Critics wonder why public must pay to visit Botanic Garden this Vivid

Ticket sales to Vivid’s after-dark experience at the Royal Botanic Garden have started steady but slow as price-sensitive families blamed steep cost of living pressures for hesitating to walk the new light trail that costs up to $128 for a family of four.

As Circular Quay heaved with visitors for the first night of Vivid’s free light installations, there were no queues for Lightscape, one of three ticketed marquee events this year.

Inside the Royal Botanic Garden’s Lightscapes. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

The installation, billed as a “winter wonderland” and “after-dark oasis of brilliance”, received enthusiastic reviews on opening night from paying visitors who thought visitation would build by word of mouth.

But multiple local families arriving at the parkland gates, cordoned off to non-ticket holders, turned around saying they could not afford the entry fees on top of expenses for parking and food. One western Sydney couple with young children in prams said it was difficult to justify the expense without knowing more about the installations inside.

Overseas tourists were most accepting of the ticket prices, believing them to be part of the cost of enjoying a night in an international city.

Nicola Johns from Auckland came to Sydney expressly to see Vivid. “It did not disappoint and you have a beautiful city. I’m happy to pay.”

Lightscapes at the Royal Botanic Garden.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said the parkland event was an unnecessary commercialisation of a public asset for a walk that in prior years had been free. He called on the government to make the ticketed event the last at the gardens.

“Clearly, Sydneysiders feel it is ridiculous for them to have to pay to have access to public land, that their tax dollars fund, and for an event that has always been free,” Greenwich said.

“This can’t be done again. This attempt has been a failure, and free tickets should now be issued to fill up the event and bring people into the city to support local businesses.”

City of Sydney Liberal councillor Lyndon Gannon said it was disappointing that Labor failed to see out their election platform of making public events, as it promised for the New Year’s Fireworks, free.

People flock to the Sydney Opera House (for free).Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

But the NSW government, which inherited the current festival arrangements, confirmed Vivid Sydney had entered into a multi-year agreement with Sony at the gardens and the details of activations in future years had yet to be confirmed.

Each year, it said, the Vivid program was refreshed to showcase cutting-edge creativity and innovation. The performance and commercial viability of all major events are reviewed and marked against key performance indicators annually.

Destination NSW, the tourism marketing arm of government, defended the ticketed venture saying the vast majority of the winter lights’ festival had been, and would be, free for the public to enjoy.

Vivid Sydney had long included a small number of ticketed Vivid Light events with partners like Taronga Zoo’s Wild Lights activation.

International tourists were generally more happy to pay, but a photo with a major landmark costs nothing.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

These offered different ways for visitors to experience Vivid Sydney, and did not detract from its free aspects. At 8.5 kilometres the Vivid Light Walk was longer than ever before, and featured 57 installations and 3D projections, all free to attend.

David Skeen said he and his wife had booked tickets while driving in from The Oaks, near Camden, and there had been no lines and relatively few visitors inside. With no idea what to expect, he was pleasantly surprised.

“I didn’t think it would be for me, but when you are in there it’s amazing, the music and the lights. Everyone was on their cameras, it was great. For money value, for a one-off thing, I think it was worth it, especially given how much everything costs in Sydney at the moment,” he said.

Taronga Zoo is charging entry to its refreshed illuminated night trail, Wild Lights, created by Wiradjuri artist Nathan Peckham and Sydney animation and lighting effects firm Ample Projects.

A new installation, Dark Spectrum, takes visitors into the darkened tunnels below Wynyard Station. With general admission tickets costing up to $45 and between $98 and $150 for families, and at time of publication it seemed better subscribed than Lightscapes with several timed sessions Friday and Saturday sold out.

Both Dark Spectrum and Lightscapes have been produced by Sony Music and Culture Creative, a British firm specialising in illuminating light trails and site-specific illuminations.

Lightscape runs for the 23 nights of Vivid and another three weeks after; the garden’s gates shut half an hour early each day for it, at 4.30pm.

A similar installation has sold out in Melbourne and European cities. On opening night six timed sessions of 15 were booked out with the show’s box office accepting walk-ins and no lines for later sessions. Six of 15 timed sessions were booked out on Saturday and one Sunday with bookings open for the rest of the week.

Carissa Agnew, from Roseberry, attended Lightscapes with her young son Mason who entered free of charge. “Forty dollars for an adult is a bit expensive, but I don’t mind paying if there are not too many people inside. And it was quiet. My son wants to go again.”

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