Executive Director Jarrod Carland puts the company into administration, leaving artists little hope of payment.

The directors of the troubled Brisbane Baroque festival have put the company into voluntary administration as of January 16 due to “concerns over the ability of the company to meet its obligations,” according to a statement issued last night. The announcement comes less than a month after executive director Jarrod Carland broke six months of silence to tell The Australian that he was working with the Federal Arts Ministry on a grant “that would see about 90 performers and other creditors paid at least some of the $500,000 they were owed”, and that he was aiming to reprise the event in the second half of this year.

The two-page statement put out by Brisbane Baroque outlined a series of debts incurred over two years and blamed Federal Arts Minister Mitch Fifield and government funding programmes for failing to support the critically acclaimed festival. It also details how Carland was “admitted by a medical professional to a psychiatric hospital for many months” with what he describes as a lifethreatening illness.

Carland blames the timing of the Queensland state election for forcing an announcement that the Hobart...