshop 1 St Kilda Festival

Organising team SKF Business Development Manager SKF Audience Development Manager Live N Local Coordinator Yalukit Wilam Ngargee Director Festival Administrator

Small Group Workshop 2 City of Port Phillip Group Coordinator Traffic, Transport & Parking Coordinator Waste Management Operations Coordinator Sustainable Environment Coordinator Online Communications Coordinator Tourism & Visitor Services Coordinator Local Laws Coordinator Health Services Manager Parks and Open Spaces Youth Project Officer Manager Customer Service

Small Group Workshop 3 Programming/Presenters Melbourne SalsaMusic Managers Forum Musician/Performer Band Manager Musician/ Performer Gallery Owner

Small Group Workshop 4 CoPP Councillors Cr Frank O’ConnorCr Judith Klepner Cr Janet Bolitho Cr Jane Touzeau Cr Rachel Powning Cr John Middelton Cr Serge Thomann



Website Forum Open to the community N/A

Written Submissions Community Reference Group

Website Forum – open to the community

N/A


One to One Interviews

City of Port Phillip

GM Cultural and Community Development Vanda Iaconese Manager Culture & Recreation,

Coordinator Arts & Festivals, Festival Producer

Ian Hicks, Deidre Pelizzer Adele Denison

Community Cultural Development Cathy Horsely SKF Music Programmer Richard Moffat SKF Production Manager Shannon Gobell Arts Victoria Caroline Farmer

Jonathon Williamson Australia Council Andy Rantzen Tourism Victoria Brendan Downey

Stuart Toplis Boon Wurrung Foundation Carolyn Briggs Sustainable Infrastructure Australia Beth McLachlan Victoria Police John Mennan St John Ambulance Andrew Foran Festival Publicists Asha Holmes

Louise Heseltine


APPENDIX THREE: ST KILDA FESTIVAL – AN OVERVIEW

This section provides a brief overview of the history of the Festival and its operating context.

LOCAL ENVIRONMENT

St Kilda is recognised as one of the suburbs that epitomises Australians’ deep connection to

‘beach culture’, defined as a fluid appreciation for culture, sport, recreation and socialisation

within a seaside context. A combination of St Kilda’s centrality and close proximity to water,

its historical tolerance of alternative lifestyles and its positioning as an entertainment

district, have all contributed to its suburban uniqueness. Visitors flock to the area year round

to restore, spend leisure time with family and friends and enjoy what this destination has to

offer.

As an event focused on the iconic foreshore of Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay, the St Kilda

Festival is a long running cultural event that has encapsulated many of the intrinsic values of

St Kilda’s outdoor culture. The Festival is an example of community expectation regarding

the activation of public space that has low barriers to access and promotes inclusive social

activity. The emphasis being that public spaces should be cost free, with no requirements of

users other than a desire to participate and enjoy the local environment.

OPERATING ENVIRONMENT

The St Kilda Festival is wholly supported, managed and produced by the CoPP who is the

primary funder and underwriter of the event. The governance arrangements in place mean

that the CoPP Councillors operate as the equivalent to the Festival’s ‘Board of Management’,

with associated responsibilities for the financial and policy environment. The Festival’s

assets and liabilities are recorded as part of the City’s total budget.

Located within the Culture and Recreation department, the Council’s Arts and Festivals team

administer and produce the event. The Arts and Festivals team responsibilities include the

production of two major annual events, the St Kilda Festival and the St Kilda Film Festival.

They also coordinate the St Kilda Film Festival National Tour, have partial responsibility for

Yalukit Wilam Ngargee and administer the Community Celebrations Fund, a small

community grants fund that is open for applications year round. The team also produces

other special events as required by Council.

EVENT HISTORY

There is currently no publicly documented history of the St Kilda Festival. A review of

archival material held by the CoPP is currently being undertaken by Festival staff with the

aim of publication prior to the Festival’s thirtieth birthday in February 2010. Only limited

information has been available regarding the history of the Festival for the purposes of the

review.

