ACT grant to the National Folk Festival much needed

The ACT Government has provided the National Folk Festival with $134,000 to ensure the event can go ahead in 2013 and beyond.

They say that the NFF asked the Government for an urgent meeting and advised that they would experience cashflow difficulties by July if they were not able to secure financial assistance.

Treasury looked at the NFF financial reports for the past five years, and recommended that $134,000 be given to give the NFF time to undertake a detailed business plan to support a return to sustainable operations.

I for one am glad to see this support. The National Folk Festival is an important event on the region's cultural calendar and does indeed bring a lot of money and cash to town, not to mention fantastic musical talents.

I love that it's on over Easter, at a time when I don't really feel like joining the hoards trying to kill themselves on the roads.

It's a not for profit - not a business, and an important part of the balance sheet for EPIC to boot.

The last year was a problematic one obviously, with much of the nation in the grip of severe fiscal tightening and unwillingness of consumers to spend - outside Canberra anyway - we are insulated from a lot of it here.

So the festival could go into next year as a bare bones event and thereby ensuring the slide continues. Or they can get it back up to the standard of the previous couple of years and get the numbers back through the gate. The grant will help it ensure the latter, and perhaps more effectively than money that was tipped the way of Summernats under Chick Henry...