Culture and the arts funding

Getting the Show Back on the Road+

Helping reduce financial risks for ticketed events in WA.

As part of the State Government’s $77 million Safe Transition Industry Support Package, a $10 million extension to the Getting the Show Back on the Road+ (GTSBOTR+) has been announced. GTSBOTR+ aims to reduce the financial risks associated with running ticketed events in Western Australia (WA) during a COVID-19 impacted period, and to encourage the safe continuation of public ticketed events.

The GTSBOTR+ program provides support through sharing the risk of lost ticket revenue or registration fees for events impacted from 5 February 2022 from:

• Cancellation due to:
  • impacts of the border opening delay;
  • COVID-19 infection or direction to isolate for event key personnel;
  • quarantine requirements for key personnel entering WA making the event unviable; and
  • COVID-19 capacity restrictions or social distancing directions.
• Support for events that proceed but incur a substantial impact on the number of tickets sold (minimum 50% lost ticket sales/registrations) due to the impact of COVID-19 requirements.
• The GTSBOTR+ program will provide three tiers of support to cover lost ticket revenue or registration fees due to the causes listed above as follows:
  • 75% of gross ticketing/registration fee value for cancelled events resulting from a COVID-19 direction;
  • 50% of gross ticketing/registration fee value for self-cancelled events linked to COVID-19 requirements and/or border opening delay impacting on the viability of the event;
  • 30% of gross ticketing/registration fee value for events that proceed but incur a substantial impact on the number of tickets sold/registrations (min 50% fewer tickets/registrations) due to COVID-19 requirements.
  • The program does not support requests for retrospective coverage for events that have already occurred. Applications must be submitted at least 2 weeks before an event.

Due to the Level 2 Public Health and Social Measures currently in place in Western Australia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic where there is an impact on the viability of live performances. Payments are available to support the unrecoverable costs for the rescheduling of pre-approved events under the Getting the Show Back on the Road+ program, for events scheduled in the Level 2 Public Health and Social Measures period as follows:

• Support for unrecoverable rescheduling costs to be set at 30 per cent of pre-approved gross ticketed sales estimate to a cap of $150,000
• Support is limited to one reschedule per event.

The program funding caps is $150,000 against 75% of pre-approved lost ticket sales income. For events that experience significant box-office impact, support of up to $500,000 is available subject to Ministerial discretion. Any claims above the funding cap of $150,000 are assessed by external auditors, and based on unrecoverable expenditure (against substantiated receipts) not lost revenue.

GTSBOTR+ is a risk share program that works on a pre-approval model. An applicant is required to submit an application at least 2 weeks prior to an event commencing.

Please contact GTSBOTR+ team before submitting a claim above the funding cap to ensure you provide the necessary preliminary information to obtain approval to submit an above the cap funding request.