I am not going to lie to you. This time, last year, I was pretty stressed. Our inaugural Sydney Mardi Gras cabaret season, blackcat lounge 2012, had many wins – the shows were of an extremely high calibre, we got some great reviews, we worked with some wonderful artists and learned loads about communication and risk taking and community.
But ticket sales were not as high as we’d hoped, and we lost quite a bit of money on our little gamble. Popular opinion would have me pretend this weren’t the case. I should be shouting our successes from the rooftops in the hope of grant funding and awards! But it would be dishonest to pretend that emerging artists and producers don’t make mistakes.
What’s wonderful, though, is when we can learn from those mistakes. This year, Phoebe and I considered the variables that caused last year’s season to do badly financially, despite its creative quality. We shortened the season, we worked with less artists, moved venues and changed our marketing plan.
We are pleased to say that all shows either sold out or sold well, we canceled no shows and we saw many happy patrons leaving The Factory Floor, having enjoyed a whole lot of quality music. Frisky and Mannish blew the roof off, Lady Sings it Better showed Sydney what we learned over in the old country, Brendan Maclean launched his amazing single, Stupid and Maxine Kauter Band slayed Prince’s Purple Rain (in a good way!) and introduced us to Cherry On Top (their talented support act).
Thanks to all the artists we work with for giving us another shot at producing this event and delivering such killer shows, to audiences for booking tickets by the hundreds (we do love people who pre-book), and to The Factory and Century Venues.
See you again in 2014!
off the queer silly season yesterday with a fun set at Mardi Gras Fair Day. We sweated our little hearts out in the baking sun, then as the rain arrived, we trotted home for a rehearsal. Rock star life, kids. This is it.
