"I was really thrilled with [current co-artistic directors] Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy's 2017 festival, it had the spirit the festival used to have, where people came from all over the country. It had a real sense of something special. When Rob asked if I'd be up for supporting bringing Hamlet to this year's festival, I said, would I what!"

The Armfield magic

This is the the first donation Wheeler, a generous supporter of aid organisations and Melbourne-based arts companies, has made to the Adelaide Festival. And Neil Armfield is the reason.

Wheeler, who is chair of the Melbourne Festival and was until recently a director of the Melbourne Theatre Company, says it was she in 2013 who was "the one who made Armfield's Ring Cycle happen", throwing her weight (and $5 million) behind a fundraising effort that enabled his acclaimed $20 million production to be staged in Melbourne. "I got to know Neil a bit during the Ring process because I was so heavily involved," she says.

"It was fantastic and I'm a fan of his work. So when Rob Brookman asked if I'd like to join the Hamlet Circle [I agreed] because of my admiration for Neil and because I really wanted to see Hamlet."

Brookman stresses that without the support of the Hamlet Donor Circle, there would be no Hamlet at this year's festival. Adapted by composer Brett Dean and directed by Armfield, Hamlet made its triumphant debut at the UK's Glyndebourne festival last June, resulting in invitations worldwide.

And without the $1.27 million overall philanthropic contribution, the annual Adelaide Festival would have far less stature, he says. Armfield and Healy's inaugural 2017 festival was touted as a return to artistic works "on a grand scale", but 2018's line-up is equally impressive, with a number of Adelaide-only international works balanced by a commitment to local companies (see festival co-director Rachel Healy's picks, below).


"These donors have become the lifeblood of an organisation like ours, allowing us to push out from being a festival that delivers a solid, interesting, well-rounded program to one where we're able to achieve the truly exceptional and spectacular," Brookman says.

"Corporate sponsorship has become harder and harder to secure and government funding has remained the same since 2016, at $9 million."

Maureen Wheeler is one of the members of the Hamlet Donor Circle, which has raised almost $600,000 to produce one of the 2018 Adelaide Festival's headline events. Greg Elms

The turnover during Armfield and Healy's tenure – they recently extended their contracts until 2021 – has risen a staggering 46 per cent, from $12.5 million in 2016 to a projected $18.4 million this year. This is largely driven by box office: $2.4 million in 2016, a figure projected to double this year (it reached more than $4 million in 2017).

The increase in box office is, in turn, due to an increase in philanthropy, from $230,000 in 2016 to this year's $1.27 million, enabling the directors to program more ambitious works and put more seats on sale, with the larger international works commanding higher ticket prices.

It speaks volumes about the pulling power of Armfield, Healy and Brookman that 80 per cent of festival donations hail from further afield – Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Philanthropy's moment

The bad news is that corporate sponsorship has nearly halved, from $2 million in 1998 to $1.4 million this year. The increase in philanthropy is a bid to stem the sharp decline in corporate sponsorship and government funding, a reality experienced by most arts companies in Australia today.


"Australia is becoming a philistine's paradise in relation to its support of the arts," says Hamlet Donor Circle member Kim Williams, who hopes publicising his philanthropy might encourage others. Ben Rushton

"I don't think Australia is yet at a point when you'd say philanthropy has matured like it has in America but there have been astonishing strides made over the last decade," Brookman says. "But we've got a long way to go. If something terrible happened tomorrow and everybody who is currently giving stopped, the arts in Australia would virtually collapse."

Williams says he has publicised his generosity in the hope of encouraging others to follow suit.

"Australia is becoming a philistine's paradise in relation to its support of the arts and it distresses me enormously, because never have matters of intellect and creativity mattered more to the future of the nation. So with some reluctance one has to step up and say, 'I'm supporting this, will you consider doing so?'

"We've reached a new nadir in government funding, it's not seen as a fundamental duty of social responsibility and care to look after matters of creativity and intellect. I think it's woeful."

To be or not to be: there would have been no staging of Hamlet at the festival without the support of the Hamlet Donor Circle. photo Richard Hubert Smith

Williams brightens at the thought of the packed schedule he and his wife have planned for the upcoming festival, endorsing Wheeler's recognition of the impact a creative genius like Armfield makes on Australia's cultural landscape.

"I was a very enthusiastic [financial] supporter of Neil's The Secret River in 2017's festival, as I am of any of Neil's work. I was thrilled at Neil and Rachel's last festival and intend going to all three in the future."


NEED TO KNOW

The Adelaide Festival runs from March 2-18. For more, see adelaidefestival.com.au

Don't miss these six...

Festival co-director Rachel Healy's top picks include:

The opera, critically acclaimed when it premiered at 2017's Glyndebourne Festival Opera, was adapted by Australian composer Brett Dean and directed by Neil Armfield. Richard Hubert Smith

The Akram Khan Company will perform Xenos, a reinterpretation of the myth of Prometheus. Supplied

The UKARIA Cultural Centre will host a number of chamber concerts. Supplied