Pre-sales strong for arts festival

The 2010 Otago Festival of the Arts is enjoying its best year for ticket pre-sales.

Festival director Nicholas McBryde said some performances had already sold out, more than three weeks before the festival starts.

"The festival is definitely ahead of where we've been at this stage, historically, and that's very encouraging," he said yesterday.

"A couple of performances, like Back of the Bus, have already sold out some nights. Le Sud is doing very, very well. Kiri [Te Kanawa] is proving very popular.

"Several of the gigs are in small venues and some are in huge venues, so capacities vary considerably. But, we're only in the marketplace for eight weeks," Mr McBryde said.

"As usual, we've got a very diverse programme, with a big mixed bag of choice that's as affordable as we can make it. There's a range of ticket prices for any gig.

"We've got gigs from the other side of the world, bringing experiences we don't usually see here, coming to Dunedin at very accessible prices. For $40 you can see something that would cost more than 50 or 60 ($NZ105-$NZ125) in London.

"Historically, there's always a last-minute flurry, so there's a need for a sense of hurry-up. Last festival, there were several sell-outs and a lot of disappointed people who left their run too late."

The 2010 Otago Festival of the Arts runs from October 8-17.