The agency’s performance

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The agency’s performance

Performance at a glance

The Trust has delivered on a range of programs and initiatives to achieve our objectives in line with our strategic plan. Highlights from the 2023-24 year include:

• Secured $35 million through the Mid Year Budget Review for building upgrades, focusing on improving pedestrian access and fire/safety systems.
• Adelaide Festival Centre reached over one million attendees, engaging new audiences, including multicultural communities.
• Continued 50th anniversary activities, including the Don Dunstan Lectures, a series on the influence of the arts.
• The musical Mary Poppins had a major impact, generating $23.4 million in state expenditure and attracting over 110,000 attendees.
• Outstanding visual arts exhibitions, including Turn Up Your Radio, celebrating Adelaide’s music scene, featuring memorabilia from Sia, Cold Chisel, Paul Kelly, and more.
• 1974: Stage Two exhibition showcased the first years of the Drama Centre, celebrating key local theatre companies with historic objects and designs.
• 236 performances by South Australian Home Companies, receiving critical acclaim and enhancing programming diversity.
• Continued activation of Festival Plaza, with over 200,000 attendees and a CEO-attended Committee chaired by Andrew Daniels.
• The Adelaide entertainment precinct (including Adelaide Oval, Convention Centre, etc.) attracted an estimated 5 million visitors, rapidly becoming a premium city attractor.
• 2024 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, led by Virginia Gay, was a commercial and critical success with new artist development opportunities.
• OzAsia Festival attracted 180,000 attendees, with 190 events and received the inaugural Creative Australia Asia Pacific Arts Award.
• Adelaide Guitar Festival, directed by Slava Grigoryan, was a success, showcasing local and international talent at various venues.
• Adelaide Festival Centre led Australian-Asian engagement through its chairmanship of the Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres.
• Continued support for families and school students through Learning and Engagement and CentrED education teams, offering valuable arts experiences.
• Year-round programming supported local artists and companies to develop and present new works.
• Launched a new Arts Leadership Program, funded by a donor, which received high acclaim and will be repeated.
• The Adelaide Festival Centre Foundation achieved excellent fundraising results, including a $1 million donation matched by additional donors.

Agency specific objectives and performance

Adelaide Festival Centre is operated by the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust (the Trust). The Trust is a South Australian Government statutory body, created and with responsibilities outlined in the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust Act 1971.  

The Trust’s purpose, as set out in the Act, is to contribute to the cultural, social and  

intellectual development of all South Australians. Towards this, the Trust functions to:  

a) produce, present and manage the performing arts in the building occupied by the Trust at Adelaide Festival Centre or any other building;  

b) provide or assist in providing premises and equipment for the purpose of the presentation of the performing arts;  

c) promote and encourage the development and presentation of the performing arts;  

d) promote and encourage public interest and participation in the performing arts;  

e) promote and encourage either directly or indirectly the knowledge, understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the performing arts;   

f)  perform the functions given to the Trust under another Act; and   

g) perform functions that are incidental, complementary or helpful to, or likely to enhance the effective and efficient performance of, the functions mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (g).  

Agency Objectives

Year-round program and festivalsAdelaide Festival Centre presents theatre, dance, music, and exhibitions, and is committed to supporting and co-presenting some of the world’s biggest touring musicals. The year-round program includes theatre, ballet, contemporary dance, circus, music, comedy, spoken word, and performances for children and young people.

Performance Indicators:

• Ticketed: 583,571
• Non-ticketed: 516,338
• Total: 1,099,909

Adelaide Guitar Festival (1 – 16 July 2023)

Adelaide Guitar Festival 2023 included the Adelaide premiere of The Milk Carton Kids, a one-off performance by some of the nation’s stellar guitarists and vocalists in The Music of Jeff Beck. The Festival also featured two exclusive Australian premieres in The Colours of Spain, featuring a stunning flamenco troupe Compañía Flamenca Antonio Andrade, direct from Seville, and the extraordinary guitar/harmonica duo Antoine Boyer and Yeore Kim from France.

The program saw the return of Adelaide Guitar Festival’s ‘Late Night Club’ in a reconfigured Space Theatre and a guitar-related free talks series in Artspace. The winner of the 2023 Adelaide International Classical Guitar Competition was Deion Cho from the Republic of Korea.

