NAF 2009 RESULTS

The National Arts Festival Grahamstown releases outstanding results for 2009.

The 2009 National Arts Festival saw a solid 13.21% increase in overall attendance this year, with 170,045 attendees at the various events on offer. This continues the growth trend experienced over the last six years: 2004 at 131,900 to 2008 at 147,574 (2.83%)

National Arts Festival CEO Tony Lankester says that the figures confirm that South Africans are still prepared to support the arts in tough economic times. “We were braced for a tough year, but should have had more faith in the Festival and our audiences. They came through for us,” he said.

A comparison between the 2009 and 2008 ticket sales figures reveals that the Main portion of the programme recovered from its slight dip in ticket sales last year by climbing 8%, and the Fringe continued its upward trend of recent years by rising 14%. “On top of that we saw a strong increase in the number of free productions and exhibitions, which saw attendance at free events climb strongly,” Lankester said. “Our conservative estimate is that 36,150 people watched our 57 free shows and stages and attended the 50 exhibitions scattered in venues across town.” This figure is up from last year’s estimated 30,000 attendees at free events.

Commenting on the increase in the rand value of tickets sold, Lankester pointed out that the average ticket price at the Festival had been kept as low as possible in response to the recessionary environment, and that the rand value increase was driven by demand rather than by inflation. “Last year the average ticket at the Festival cost R38.61,” he said. “This year it was R38.97. In setting prices both the Festival organisers, who determine Main production pricing, and performers, who choose their own prices for the Fringe, worked hard to give audiences value for money which is why the price increase was contained to under 1%.”

Festival organisers are attributing the increase to a strong programme of events this year, coupled with new marketing initiatives aimed at preserving the core Festival audience base while, at the same time, growing new audiences. This year there were 192 productions on the Main programme offering 388 performances while there were 424 productions on the Fringe offering 1,822 performances.

“We had a high number of sold out productions and performances on both the Main and Fringe,” Festival Director Ismail Mahomed said. Among the Main productions that sold out were Wit, First Love, Jimeoin on Ice, Freshlyground, Busi Mhlongo, The Parlotones, the Gala Concert and Brett Bailey’s Blood Diamonds. Dance and Ballet productions – including Carmen and La Sylphide – also made strong showings, as did I Am My Own Wife and the South African premiere of the film based on JM Coetzee’s novel Disgrace.

On the Fringe, Comedy dominated the list of biggest selling productions, with David Newton’s shows Politically Incorrect and Laugh featuring strongly together with Butlers and Botox and Monkey Nuts. Other genres also drew strong audiences, notably the Andrew Buckland-directed physical theatre piece Stilted, Magnet Theatre’s Every Year Every Day I am Walking and Centrestage’s musical tribute show Vagabonds of Rock. The biggest grossing theatre production was Rob Murray’s Pictures of You closely followed by The Zoo Story and Isabella. Festival favourite A Midsummer Night’s Raiders was the highest overall grossing show on the Fringe.

“The breadth of sold out performances across all genres shows us that Festival audiences are reluctant to confine themselves to their comfort zones and that they come to Grahamstown to stretch themselves,” Mahomed said.

In the build-up to the Festival, organisers turned to new advertising vehicles to supplement their traditional marketing effort.

“We built up a strong following on Facebook and Twitter, and used that to promote some of the productions that have appeal to younger markets, such as Lebo Mashile’s Threads and the Parlotones,” Lankester said. “While this may not have directly had an impact on sales, it helped us present the Festival as a fresher, more vibrant event than in the past and broadened its appeal to newer, younger audiences. At the same our traditional marketing efforts were kept in place, ensuring that those who have supported the Festival for years and who make up our core audience were still communicated with.”

Festival management has now turned its attention to organising the 2010 event, which coincides with the FIFA World Cup and will be extended to 15 days, starting on 20 June 2010.

The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The Eastern Cape Government, The National Arts Council, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, The Sunday Independent and M Net.