The first St Kilda Festival was held in 1980, a time when the local area was strongly

associated with Melbourne bohemian culture and the ‘seedier’ side of inner city living. The

original intent of the Festival was to bring together a show of local culture and celebration

that demonstrated another side of the area, one that represented an alternative vision to

that often reported in the media. Then Councillor King is quoted as saying:

‘The Festival is intended to show that there are some beautiful and very positive aspects to community life in St Kilda’.


In the early 1980s, the Festival evoked a grassroots community arts feel. The first Festival

was a two‐day event featuring the Historical Society, local venue displays and music in Alfred

Square. Over half the budget was allocated towards a fireworks display. The Festival

immediately drew criticism from some of the host community and media, the latter was

critical of what it viewed to be a disingenuous attempt to transform public perceptions of

the area. There were also complaints about what was perceived to be poor local level

involvement in staging the Festival.

In the mid 1980s, music began to become a more central component of the Festival. In 1985

the Victorian Tourism Commission granted $6,000 towards a review ‘to pursue the theme of

music as a path to develop the Festival’. Subsequently, a music coordinator was appointed

and the era of high profile concerts at the Festival began, and in 1986 the Festival held its

first rock concert. Following a Council‐driven review of the Festival in 1992, a number of

objectives were agreed moving forward including:

to contribute to the positive affirmation of St Kilda and its community through celebration and community participation

to provide opportunities for exhibiting local cultural, artistic and heritage resources and talents

to provide broad opportunities for community involvement and participation across St Kilda

to contribute to the promotion and stimulation of the local economy by attracting participation and visitors and provision of local employment opportunities in arts/entertainment.

The Festival changed significantly in the 1990s as music became the predominant cultural

theme. Crowd attendances began to increase steadily and dance music entered the picture,

inspiring rave parties from the mid‐nineties. As attendances grew, so did community

concern about the impact on local amenity. In 1996 the Festival precinct was declared an

alcohol free zone as part of an alcohol restriction trial, this was made permanent Festival

policy in 1998. With the fireworks now gone and the community arts origins of the Festival

becoming less visible, the Festival characteristics had altered significantly since its inception.

In 2006 the CoPP cancelled the Festival due to funding concerns and the impending

Commonwealth Games. In 2007, the Festival returned with a new major sponsor and

support from the Victorian State Government, through Arts Victoria. A new programmatic

focus saw the Festival rebrand itself as a family‐friendly event with Australian live music at

its core. There was a re‐emphasis on local participation with the introduction of the Live N

Local program and Yalukit Wilam Ngargee, a one‐day event that opens the Festival’s now

week‐long program.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

The team expands and contracts as required in the build up to the delivery of the St Kilda

Festival. There are five full time equivalent positions that represent the base resources to

ensure the annual delivery of the St Kilda Festival: Festival Producer, Business Development

Manager, Audience Development Manager, Festival Administrator and Live N Local

Coordinator. The Music Programmer is contracted on an annual basis. The critical position of

Production Manager is contracted on a triennial basis and extends over a four month

engagement period in the lead up to the Festival.


Relationship to CoPP Arts & Culture Unit St Kilda Festival Team

St Kilda Festival Team – Contract Positions

All other related production and site crew positions are recruited on an annual basis via

casual contracts. Figure One outlines the organisational structure for the St Kilda Festival.

Figure One: St Kilda Festival Staffing Structure


APPENDIX FOUR: ST KILDA FESTIVAL – PRECINCT AREAS MAP

The St Kilda Festival Review Report – FINAL | CONFIDENTIAL 98

APPENDIX FIVE: BENCHMARKING ‐ FESTIVALS AND EVENTS

This appendix outlines the approach and results of the benchmarking component of the St

Kilda Festival Review.

INTRODUCTION

The benchmarking review considered twenty‐six local, state, national and international

festivals with some degree of comparability to the St Kilda Festival. The approach used was a

functional benchmarking process, which looks at benchmarking against other festivals in the

same industry/sector or against those that offer similar products and services but are not

direct competitors in the same market.

