Paragraph 1:Paragraph 1: The Sydney Theatre Company (STC) generates a significant portion of its revenue (60%) from movie ticket sales, while government funding contributes only 7%. Despite successful international tours of its productions, the company’s ability to invest in Australian artists and stories is declining due to rising costs and reduced government funding. Paragraph 2: The Black Swan State Theatre Company in Western Australia supports tax relief for live theater. CEO Ian Booth believes it would create jobs and investment in a sector facing financial challenges, especially after COVID-19. Paragraph 3: Live Performance Australia CEO Evelyn Richardson advocates for a tax offset scheme over subsidies, aiming to eliminate VAT on tickets or provide tax breaks for investors. This would support new and sustainable funding sources for live theater production. Paragraph 4: Producers like Torben Brookman believe that tax breaks are more politically feasible than increased arts funding. They encourage the development of more shows in Australia by providing financial incentives for risk-taking. Paragraph 5: Global Creatures CEO Carmen Pavlovic emphasizes the role of tax deductions in attracting investment for productions. Tax benefits influenced the company’s decision to launch a new production of “Moulin Rouge” in the United States. Paragraph 6: Newtheatrals chief executive Rodney Rigby highlights the reliance of his productions on overseas funding. He warns that without more support, theater producers will avoid Australia, leaving the future of Australian theater in jeopardy.
The STC generates about 60 percent of its revenue from movie ticket sales, compared to only 7 percent from government funding.
Loading
STC shows like RBG – Of many, one And The Picture of Dorian Gray have toured overseas to positive reception, but Dunn said the company’s capacity to invest in Australian artists and stories is diminishing as costs rise and government funding decreases.
Dunn said it was uncertain whether the STC could afford to take over his current show, Draculawill tour next year “or even create works of that scale in the future, given the costs and complexity involved.”
Dunn said theatre costs had risen by 30 per cent and that “without some shift in the economic landscape there is a real danger that fewer and fewer new Australian works will be made”.
Western Australia’s Black Swan State Theatre Company is also seeking tax relief for live theatre. The company’s CEO, Ian Booth, said it would create jobs and investment in a sector that is “in dire need of additional investment, particularly post-COVID”.
“It will provide certainty in terms of knowing that some of the pre-production costs of a show are covered, and it will encourage us to develop new works,” he said.
Richardson said a tax offset scheme would be more effective than subsidies because it would eliminate VAT on tickets or create tax breaks for individual investors.
“At a time of rising production costs, cost of living pressures on audiences and static government funding, it is vital that we look at ways to develop new and sustainable sources of funding to create and present live theatre,” she said.
Producers such as Torben Brookman, founder of GWB Entertainment, which Death of a Salesman in Sydney last month, believe that tax breaks are more acceptable to governments than increasing funding for the arts.
Brookman said a tax cut would encourage more shows to be developed in Australia because more money would be spent.
“It also means that the incentive is only there when work is being done and risks are being taken,” Brookman said.
Loading
According to Carmen Pavlovic, CEO of Global Creatures, a tax deduction would make it easier to attract investment into a production, “because you can show investors with certainty how this support translates into reducing risk and improving the likelihood of returns”.
Pavlovic said tax benefits were a factor behind the decision to launch a new production of Moulin Rouge in the United States. Global Creatures also uses the UK Tax Offset Program to raise money to Muriel’s wedding to the West End of London.
Newtheatrals chief executive Rodney Rigby said his productions were reliant on overseas funding due to a lack of investment in Australia. The Australian production of Come from far away attracted a “pathetic” 0.3 percent of locally sourced capital, he said.
Rigby said theatre producers would avoid Australia without more support.
“If there are no incentives for investors to develop an investment culture here in Australia and attract foreign funding, the future will look very bleak,” he said.
Get started the day with a summary of the most important and interesting stories, analyses and insights of the day. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
