NSW governments saves five music festivals with $2.2m emergency funding package

Five of the biggest and best music festivals in NSW have been saved by a $2.2m funding package from the state government. Did your favourite festival make the cut?

Keep your calendars open and your outfits at the ready, five of the biggest and best music festivals in NSW have been saved in a bid to stop more live music events going to the graveyard.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the Minns government has stepped in to help save

Bluesfest in Byron Bay, Lost Paradise on the Central Coast, Yours and Owls in Wollongong, and both Listen Out and Field Day in Sydney through a $2.25 million emergency funding package.

The lifeline follows the rolling cancellation of festivals — including Splendour In the Grass, Falls Festival, Spilt Milk and Groovin the Moo — in the past year, as events struggle to keep the party going against rising inflation, insurance costs and changes in ticket buying behaviour.

Announced last September amid a gloomy horizon for the future of live music, the first round of the Contemporary Music Viability Fund will provide roughly $500,000 worth of financial support to each festival.

But the money won’t stop there. The fund has been renewed for a second round ahead of the next summer season for another group of festivals on an “at-needs basis”.

Listen Out will rave on for another year thanks to the emergency funding.

Speaking from the crowd at Bluesfest on Saturday, Music Minister John Graham said the government would continue the fight to keep festivals alive.

This year’s Bluesfest was expected to be the “final curtain call” for the three decade-old festival before the funding kicked in, with acts reportedly being booked for 2026 already.

Groovin the Moo Festival was cancelled in 2024. Picture: Supplied

Splendour in the Grass was also cancelled last year as the sector struggled. Picture: Supplied

“The post-Covid era has been a financial nightmare for music festivals in NSW … that’s why we’re backing them in any way we can,” Mr Graham said.

“From Bluesfest where I’ve been this weekend, through to Listen Out and Lost Paradise – people of all ages love the outdoor music festival experience and the artists they discover.

“We can’t afford to lose that cultural experience because the festivals can’t afford to pay their rising bills.”

Mr Graham warned the collapse of the festival circuit would have disastrous flow-on effects for the 14,000 people employed in the NSW live music industry.

Fuzzy Operations managing director Adelle Robinson, known for Listen Out and Field Day, said the emergency cash injection had brought back their events from the brink.

“We were seriously considering not moving forward with Field Day as the market was so precarious at the end of last year,” she said.

“The funding we received for both festivals were lifelines for our business.”

Yours and Owls festival will return to Wollongong. Picture: Supplied/Ian Laidlaw

The package will also work alongside recent reforms to the Music Festivals Act which require organisers to prepare a health and medical plan for the event, and allow organisers to appeal government operation costs through the Music Festivals Panel.

Eligible festivals will be able to apply for the second round of the Contemporary Music Viability Fund when applications open on May 1.

Cancelled festivals such as Groovin the Moo and Spilt Milk folded before the funding package was created, but the government confirmed the events would be eligible for the support if they were in a position to get back on their feet and apply.

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