FESTIVAL TYPOLOGIES

Each of the festivals or events included in the benchmarking has been allocated by type of

activity broadly recognised within the sector and then ranked by local, state, national and

international significance accordingly. The festival typologies and rankings are also informed

by summary information from the PWC: Whole of Government Arts and Cultural Festivals

Review, commissioned by Arts Victoria which was based on broad consultation and common

terms in use by the sector. The St Kilda Festival participated in the review and its related

industry briefings. The characteristics that are typically associated with each festival type is

outlined in Table One below.

Table One: Festival Typologies

Festival Type Characteristics

Arts Festival Includes all artform areas – visual arts, music, performing arts, film, writing, comedic arts and cross‐artform collaborations

Focuses on the artform, artistic content, creative development and programming

Seeks to improve appreciation of the arts for audiences and participants

Supports the creative practice of artists and creators, and the presentation and touring of the arts

Cultural Festival Seeks to improve awareness and appreciation of cultural diversity and/or a specific cultural group

Encourages the participation of the community in celebrating cultural diversity

Can align to significant dates or events of meaning for a specific cultural group

Community Celebration Includes and reflects the diverse elements of the local community

Promotes increased understanding of community cultural groups

Typically includes festivals created and owned by government

Special event Designed to attract industry/sector exposure

Objectives are primarily economic development

Includes popular culture, food and wine, fashion and ‘trade’ fairs and festivals


FESTIVAL RANKING

Varying levels of differentiation does occur within each typology in terms of level of

uniqueness and significance – be that local, state, national or international – as outlined in

Table Two below:

Table Two: Festival Ranking

Festival Ranking Description

Flagship and Hallmark Festival Has a distinctive profile and significance nationally and internationally

Major Festival Has a strong local/state significance and attract visitors from outside the local community

Local community‐anchored Festival

Local significance and community based, held for local communities

New and Emerging New and emerging festivals (in early years of development)

BENCHMARKING PARTICIPANTS

The benchmarking process included a review of twenty‐six festivals and events (thirteen

Victorian, seven national and six international). Festivals, events and community

celebrations were included that were relevant in terms of their type, rank, primary funding

sources or production/programming model.

VICTORIAN FESTIVALS

The following Victorian festivals were interviewed by telephone or provided an opportunity

to submit a written response:

Australia Day Celebrations/ Australia Day Live (Melbourne)

Big West Festival

Brunswick Music Festival

Chill Island *

Chinese New Year (Melbourne Chinatown)

Falls Festival

High Vibes

Melbourne Fringe Festival

Mildura Wentworth Arts Festival

Moomba Waterfest

Port Fairy Folk Festival

Pyramid Rock*

Wangaratta Jazz Festival*

* These Victorian festivals declined to participate and research was limited to desktop

analysis.

NATIONAL

Due to project constraints benchmarking for these festivals was conducted by desktop

analysis only. Tamworth Country Music Festival was interviewed given its high level of

relevance.

A Day on the Green

Big Day Out

Mardi Gras Sydney, NSW

Sydney Festival, NSW

Perth International Arts Festival, WA

Sydney New Year’s Eve events, NSW

Tamworth Country Music Festival, NSW


INTERNATIONAL

Monterey Jazz Festival, California, US

Rock Al Parque, Bogota, Colombia

Second Avenue Street Fair and Third Avenue Street Fair, New York, US

Summerfest Milwaukee, US

WOMAD – Abu Dhabi, UAE

WOMAD – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

BENCHMARKING FINDINGS

The following information provides relevant high‐level findings and observations.

FESTIVAL TYPOLOGY AND RANKING

The key objectives of festivals and events and the outcomes they aspire to deliver are

incredibly varied. A number of festivals identified themselves as hybrid typologies,

predominantly having an arts festival focus with strong community outcomes or conversely,

focused as a community celebration with strong arts outcomes. Typology and rank can shift

for festivals and events over the course of time as objectives and the outcomes sought

evolve and develop. A number of community celebrations also nominated other typologies

as important secondary outcomes. The results from the benchmarking are outlined at Table

Three: Benchmarking Findings (Types and Ranking).

The St Kilda Festival has a unique point of differentiation in the festival market, largely due

to its free, open access model, attendance scale and that it is wholly managed, operated and

produced by local government. As such, it is a contributor to the diversity of festival types

that positions Melbourne and Victoria as Australia’s cultural capital. It has no near

equivalents in Australia.