Adelaide Guitar Festival ‘On the Road’ visited 17 regional towns in the Eyre Peninsula and Riverland across two weekends in July, delivering 97 free performances.

This successful annual program was primarily funded by grants from the federal government through Festivals Australia and the Contemporary Music Touring Program, as well as state government funding through the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

Festival Performance:The 2023 festival employed 146 individual artists for 121 performances and free events across South Australia, including 35 regional venues, schools, and healthcare services. Total festival attendances were more than 18,000, including regional venues on the Eyre Peninsula, the Riverland, and in the Far North.

OzAsia Festival (19 October – 5 November 2023)

The 2023 OzAsia Festival celebrated another successful season with inspirational performances and exciting, inclusive community events. Annette Shun Wah returned as Artistic Director. The festival had more than 180,000 attendances across 80 unique events, including Moon Lantern Trail, In Other Words, Lucky Dumpling Market, Bubble Tea Garden, Anime Go!, plus a selection of theatre, dance, and music performances, exhibitions, workshops, films, and other activities.

OzAsia remains Australia’s premier event for celebrating artistic connections between Australia and Asia.

Total attendances:185,000+

The program delivered:

• 3 world premieres
• 8 Australian premieres
• 9 Adelaide premieres

The program of 80 unique events included:

• 10 dance, theatre, and comedy performances
• 14 live music events
• 6 visual art exhibitions
• 1 film program
• 4 major community events
• 13 workshop/education events
• 27 writing and ideas events
• 3 professional and creative development events
• 1 conference
• 1 library activation

Employment and Partnering Opportunities:

• 360 professional artists engaged
• 498 local community artist opportunities
• 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific participated
• 18 local organisations collaborated

Adelaide Cabaret Festival (7 – 22 June 2024)

The 2024 Adelaide Cabaret Festival featured over 70 performances, countless standing ovations, powerhouse voices, and plenty of glitter. Audiences soaked in the cabaret vibes at Adelaide Festival Centre over 12 nights featuring world-class performers from Australia, the USA, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Once again, the festival featured crowd-pleasing favourites alongside brand-new works in development by South Australian artists.

Performance Indicators:

• Attendances: 28,300
• Sold-out performances: 24
• Artists and musicians: 226
• World premieres: 16
• Adelaide premieres: 22

Sold-out shows included:

• The Variety Gala
• Jess Hitchcock’s A Fine Romance
• Mahalia Barnes & The Soulmates
• Kate Miller-Heidke in Catching Diamonds
• Comedians Auditioning for Musicals
• Emma Pask
• Missy Higgins
• Adelaide Cabaret Festival Icon Award recipient Reuben Kaye

Learning and Engagement

Learning and Engagement programs include accessible and affordable programming for South Australian families and vital collaborations with culturally diverse communities. This includes family programming, free workshops, Students Got Talent, Lunar New Year, and multicultural community program support.

Engagement across the year included:

• Attendances: 35,028
• Shows: 137
• Artists: 603 (239 local, 364 interstate)

On Stage Performing Arts Learning Program

The On Stage Performing Arts Learning program provides open access and accessible workshops for young people aged 8-17 years during the school holidays.

Engagement across the year included:

• Workshops: 25
• Participants: 182
• Sponsored participants: 12
• Tutors: 29

First Nations Programs

Adelaide Festival Centre continued to develop its extended First Nations programming stream with the Celebrating First Nations Program at AFC, as part of the centre’s 50th celebrations. This involved a performance program running alongside the well-established OUR MOB and OUR YOUNG MOB exhibition, with the additions of OUR STORIES, OUR WORDS, OUR YOUNG WORDS, and Defi-Nations.

Program Indicators:

• OUR MOB and OUR YOUNG MOB artists: 125
• OUR WORDS, OUR YOUNG WORDS & OUR STORIES total attendances: 486
• First Nations artists employed across the year: 61

CentrED

Adelaide Festival Centre’s CentrED schools program provides curriculum-relevant arts education experiences and resources for students and teachers in South Australia, with a primary focus on connecting students and educators with artist experiences and live performances. CentrED programs are designed by an Education Manager supported through funding from the Department for Education, South Australia. The program provides free and heavily subsidised programming, along with transport and ticket subsidies, which are supported by funding from the Minister for Education, Training and Skills and the Adelaide Festival Centre Foundation.

