The six-day arts festival finished on Sunday night with a sell-out performance by New Zealand prog-rock group, The Phoenix Foundation.
Festival director Philip Tremewan and board chairman Nick Brown told the Otago Daily Times in an interview last week the national economic climate meant a tight budget for the fourth festival but planning was already under way for the fifth, in 2013.
Financial results would be released later this year.
"This festival is doing well.
Others have struggled at the box-office but this one reached its budgeted target. So we could breath a sigh of relief. We won't be locked up on bread and water," Dr Brown said.
The festival's budget was about $800,000 and the biggest crowd-pullers included Riverside Drive (Hawea Flat Hall), Guru of Chai, Ole Ola, Rita and Douglas, and the Aspiring Conversations programme.
For the first time, the festival went to Queenstown.
"The momentum is building there. Initially, we wanted to stay with what worked for Wanaka. We didn't want to push beyond our boundaries. But we have always had a travelling programme and have been pushing out in concentric rings," Mr Tremewan said.
Dr Brown said the festival was now locked into the events calendar.
"We will keep going. Everyone says to us, 'Is this a festival year or a Warbirds year?
'"That is the way it goes. So we are definitely here for the long haul. And the business community is realising the benefits of that now," Dr Brown said.
Mr Tremewan said the festival was not all about economic benefits.
"I talk about the infrastructure of the heart. We talk about buildings, sewers and roads but in the end, does that make a place where people want to live?
You want a road to drive on and you want pure water, but do you need every road in the district sealed?
I talk about coming back to heart and soul," Mr Tremewan said.
Major grants were provided by Creative New Zealand, Central Lakes Trust, and the Otago Community Trust.
The festival was also supported by six other supporting funders, 32 sponsors, 18 benefactors and more than 100 patrons.
Net operating profits
2005: $17,335
2007: $55,740
2009: $35,429
