Entertainment facilities including theatres, cinemas and concert halls across NSW will be able to increase their capacity to 50 per cent and corporate events at function centres will be able to welcome up to 300 attendees from next week.
The Premier’s Major Events Taskforce has agreed theatre, cinema and concert goers can return to entertainment venues in greater numbers and that corporate events at function centres can increase attendance, provided venues have COVID-Safe plans and adhere to public health requirements.
Minister for the Arts Don Harwin said this is a major step forward to recovery for the performing arts sector, with entertainment facilities now able to sell tickets for seated events at 50 per cent of capacity, to a maximum of 1,000 tickets.
“For workers across the full spectrum of the performing arts – from box office staff to ushers, from technicians and roadies to the artists – this change means more jobs,” Mr Harwin said.
“For audiences, it means we can soon enjoy the experiences we have all missed so much during the pandemic.
“It’s a win for jobs, it’s a win for our theatres and it’s a win for communities across NSW.”
The changes mean a boost to box office revenues for the hundreds of theatres, cinemas and concert halls across the state. For some it means reopening their doors.
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said getting more people into entertainment venues and function centres was key to re-starting the NSW visitor economy.
“Function centres will now be able to host up to whichever is the lesser of 300 people or one person per four square metres for a corporate event. It’s vitally important for the business community to get back on its feet by being able to collaborate and share ideas in person once again”. The limit of 300 people is an increase from the current limit of 150 for corporate events,” Mr Ayres said.
“This will help people get back to work and back to doing more of the things they love to do in NSW as our COVID-19 recovery plan continues to take shape.”
The NSW Government has supported the arts and cultural sector throughout the pandemic with support packages such as the $6.34 million support for arts, screen and cultural organisations as well as the $50 million Rescue and Restart package.