Coronavirus: Plea for ticket holders to donate their refunds as arts companies fear massive financial losses

Audiences are being urged to donate the price of tickets back to performing arts companies amid a wave of cancellations.

Performances of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be suspended.

Audiences are being urged to donate the price of tickets back to performing arts companies as a wave of cancellations sweeps across the culture sector in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

High-profile closures included Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, midway through its Melbourne run, as well as weeks of performances by the Australian Ballet and Opera Australia, and Sydney’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas.

The Sydney Writers’ Festival, planned from April 27 to May 3, was called off as well. Artistic director Michaela McGuire said: “This is an unprecedented, deeply upsetting and challenging time for everyone, but the health and safety of writers, audiences, staff, publishers, volunteers and our community must come first.”

The national opera company also announced on Monday that it would no longer be proceeding with its annual Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, which this year was scheduled to open on March 27 with La Traviata.

While opera ticket-holders are entitled to refunds, OA encouraged audiences to exchange tickets for a performance later in the year or convert their tickets into a donation to the company.

Performers Josh Oates and his father Mark are among many artists who, as part of State Opera South Australia’s production of Carmina Burana, will no longer be performing. Picture: Tait Schmaal

Also on Monday, the National Gallery of Victoria joined other major institutions across the state in closing until April 13, including Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Recital Centre and State Library Victoria. All Monday performances were cancelled at the Sydney Opera House.

While major theatre companies in Sydney are yet to postpone performances, the Melbourne Theatre Company cancelled the remaining performances of Torch the Place and Emerald City, and the Malthouse will remain shut until April 12. In Adelaide, State Opera South Australia cancelled its forthcoming performance of Carmina Burana as well as its May season of The Barber of Seville.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has made a valiant attempt to work around restrictions by streaming its Monday evening performance on YouTube. Programming restrictions were also put in place at the Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Australia and Sydney Living Museums.

The cancellations come as Arts Minister Paul Fletcher convenes a roundtable via tele­conference on Tuesday with peak cultural and creative industry bodies to discuss the impacts of COVID-19.