The benchmarking found the closest models are the City of Melbourne’s Moomba Waterfest

and the State Government supported Australia Day Celebrations/Australia Day Live. The

Festival, having music as a core program driver supported functional comparison with

commercial and other music festival models.

The benchmarking found that the St Kilda Festival model is aligned with a community

celebration typology with a secondary level typology as an arts festival. The attendance

levels of the Festival are firmly on par with other major festivals and at its height is keeping

pace with some national and international flagship/hallmark events. However, the Festival’s

level of significance on a national and international level is not on par with other major

festivals. The Festival’s significance level may be increased to a Flagship/Hallmark event in

the future through a growth strategy based on achieving attendance growth or the

development of a distinctive programmatic profile through its live Australian music focus.


Table Three: Benchmarking Findings (Types and Ranking)

+ a number of festivals identifying with the community celebration typology also identified with a secondary objective.

TYPOLOGIES

Arts Festival Community Celebration Special Event Cultural Festival

RANKING

Flagship/Hallmark WOMAD Abu Dhabi, Las Palmas

Australia Day celebrations

(+ special event)

Moomba Waterfest

Mardis Gras Sydney

( + special event)

Summerfest Milwaukee

Rock Al Parque

Monterey Jazz Festival

Tamworth Country Music Festival

A Day on the Green

Sydney New Years Eve

V Festival

Major Festival/Event Falls Festival

Port Fairy Folk Festival

Pyramid Rock

Melbourne International Arts Festival (Music program)

Sydney Festival (Music program)

Perth International Arts Festival (Music program)

Next Wave Festival

Wangaratta Jazz Festival

Melbourne Fringe Festival

Mildura Wentworth Arts Festival

(+ community celebration)

St. Kilda Festival

(+arts festival)

Brunswick Music Festival

(+arts festival)

Big West

(+ arts festival/cultural festival)

Local Community based

High Vibes

Chill Island

Second and Third Avenue Street Fair, NY

Chinese New Year/Melbourne

New/Emerging Festival

St Jerome’s Laneway Festival


SOURCES OF INCOME

All the festivals and events benchmarked relied heavily on achieving a diversified funding

base, with a mix between government and non government sources and earned income.

The majority had undertaken some form of economic impact assessment on a regular basis.

A table representing festival turnover is below:

Table Four: Benchmarking Findings, Indicative Income Level

Income Level ($)

Festival 0 –200,000 200,001‐

500,000

500,000 – 1,000,000

> 1,000,000 >2,000,000

Victorian 1 3 3

National 4

International 2

St Kilda x

(a) A number of festivals declined to provide specific dollar details regarding income, with some opting to provide income related information as a level of contribution.

Specific breakdowns of income were not made available by the festivals benchmarked.

Sources of income included earned income, Government funding and private support

through cash sponsorship, in‐kind sponsorship, donations and philanthropic trusts. Other

forms of in‐kind support are also typical in this sector. A number of festivals and events do

not accept alcohol or tobacco sponsorship due to negative public benefits and perception.

The majority of ticketed festivals and events rely heavily on income derived from box office,

merchandise and food and beverage, making earned income the largest source of income in

most cases, particularly with the commercial music festivals. As a free event, the St Kilda

Festival differs significantly in this regard as it does not rely on earned income as a primary

funding source; its emphasis is on government sources and sponsorship. The Festival’s

proportion of income derived from merchandise and food and beverage is lower than

ticketed festivals.

Those festivals with a predominantly free or low cost program model, such as Moomba

Waterfest and Australia Day Celebrations/ Australia Day Live (Melbourne) tend to rely

heavily on government sources of funding or had a government body as its primary funder.

Such festivals considered their success measures in terms of community benefits such as

social cohesion and wellbeing, rather than economic benefits. As such, economic impact

assessments were not seen to be as relevant as ongoing benefits analysis to these festivals.

