A string of central Victorian events are reeling from the state's fourth lockdown as uncertainty circles the industry.
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The inaugural Daybreak Music Festival has postponed their Queen's Birthday weekend event to October despite being given the all-clear by the state government to issue more tickets in mid-May.
Director Hudson Watts said almost 2000 tickets had been sold for the festival, but hoped revellers would get amoungst the October event.
"The lineup will look roughly the same and hopefully by October restrictions have eased again," he said.
"There was too much uncertainty around what we could do so close to event. The last thing we wanted to do is get to a couple of days out and there's another outbreak.
"As you can imagine it's disheartening. It's frustrating because you work so hard to execute the event and it all comes down to one date. It only takes one short lockdown to completely make everything you've done redundant."
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Mr Watts said all ticket-holders would have valid passes for the October event and if people couldn't make it, refunds were available.
"It's a shame but this is the game we play," he said. "It's not all bad and we'll come back bigger and better in October.
"We're in the process of looking for a new headliner in the absence of Rebuke and we'll announce that in the coming weeks.
"We'll also hold a separate event with him which we'll announce in the coming days so people who wanted to see him will still have that chance.
"Hopefully October comes around and we have a bit more certainty."
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Riverboats and Winter Sounds festival director David Frazer said the pandemic had been a difficult time for the events industry.
"There is not an event on the planet that hasn't been affected by coronavirus," he said.
"We were lucky in 2020 to be able to pull off Riverboats prior to lockdown and ironically, it was our best year.
"We came to a tipping point where we thought we'd be fine by February 2021 for another Riverboats but come September it was clear we weren't so we cancelled this year's event."
Riverboats injects $2.7 million into the regional economy each year and the crew carried on the entertainment through launched Loungeroom Sessions and raised $47,000 for previous festival artists.
Winter Sounds was initially slated for July 2020 but the five-venue event program across the Hepburn Shire was postponed due to the pandemic.
"We're still a few weeks out to initiate a plan B but it is a nervous time," Mr Frazer said.
"Being in the events industry, it's a real roll of the dice every year but now it's absurd.
"There's no coronavirus insurance and while we can plan a COVIDSafe event we can't plan for a statewide lockdown.
"We keep planning on the assumption it can run until we're told otherwise but the events industry is crying out for an insurance policy.
"The film industry got one and we've seen Hollywood movies coming here to film because they're backed by the government."
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Mr Frazer said due to the nature of the events industry with ticketing, running a COVIDSafe event was an easy pivot.
"We have everyone's names and address before they even step through the gates and then there is extra cover with QR codes," he said. "We can deliver COVIDSafe events, we just need the opportunity to do so."
Having been a part of the events industry for almost two decades, Mr Frazer said the coronavirus had proved a pivotal time for the industry, with a make-or-break cloud looming.
"The absence of JobKeeper is crippling a lot of people in all industries," he said.
"While there's allowed to be 85,000 at the MCG, band rooms have one person every four square metres so there might be 50 people listening to a band in a 400-capacity room and the band is being paid on a door deal so no one is making money.
"A hell of a lot of workers in the events sector have packed up and the next challenge will be how we re-open without the staff.
"The arts have always been overlooked. Look at the hoops that were jumped through for the AFL and Australian Open. The Olympic team has been vaccinated and not even all of our aged care residents have, it's disgraceful.
"If our events were cancelled on opening night like we saw with Bluesfest, that could be the end of us."
In-line with current state government regulations, City of Greater Bendigo Council announced the Bendigo Art Gallery, The Capital and Ulumbarra theatres and The Engine Room would remain closed until Thursday, June 10, when it is expected further announcements regarding restrictions will be made.
Refunds for tickets to Mary Quant: Fashion Revolutionary that were booked while the Gallery is closed will be processed automatically and may take up to 10 days.
For shows at The Capital, Ulumbarra or The Engine Room, staff will contact ticket holders.
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