Live entertainment industry will suffer ‘profound’ job losses without JobKeeper

Most theatres and venues will not be back to full capacity until 2025, industry body warns.

Adam Alzaim, Kiki Saito and Julio Blanes performing in the West Australian Ballet’s Perth Festival season, Ballet at the Quarry. Picture: Clinton Bradbury.

The live performance industry has joined the tourism sector in calling for an extended JobKeeper-like wage subsidy, ­arguing lockdowns, border closures and restrictions are having a profound impact.

As the first anniversary of the lockdown approaches, ­industry body Live Performance Australia says the stage entertainment sector is far from returning to pre-pandemic levels and more jobs will be lost without industry assistance.

A survey of LPA members found that 90 per cent were still receiving JobKeeper payments for employees, indicating widespread revenue shortfalls through the industry.

Business confidence remains low, and only 2 per cent of live entertainment companies expect to return to anything like full operational capacity this year. Not until 2025 do most of the surveyed companies (68 per cent) expect to again operate at pre-pandemic levels.

A third of businesses warned they would be forced to lay off more staff unless funding support continued beyond March.

Performances by Opera Australia, Sydney Theatre Company and the West Australian Ballet, among others, are being sold at reduced ­capacity because of state-based restrictions.