Melbourne’s biggest arts festival closes this weekend. Its future is in doubt

The future of Melbourne’s flagship arts festival, Rising, is unclear with organisers expressing concern over a failure to renew a crucial agreement with the Victorian government and mounting speculation its funding will be slashed.

Rising, which opened on June 1 and runs through to Sunday, is one of the country’s largest contemporary arts festivals, programming a range of live shows, dance performances and music.

Rising co-artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek at the 2023 festival.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Organisers are hailing this year’s event as the most successful yet, with sales across the entire program of theatre, music and dance up from last year. After the festival’s opening weekend, Rising ticket sales had hit 85 per cent of their box office target.

But as artists and organisers celebrate closing night on Sunday, they have no firm idea about the festival’s future.

A crucial five-year agreement with state government funding bodies Creative Victoria and Visit Victoria is yet to be secured, despite expectations that it would be finalised in December last year. That delay, as well the drastically different position of the state budget in 2019 (when the first agreement was signed) compared to now, has led to concerns within Rising, and the wider Melbourne’s arts community, that its overall funding is likely to be reduced.

“Needless to say, [a funding cut] would have a substantial impact on the audiences we could reach and the Australian artists we could commission,” says festival co-director Hannah Fox.

While Fox stresses that Rising is in confidential, “constant and constructive dialogue” with the state government, the lack of certainty is affecting the festival’s future.

“We are deep into planning for 2025 and 2026, and many of our international and national program partners are in town for the festival making plans for the years ahead … Major events like Rising require extensive planning.”

Formed in 2020 as a bold new offering to replace the Melbourne International Arts Festival and White Night on the city’s cultural calendar, Rising’s first year was cancelled entirely as a result of the pandemic, and in 2021 it only lasted one night before being shut down by the city’s ongoing lockdowns.

Posting deficits of $824,024 and $725,155 in 2022 and 2023 respectively, the festival “continues to be dependent on Creative Victoria and Visit Victoria for the majority of its revenue”, according to its latest financial statement.

“We eventually [hope to] operate on the same level as the Australian Open, Formula 1 and AFL Grand Final.”

Hannah Fox, Rising co-artistic director

Australian rappers ONEFOUR perform at Festival Hall as part of the Rising Festival.Credit: Richard Clifford

In the 2023 financial year, Rising received $19.79 million from government sources – a figure that represented 77 per cent of its total revenue – significantly more than other local cultural events. That figure includes money allocated to two regional arts events: White Night Bendigo and White Night Geelong.

In its last year in 2019, the Melbourne International Arts Festival received $6.59 million in government funding. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Melbourne Fringe and the Melbourne International Film Festival each received $1-5 million annually over the past few years. Unlike Rising, each draw the majority of their revenue from box office sales making them less reliant on outside assistance to survive.

“When making comparisons, it’s crucial to understand Rising’s remit,” Fox says. “From the outset, Rising was conceived as a major new event for the state, with ambitions to eventually operate on the same level as the Australian Open, Formula 1 and AFL Grand Final.”

“Over many decades, these major events have become integral to the fabric and reputation of our state, and while sports and art events are entirely different beasts, after just three years, I believe we are starting to hold our own alongside them.”

The Victorian government shells out significantly more for the Formula 1 Grand Prix, its financial support in 2023 was worth $100m.

Fox points out that more people have attended Rising over the past two weeks than the Grand Prix and AFL Grand Final combined. Rising’s steady growth has come at a time when other major events, including Dark Mofo and Splendour in the Grass, have been cancelled due to financial pressure.

As well as uncertainty over government funding Rising has attracted criticism from some artists and members of the public over its other sources of funding. The Besen Family Foundation was, until this year, a key donor to the festival – high-profile philanthropists Eva and Marc Besen had helped establish the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the precursor to Rising.

Gurr Era Op at Rising Festival. Credit: Prudence Upton

In April, Rising’s website was updated to say that the festival was “no longer in receipt of funding from the Besen Family Foundation”. That decision was taken after some artists pulled out of the festival citing the Besens’ support of Israel.

Fox says the festival does not comment on individual donors or foundations, but did note “the Besen Foundation has been a crucial supporter of the arts for many years and the creative sector is richer for their contribution”.

The state government did not answer specific questions about Rising’s funding, why a new agreement had not been signed, and how it evaluated the festival’s performance.

A spokesperson said: “We’re proud to deliver an incredible creative events calendar for Victorians across the state to enjoy.”