Thursday, 17 November, 2016 - 13:55
PIAF appoints new executive director
One of Sydney’s leading arts figures is heading west to join the Perth International Arts Festival as executive director.
Nathan Bennett was appointed executive director of the Perth International Arts Festival in February 2017. Prior to this role he was deputy executive director at Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre. Mr Bennett has worked with leading art companies in Australia and overseas for more than 15 years and has had exposure to senior management, audience engagement, marketing, corporate partnerships, private philanthropy and new technology in the arts.
He previously worked as general manager at Griffin Theatre Company and as company manager at Bell Shakespeare.
He has also spent time in the United States with Philadelphia’s Pig Iron Theatre Company as director of development.
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One of Sydney’s leading arts figures is heading west to join the Perth International Arts Festival as executive director.
WA arts organisations are aiming to broaden their revenue streams amid falling income for Lotterywest.
The increasingly competitive nature of the arts marketplace has prompted a rebrand at the longest-running international arts festival in Australia, Perth International Arts Festival.
Box office sales for Perth’s two major arts festivals have remained steady against last year’s figures, with Perth Festival on track to make $3.8 million and Fringe World Festival hitting $10 million.
SPECIAL REPORT: An eclectic mix of corporate heavyweights, private philanthropists and innovative disruptors have helped to shape the state's arts sector.
An analysis of Perth Festival undertaken by local firm Culture Counts has found near-universal support for the event's impact on, and importance for, Western Australia's cultural scene.
The state’s two leading arts festivals have a large role to play in the cultural and creative vibrancy of Perth during the summer months, according to their impact reports released this week.
This year's Perth Festival encouraged 7,300 tourists to visit Western Australia while box office sales increased 21 per cent from 2018, the festival’s impact report has shown.
Ambitious plans to attract more visitors from outside Western Australia for next year’s Perth Festival and beyond are top-of-mind for executive director Nathan Bennett.
The 2020 Perth Festival has proved to be the most successful in the event's history, with $5.98 million earned at the box office, despite some programming cancelled due to COVID-19 and lower audience numbers.
The pandemic has highlighted the plight of the arts sector but will the support continue?
Fringe World Festival shows will begin from 7pm tonight while Perth Festival has been postponed another week, until February 15, under advice from the state government.
Artists are putting pressure on arts organisations to think more carefully about where their funds come from.
Overall attendance increased while box office sales lagged at Perth Festival this year after border closures resulted in a smaller program of local acts.
Perth Festival has released a dramatically changed program for 2022 along with its first-ever 12-month financial report since becoming a stand-alone company.
A large-scale event to open the 2022 Perth Festival on February 11 will not go ahead due to the organiser’s concern about the potential spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
Perth Festival’s box office sales increased slightly from the 2021 iteration, but total attendance was heavily disrupted by cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chevron’s long-running sponsorship of the Perth Festival will end next year, with the festival expected to seek new corporate backers while continuing to ramp up its philanthropic income.
Perth Festival is budgeting for a doubling in box office sales next year after signing up acclaimed Icelandic performer Björk for an Australian-exclusive season.
Perth Festival will return next year with a full line-up of interstate and overseas acts, a free opening event at Joondalup and expectations for a big increase in income.
Former politician and prominent board director Ben Wyatt has been announced as the new chair of Perth Festival, which has also appointed three new members to its board.
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