Attendance 'on a par'

Nicholas McBryde.
Nicholas McBryde.
The more than 10,000 tickets sold to Arts Festival Dunedin this year put attendance rates ''on a par'' with past festivals with similar calibre artists, festival director Nicholas McBryde says.

For this year's festival, 10,356 tickets were sold, Mr McBryde said.

''It's not too bad - it's on a par with 2008 and 2006.''

The 2014 attendance figure did not include door sales for the opera This Other Eden at the Mayfair Theatre, because they were unavailable last night.

About 8500 tickets were sold for the 2008 festival and about 11,500 tickets were sold for the 2006 festival.

Ticket sales were not recorded for the 2012 festival.

Mr McBryde was not festival director that year.

About 13,000 tickets were sold for the 2010 festival but he did not compare festivals against the 2010 festival because that line-up included a popular Kiri Te Kanawa performance, which had skewed the attendance data.

The festival would continue if the ''core'' number of festival patrons kept attending, he said.

A challenge would be to increase festival attendance, he said.

''In a city like Dunedin, that's a challenge, but one that we are up for to ensure the festival carries on.''

Mr McBryde said he was waiting for bills for service provided at the festival, so it was too early to declare if the festival had been a financial success.

''It's too close to call but it's feeling quite comfortable.''

Final financial figures would be available in about three weeks, he said.

Public feedback had been positive and some people were asking for the 2016 festival dates, which would be announced before Christmas, he said.

shawn.mcavinue@odt.co.nz

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