Arts Festival organisers report solid business as usual for the event, with slight ticket sales increases from 2012 and numerous sold-out shows characterising the first weekend.
“The first half of the Festival saw us hold ticket sales steady on the 2012 figures,” CEO Tony Lankester said.
Arts Festival organisers report solid business as usual for the event, with slight ticket sales increases from 2012 and numerous sold-out shows characterising the first weekend.
“The first half of the Festival saw us hold ticket sales steady on the 2012 figures,” CEO Tony Lankester said.
“Overall sales, in terms of number of tickets, are just under 3% higher when tested against the comparative point last year. The rand value of the tickets sold has increased by about 8%, which is about what we would expect in terms of our ticket pricing,” Lankester said.
He cautioned against speculating that this would result in growth when the final tally is done, however.
“The last weekend sees us host big music shows from MiCasa, Soweto String Quartet, Karen Zoid and Jonas Gwangwa. Advance sales for all these shows have been very strong, and those numbers are included in the numbers we’re looking at today.
“This will result in a bit of a slow-down in daily sales toward the end of this week,” Lankester said.
While the number of productions at the Festival this year is holding steady (576 in 2013 vs 574 in 2012), the number of performances has reduced significantly from 2 579 to 2 295.
This is part of the Festival’s Fringe management strategy, the CEO explained, “to minimise risk to new productions coming to Grahamstown for the first time”.
The first half of the Festival saw 138 sold-out performances, including the controversial My Name is Rachel Corrie, the Gala Concert, performances by jazz trombonist Steve Turre and last year’s smash-hit, Three Little Pigs.
Comedy fans ensured that Festival favourites Siv Ngesi, Stuart Taylor and Riaad Moosa all enjoyed full houses, while other Fringe perennials – Big Boys II, The Brothers Streep, and Raiders also packed them in.
A fresh crop of theatre productions on the Fringe also earned accolades and attracted the crowds, including The Snow Goose, Crazy in Love, An Audience with Miss Hobhouse and The Things you Left Behind.