All benchmarked festivals requested that the specific detail regarding the level of

contributions from a primary funding source remain confidential. Levels of income

contribution from the primary funder ranged enormously, from as low as 10% to as high as

90%. Of significance was the consensus need to secure a multi‐year agreement or level of

commitment beyond a year to year arrangement to attract diverse income sources and

strengthen programmatic content. The aspiration for the majority of festivals was to work

towards establishing the primary funder base at one third (around 30%) of the total income

required in any one year, adjusted up or down. This is reflective of the St Kilda Festival’s own


aspirations regarding its level of funding contribution year to year from Council and a desire

to develop a sustainable future through a multi‐year funding arrangement.

The benchmarking revealed there is no ideal level of government investment in free or low

cost festival program models. That undertaking a long term benefits analysis is likely to

complement the Festival’s economic impact assessments. Multi‐year funding arrangements

with primary funders can provide a solid foundation for diversification of income sources

and the enrichment of programmatic content to enhance participant experiences.

EXPENDITURE

The benchmarking found that the primary sources of expenditure for festivals and events

are production and programming costs, followed by administration and marketing costs. The

level of expenditure allocated to production and programming activity vary considerably,

however, they are directly linked to a festival’s desire to support creative risk or achieve a

level of quality in both production values and presented acts. Production and programming

costs are inextricably related to the quality of participant experience and the importance of

their interconnectedness cannot be underestimated. Examples such as the notable WOMAD

model exemplify this concept in the creation of an internationally recognised high quality

arts festival anchored in local community values with a focus on achieving memorable

participant experiences.

To further support the benchmarking, a recent statistical snapshot of the fourteen Victorian

festivals recurrently funded by Arts Victoria (including the St Kilda Festival) provides some

additional insight into the typical allocation of areas of expenditure.

Of those fourteen festivals:

56% of sector expenditure went towards production/programming costs

26% on marketing costs

16% on administration costs and 2% on Other.

The St Kilda Festival mirrors the industry as its primary area of expenditure is towards its

production and programming costs, however, the balance between these interconnected

areas of expense has not been maintained during its growth years with an increasing

shortfall in the programming budget year to year.

CONTRACT STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS

Festivals are typically cash‐based operations, holding few, if any assets. This sector is reliant

on a workforce that is predominantly made up of people employed on a contract basis,

casual, temporary or part‐time. For a number of festivals volunteers are also a vital source of

service hours to ensure delivery. The majority of festivals that were benchmarked rely on

volunteer labour and also offer internships to support the next generation of professional

event management students.

Like many other festivals, the St Kilda Festival receives requests for work experience or

internships but there is only limited capacity to support skills development within the

current resource framework. There was general acknowledgement that the training and

servicing of volunteers can be resource intensive.

The Port Fairy Folk Festival directly sources 400 volunteers and enlists the support of

another thirty local organisations that work with the festival and have their own volunteer

bases. It is estimated that almost 1000 volunteers are connected with the delivery of this

event. In 2009, Melbourne Fringe engaged and trained 330 volunteers and supported ten


internships. Commercial music festivals advertise for volunteers who exchange labour/hours

for free entry to the event.

Counter to this practice is the Brunswick Music Festival which prefers to advocate a position

of supporting the employment of local people, rather than high levels of volunteerism.

Events with government bodies as primary funders, such as the Australia Day Celebrations

and Moomba Waterfest, have no volunteers. The City of Melbourne organisers Moomba

Waterfest do, however, aspire to establish a volunteer program. In terms of the

benchmarking findings the St Kilda Festival also has low levels of volunteerism, with 15

volunteers in 2009.

ATTENDANCE

Attendance trends in Australia indicate that the public appetite for outdoor festivals, events

and celebrations will continue to grow. This is evident in the record level attendances at the

Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival in 2006. Attendees enjoy the ability to move readily

from one cultural experience to another. Festivals and events depend on maintaining strong

attendance levels which is often a main source of competitive advantage (see Table Five

below). All festivals aim to reach a diverse audience base comprising local, metropolitan,

regional, interstate and international attendees and people of all ages, ability, cultural

background and socio‐economic standing.

Table Five: Benchmarking Findings, Attendance Levels

Attendance Level (no of people)

Festival 0 – 50,000 50,001‐100,000

100,000‐300,000

300,001 – 600,000

> 600,001

Victorian 7 3 2 1

National 1 2 1 2

International 1 3 1

St Kilda x

(b) Two festivals did not disclose attendance data.