Performance Indicators:

• Student attendances: 17,189
• Teacher attendances: 2,329
• School attendances: 641

Exhibitions & Collections

The Exhibitions and Collections department delivered another year of outstanding, diverse, year-round programs of free exhibitions to the highest possible standard. The team utilized all gallery spaces, including the Festival Theatre and Dunstan Playhouse foyer galleries, Artspace, Ian and Pamela Wall Gallery at Her Majesty’s Theatre, outdoor media screens, and the Walk of Fame. These included works from the Performing Arts Collection.

Program Indicators:This year, there were 17 self-curated exhibitions in The Galleries and The Ian and Pamela Wall Gallery. The Children’s Artspace featured 6 exhibitions by 6 artists working with young people. The Moving Image Program screened 26 moving image works on the outdoor media screens from artists across the world. The Performing Arts Collection had 27 donors contributing 94 individual items, and 6 donations of larger collections and archives, including 2 painting donations to the Works of Art Collection.

Board Member Attendance

• The Hon Karlene Maywald
  • Number of sessional meetings: 2
  • Number of meetings attended: 2
• The Hon Hieu Van Le AC
  • Number of sessional meetings: 3
  • Number of meetings attended: 3
• Jacqui McGill AO
  • Number of sessional meetings: 4
  • Number of meetings attended: 2
• Bruce Carter AO
  • Number of sessional meetings: 6
  • Number of meetings attended: 5
• Maggie Zhou
  • Number of sessional meetings: 5
  • Number of meetings attended: 4
• Steven Woolhouse
  • Number of sessional meetings: 1
  • Number of meetings attended: 1
• Dr Katherine Tamiko Arguile
  • Number of sessional meetings: 6
  • Number of meetings attended: 5
• Councillor Phillip Martin
  • Number of sessional meetings: 6
  • Number of meetings attended: 6
• Penny Griggs
  • Number of sessional meetings: 5
  • Number of meetings attended: 5
• Michael Abbott AO KC
  • Number of sessional meetings: 3
  • Number of meetings attended: 3
• Alexandrea Cannon OAM
  • Number of sessional meetings: 2
  • Number of meetings attended: 2

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Corporate performance summary

While the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust relies on funding from the South Australian Government, it is a commercial operation and in the 2023-24 financial year it generated nearly $25 million in revenue from its key commercial operations as follows:

• Theatre services (theatre rental, merchandise and cost recoveries) – 55 percent
• Catering (food and beverage sales from bars, dining and functions) – 20 percent
• Ticketing (inside charge on tickets sold) – 15 percent
• Box office (ticket sales on Adelaide Festival Centre presents events) – 7 percent
• Sponsorship (commercial partners) – 3 percent

The Trust has undertaken a range of corporate initiatives during 2023-24:

• Focused on promoting good governance, contract management, transparency and record keeping while planning and undertaking procurements, in accordance with Treasurer's Instruction 18 Procurement.
• Completing the whole of government banking transition from Commonwealth Bank to the ANZ for the Trust’s banking arrangements.
• Invested in cyber security initiatives to ensure we continue to evolve and increase our cyber security resilience, posture, and preparedness for new and emerging cyber security threats.
• Gained approval from the South Australian Employment Tribunal for the AFC Professional and Administration Agreement 2023 and the Adelaide Festival Centre Performing Arts Centre Enterprise Agreement 2023.
• Improved the client journey and user experience through improved use of our Event Business Management Software.
• Spending on staff training and development this financial year was 1.61% of salaries and wages. Training and development included Executive Excellence and Manager Essentials programs facilitated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment.
• In addition, a range of other mandatory training and professional development sessions were undertaken including forklift usage, mental health first aid, epilepsy awareness, position classifications, evacuation drill and fire warden duties, working at heights and health and safety representative training.

