Adelaide Festival music program hit as SA faces multimillion-dollar black hole
A day of Adelaide Festival’s contemporary music program has been abandoned by artists in the wake of the board’s decision to remove a Palestinian author from the Writers’ Week lineup. SA faces millions of dollars of lost economic benefit if the festival collapses.
More artists and sponsors have pulled out of the state’s prestigious Adelaide Festival over the weekend, citing the event board’s decision to remove Palestinian author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah from the Writers’ Week lineup last week.
Day two of Tryp – the festival’s contemporary music program – has now been abandoned, with every artist programmed having pulled out. This followed most of the programmed writers withdrawing from Writers’ Week over the past few days. While a festival drinks sponsor has also dropped its support.
The withdrawals threaten to derail both events with the Adelaide Festival’s 2025 Impact Report showing it generated $62.6 million in gross expenditure for South Australia, spent by the 365,402 total attendees.
Writers’ Week had a record-breaking 160,000 attendances in 2025 – the event’s 40th year – over the six days.
The report showed Adelaide Festival also had a $47.1 million net impact on gross state product in 2025, while 338 jobs were created.
It was also a “significant contributor to South Australia’s visitor economy”, according to the report. Across the 2025 program, the festival attracted 29 per cent of all ticket sales from interstate.
Both Arts Minister Andrea Michaels and Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison were asked about whether the government was concerned that the state would miss out the financial boon in tourism and arts expenditure.
They referred InDaily to comments made by Premier Peter Malinauskas earlier today, he replied “yes” to questions about whether he was concerned about the reputational and economic damage that the controversy would have on the state.
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“I think the board has gotten this into a pretty awful situation, which is unfortunate, and I hope there’s a way to see through it,” he said.
New Festival City Adelaide CEO Glyn Roberts told InDaily that Adelaide Festival was “one of the most important festivals, bar none, in the country and in the world”.
“It’s incredibly important to Adelaide and one of our global calling cards as a festival city,” he said.
“Adelaide Festival is the founding event from which our globally recognised identity as a festival city has grown to what it is today. Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Writers Week are not just events in the calendar; they are in part what makes SA unique.”
Local soda maker Mischief Brewing today also announced it would be withdrawing as a sponsor from Adelaide Writers’ Week and Adelaide Festival “effective immediately”.
“We believe cultural spaces work best when they protect creative independence and open dialogue, and that’s what guides out decisions,” Mischief Brewing said on social media.
“We’ll continue to support creative communities in ways that reflect our values.”
It comes after Adelaide Festival Board chair Tracey Whiting resigned following days of controversy. It is understood she informed the government on Sunday afternoon.
In addition to the boon to the economy, Adelaide Festival was profitable in 2025, making $472,000 – up from an $825,000 loss the year prior, according to the Adelaide Festival Corporation’s audited financial report.
The festival generated most of its income from government grants, with $9.8 million of its $19 million total income from SA government grants. These revenues mainly relate to a recurring annual operating grant with the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
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Of the $19 million in income, $4.1 million was from box office sales, while employee and supplies expenses made up the brunt of the total $18.6 million in expenses.
More artists withdraw
Following New York-based producer DJ Haram last week pulling out of Adelaide Festival’s contemporary music program Tryp, more artists have withdrawn from that program.
Melbourne-based SOVBLKPSSY, local artists Skorpion King and Mr. John and Adelaide club collective H34VEN0N34RTH, have all announced they would not be part day two of Tryp. They were all set to support DJ Haram at Hindley Street nightclub Divide in February.
“This decision does not reflect our beliefs and values of humanity, expression, compassion and equity, and further pushes down people already facing extreme adversity,” Skorpion King said in a statement.
“We do not care for any opportunity, no matter how big, if it does not align with our values.”
Their withdrawal means programming for day two of Tryp has been abandoned.
Australian support acts for day one of the contemporary music program – headlined by noise icons Boris and Merzbow – announced their withdrawal over the weekend.
In a joint statement, Melbourne-based musician Jannah Quill and Adelaide’s House of Vnholy said they would no longer perform at Adelaide Festival, also citing the removal of Dr Abdel-Fattah from the Writers’ Week lineup.
“We were honoured and grateful to be included in the Tryp programming – it was a special opportunity that allowed us to present new work at a scale that matched our ambition,” the pair said.
“But no opportunity is worth aligning with such racist ideology.”
Local artist Capital Waste has also threatened to withdraw from Adelaide Festival should the board not reinstate Dr Abdel-Fattah on the Writers’ Week program.
In a public statement, he said the board’s decision “overrules the AWW director’s curatorial vision and follows the growing trend of overreach by out-of-touch, corporate boards in artistic institutions”.
“This statement demonstrates their lack of integrity and lack of understanding of the cultural and creative landscape.”
Adelaide Festival said it had no comment at this stage.