Based on the 2009 St Kilda Festival attendance figures, the funding contribution from the

Council was equivalent to $1.80 per attendance. Other festivals receiving a government

contribution were in the range of $1.60 per attendance to $4.00 per attendance. The larger

the audience base, the lower the level of contribution per attendance.

FESTIVALS & COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

Offering a number of entry points for community participation was a high priority for all the

benchmarked festivals and events. This was represented across a range of areas, in

governance structures, ticketing strategies and programming frameworks or volunteerism.

Whilst this does indicate on a base level that resources are stretched in this sector, this

should not be overemphasised as the motivating factor for festivals to encourage the

community to participate in festival operations and delivery.


The benchmarked festivals highly valued the perceived benefits that exposure to arts and

cultural experiences both ‘front of house’ and ‘back of house’ could offer. Lowering the

barriers to participation are high priorities within the festivals and events sector, be that

through operations, cost or content. All festivals recognised the social importance of

offering a cultural gateway that supported openness, diversity and tolerance.

Civic engagement, particularly at a local level, is used by the festivals and events to

contribute to a sense of community and it is also a way to extend existing levels of

participation. This was represented in mentoring and volunteering programs, the

involvement of local companies, community organisations, artists, suppliers, and strategies

to employ local people.

One such example is industry leader, WOMAD Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain, a free

open access arts festival with a music base that has a family and children focused daytime

program. It offers activities such as puppetry and dance workshops for 400 children and a

family procession that then shifts strongly to a focus on young people at night. The program

remains open and inclusive, however, the programmatic focus is targeted and people can

readily identify when and how they would most like to participate. Another example is Falls

Festival who partnered with the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) to

develop the People’s Stage. This is an open access initiative that sees successful applicants

offered 15 minutes on stage in between the headline acts.

The participation strategies employed by festivals and events are all unique to their local

settings and contexts, however, the emphasis on the importance of lowering the barriers to

participation was unanimous.

PROGRAMMING

Festivals are gateways to accessible arts and cultural experiences as they can often be

people’s first arts experiences. Festival programming is commonly made up of a mixed

palette of presentations and productions, films, exhibitions, workshops, lectures, seminars

and conferences. The focus of the majority of festivals and events is to:

offer programming for emerging artists

support the creation and presentation of artistic and cultural works and acts, with a focus on the inclusion of new work

support some type of creative development projects

offer education opportunities and youth participation programs.

Artistic staff, be they directors, creative producers or programmers, all cited their frustration

with striking a balance between time spent on creation and development of their festival

programs and administration activities. The St Kilda Festival is no exception. Whilst the scale

and diversity of offer in St Kilda Festival’s programming model is comparable with other

major festivals, the level of curatorial oversight is currently stretched and limited in its

application across the full program.

Within their models a number of festivals and events also offered targeted programming

across the following key areas for:

children (up to 12 years)

youth (12 to 25 years)

families

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples


people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities

people with a disability

senior citizens

women.

The benchmarking found that St Kilda Festival’s programming model is inclusive and open

access and, while seeking to cater to the programming needs of all of the groups outlined

above, may benefit from developing a more targeted programming approach that develops

specific program content for groups such as families, children or young people under 30,

offered throughout the program.

St Kilda Festival does contribute to the civic identity and cultural life of St Kilda and

Melbourne and the social and artistic wellbeing of its host community. St Kilda Festival holds

a point of competitive advantage in that it readily attracts a younger demographic. Young

people are a highly sought after consumer target group and, anecdotally in the consultation

and benchmarking, are a difficult demographic for other like festivals to attract. For

example, Moomba Waterfest, Australia’s largest free open access community festival is

seeking to use its programming model both to attract people for longer periods of time and

to attract different demographics such as young people (aged 16–25 years.)

TOURS

A number of festivals present inbound tours (coming into the State or Australia) and

generate outbound tours in Victoria, interstate and overseas. One example of leveraging

inbound tours is the Brunswick Music Festival who presents approximately 50%

international acts.

