Folk Festival not really for the ‘folk’
Posted on March 23, 2010 by by Michael de Percy
I heard on the grapevine that some organisations were offering entry to the National Folk Festival in exchange for six hours volunteering work. Six hours? That’s a bit steep!
So I thought I might just drop by and pay the entry fee. Until I saw that to enter the gates would cost $75 on the weekend!
Just which kind of ‘folk’ can afford $75? I bet it will be a great gig but the use of the term ‘folk’ is pretty close to false advertising!
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what a rip off, $75 per person? and they want to make it family friendly???
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Hi there Michael, thanks for your feedback on the National Folk Festival
Yes, I’m the PR person! – so it is my job to respond on behalf of the event – but I’m also very happy to be part of the discussion and to answer any question you or your readers might have.
I’m not sure which other organisations are offering NFF tickets in exchange for volunteer work? You can, of course, apply to volunteer at the Festival – our 1500 or so volunteers are absolutely the backbone of the organisation – but the total commitment is 20 hours and in exchange, you can received a season pass to attend all five days and including on-site camping. You also get free training, meals provided while on site and a fab ‘thank you’ party at the end. It’s actually a pretty good deal!
I’ll be the first to admit the Festival isn’t a bargain basement event, but it doesn’t aim to be – we have significant costs to cover in staging an event of this size, and we do feel very strongly that we need to pay fairly the quality Australian and overseas artists who participate.
That said, I really do believe the Festival offers great value – an adult can pay as little as $65 to attend for one day and have full access to 23 venues, hundred of artists and and entertainment running from 8am to 12 midnight (or later). Buy an early-bird season ticket and all that will cost you around $4 per hour across the whole weekend. That compares very favourably with any major concert or similar festival.
Cheers for now,
Jane.
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