Run by the same team who bring us the Deni Ute Muster each year, all three of the March music events hosted to date have run at a loss.
Play on the Plains Inc general manager Vicky Lowry said it is unsustainable in the long term, but she said the committee was not prepared to give up on the event completely just yet.
“It was discussed at our last board meeting, and at this stage we have chosen not to cancel 2025 but to review the event’s future,” Mrs Lowry said.
“It might be just a format change, for example.
“This year was a great event and did amazing things for the town by drawing in international and interstate visitors, but the reality is that it is not supported locally or within the region.
“We are again looking at a loss.
“We could have cancelled 2024, like so many other festivals have been forced to do this year, but we chose to go ahead. But our event has to be profitable, and it has to be supported.
“This was our third event and the third year that it has not been supported in the region, despite having some big name artists.
“So we need to look at if and how we can run the event in the future (without a loss).
“We’ll also be searching for funding; we just know we can’t afford to keep losing hundreds of thousands of dollars over three years.”
Mrs Lowry said the introduction of the Battle of the Bands was a particular highlight of the 2024 event.
As a competition which fits in with the organisers’ aims of promoting Australian music, supporting up and coming artists and bringing music to the regions, she said its something the committee wants to continue with if possible.
“We know Battle of the Bands competitions have been held in Deniliquin before, but the benefit of ours is the experience of a professional stage and use of a professional production crew.
“We can see the importance of that.
“The vast majority of our entrants in 2024 came from interstate and, actually, we had more bands apply than the slots we had available, so we had to turn some away.
“We want to be seen as supporting young up-and-coming artists and new music.
“These Battle of the Bands acts come here at their own cost to play, and we want to try and make that work.”
Part of the prize for the 2024 open Battle of the Bands winner - Newcastle band, Elestisal - was to perform on the main stage at the 2025 Play on the Plains Festival.
Mrs Lowry said because of the “uncertainty” surrounding the event, the band was instead invited to perform on the main stage at this year’s Deni Ute Muster.
She said they excitedly accepted, and also reported that the exposure they received at Play on the Plains saw them book some other musical gigs before their weekend in Deniliquin had ended.
The first Play on the Plains festival was hosted in 2021, and held the Victorian Labour Day weekend.
Despite being impacted by strict COVID-19 restrictions - which dictated that people had to remain seated and could not dance - Mrs Lowry said the first evet has the strongest attendance to date.
The 2023 event was cancelled due to low ticket sales.
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