The ability to attract quality acts and share risks and costs are due to its connections within a

broader six‐week festival circuit (Port Fairy Folk Festival, Blue Mountains Music Festival,

Byron Bay Blues Fest, National Folk Festival, East Coast Roots and Blues). The St Kilda

Festival presents no inbound tours within its program nor does it generate outbound tours

in Victoria, interstate or overseas; this is indicative of a localised community celebration

model. There may be opportunities for the Festival to identify ways to share costs/risks and

leverage acts within existing festival circuits.

POSITION IN THE EVENT CALENDAR

Melbourne is recognised as Australia’s festival capital, with Victoria hosting more than 500

festivals, events and celebrations annually. The event calendar is highly competitive and

compressed throughout the year with the most active period from February to April and

September to November. Many festivals are required to negotiate venues and sites with

multiple parties, which can be difficult to secure and are costly. The St Kilda Festival has a

point of advantage in that it is securely positioned within a highly competitive festival and

event calendar during the busy summer period.

BENCHMARKING SUMMARY

The St Kilda Festival has a unique point of differentiation in the festival market, largely due to its free, open access model, attendance scale and that it is wholly managed, operated and produced by local government. As such, it is a contributor to the diversity of festival types that positions Melbourne and Victoria as Australia’s cultural capital. It has no near equivalents in Australia.


The benchmarking found that the St Kilda Festival model is aligned with a community celebration typology with a secondary level typology as an arts festival. The attendance levels of the Festival are firmly on par with other major festivals and at its height is keeping pace with some national and international flagship/hallmark events. However, the Festival’s level of significance on a national and international level is not on par with other major festivals. The Festival’s significance level may be increased to a Flagship/Hallmark event in the future through a growth strategy based on achieving attendance growth or the development of a distinctive programmatic profile through its live Australian music focus.

The benchmarking found that St Kilda Festival’s programming model is inclusive and open access. St Kilda Festival holds a point of competitive advantage in that it readily attracts a younger demographic. Young people are a highly sought after consumer target group and, anecdotally in the consultation and benchmarking, are a difficult demographic for other like festivals to attract.

The scale of the production/programming model is comparable with other notable major festivals, however, resource constraints mean the level of curatorial oversight is often stretched and limited in its application across the full program.

The St Kilda Festival is securely positioned within a highly competitive festival and event calendar during the busy summer period.

Those festivals with a predominantly free or low cost program model tend to rely heavily on government sources of funding or had a government body as its primary funder. Such festivals considered their success measures in terms of community benefits such as social cohesion and wellbeing, rather than economic benefits. As such, economic impact assessments were not seen to be as relevant as ongoing benefits analysis to these festivals.

The benchmarking revealed there is no ideal level of government investment in free or low cost festival program models. Levels of income contribution from the primary funder ranged enormously, from as low as 10% to as high as 90% (the St Kilda Festival is positioned at 34%). Multi‐year funding arrangements with primary funders can provide a solid foundation for diversification of income sources and the enrichment of programmatic content to enhance participant experiences.

Attendance trends in Australia indicate that the public appetite for outdoor festivals, events and celebrations will continue to grow. Based on the 2009 Festival, Council’s funding contribution was equivalent to $1.80 per attendance which the benchmarking suggests represents high public value relative to investment.

The benchmarking found that the primary sources of expenditure for festivals and events are production and programming costs, followed by administration and marketing costs. The level of expenditure allocated to production and programming activity vary considerably, however, they are directly linked to a festival’s desire to support creative risk or achieve a level of quality in both production values and presented acts.

Festivals are gateways to accessible arts and cultural experiences as they can often be people’s first arts experiences. The focus of the majority of festivals and events is to:

o offer programming for emerging artists

o support the creation and presentation of artistic and cultural works and acts, with a focus on the inclusion of new work

o support some type of creative development projects

o offer education opportunities and participation programs.


APPENDIX SIX: WEBSITE FORUM REPORT





APPENDIX SEVEN: EVENT CALENDAR – OCTOBER TO MARCH 2009‐2010

Documents

St Kilda Festival Review