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Employment opportunity programs

Work experience and work placement programs - Performance

Adelaide Festival Centre’s work experience program provides students with an understanding and overview of how Adelaide Festival Centre operates and knowledge of careers available within arts administration.

In 2023-24 eight students worked across programming, marketing, and customer experience. Students from lower index of educational disadvantage ranked schools were prioritised to participate.

International internship programs - Performance

In 2023-24 Adelaide Festival Centre hosted three interns from Chinese University Hong Kong who are studying their Masters in Cultural Management. They worked directly on the programming and organisation of OzAsia Festival.

In 2023-24 Adelaide Festival Centre also hosted two interns from Flinders University, who worked directly on the programming of Adelaide Cabaret Festival, and one intern from University of Adelaide who worked on the marketing of Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

Aboriginal School Based Traineeship - Performance

Adelaide Festival Centre hosted two Aboriginal school students through a funding arrangement with Maxima.

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Agency performance management and development systems

The Trust’s ambition is to meet the Premier’s Direction by having 100% of full time and part time employees participating in a bi-annual performance discussion.

Performance management and development system - Performance

Performance management and development system

• The Adelaide Festival Centre Trust’s performance development program is a planned system for continually improving the performance of individuals and the organisation.
• Employees participate in bi-annual discussions in line with the Premier’s Direction.

Employee Participation

• As of 31 December 2023: 35% of full-time and part-time employees had a discussion in the preceding six months.
• As of 30 June 2024: 63% of full-time and part-time employees had a discussion in the preceding six months.

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Work health, safety and return to work programs

Injury and Workers Compensation Management

Strategies have been adopted to minimise the financial impact of work-injured employees through early intervention, and active case and claims management.

Wellbeing and Engagement

A comprehensive wellbeing program has been delivered, based on the concept of healthy body / healthy mind. The program also aims to build resilience and a positive culture with a focus on psychological wellbeing.

The 2024 Influenza vaccination program saw 137 employees take up the offer of a voluntary vaccination.

The Adelaide Festival Centre Trust has an Employee Assistance Program provider with a wide range of online resources made available to workers and their families, in addition to a variety of delivery methods for counselling services.

The Trust’s ambition is to have a healthy and safe workplace committed to zero harm.

Workplace Injury Claims

• Current Year 2023-24
  Total new workplace injury claims: 3
  Fatalities: 0
  Seriously injured workers: 0
  Significant injuries (where lost time exceeds a working week, expressed as frequency rate per 1000 FTE): 4
• Past Year 2022-23
  Total new workplace injury claims: 3
  Fatalities: 0
  Seriously injured workers: 0
  Significant injuries (where lost time exceeds a working week, expressed as frequency rate per 1000 FTE): 1
• % Change (+ / -)
  Total new workplace injury claims: -
  Fatalities: -
  Seriously injured workers: -
  Significant injuries: +400%

Note: The number of claimants assessed during the reporting period as having a whole person impairment of 30% or more under the Return to Work Act 2014 (Part 2 Division 5).

Work Health and Safety Regulations

• Current Year 2023-24
  Number of notifiable incidents: 6
  Number of provisional improvement, improvement and prohibition notices: 0
• Past Year 2022-23
  Number of notifiable incidents: 2
  Number of provisional improvement, improvement and prohibition notices: 3
• % Change (+ / -)
  Number of notifiable incidents: +200%
  Number of provisional improvement, improvement and prohibition notices: -300%

Return to Work Costs

• Current Year 2023-24
  Total gross workers compensation expenditure: $176,915
  Income support payments – gross: $15,194
• Past Year 2022-23
  Total gross workers compensation expenditure: $90,683
  Income support payments – gross: $6,695
• % Change (+ / -)
  Total gross workers compensation expenditure: +95%
  Income support payments – gross: +126%

Note: Before third-party recovery.Data for previous years is available at: ​https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/afct-work-health-and-safety​

Executive Employment in the Agency

• Executive Classification:
  Number of executives: 9

Employees are defined as executives as per the State Government of South Australia Human Resources Dataset: Data Definition.

Data for previous years is available at: ​https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/afct-executive-employment​   

The Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment has a workforce information page that provides further information on the breakdown of executive gender, salary and tenure by agency.