Strong risk management and community support for Mardi Gras’ 30th anniversary were the main factors contributing to a $483,650 profit announced in New Mardi Gras (NMG)’s annual report, released last Thursday.

“We have a board that is actually quite experienced broadly in financial and arts and events management,” General Manager Anna McInerney told MCV.

“We’ve been very, very careful about managing our risk and planning our budgets and then managing those budgets.”

One of the key strategies in making last year’s event a financial success was outsourcing of certain services, such as the bar at Fair Day, McInerney said.

“Fair Day we get somewhere in the region of 50,000 to 60,000 people through the park, but it’s still pretty much a free event. Of course, with that comes the increases in infrastructure and the staging costs of the event, so we’re looking at ways of being more efficient and ... saying ‘let’s outsource that.’ And so that’s one of the ways this year we became more efficient and for the first year ever broke even on Fair Day.”

Meanwhile, South Australia’s Gay and Lesbian Festival, Feast, has increased its funding from existing sources and from new donors.

The South Australian Premier’s Department is providing a special one-off payment of $50,000 for Feast 2008, and first-time donor The Australia Council has given $20,000.

Feast Director, Daniel Clarke said the 2008 program is a truly international, and the extra funding and sponsorship reflected Feasts growing presence on the international scene.

Evolution Publishing is the official media sponsor of Mardi Gras and Feast.

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