The Ticket Attendance and Revenue Survey 2015 shows overall declines, but ballet and dance buck the trend.

Revenue from live performance fell 6.7% in 2015 according to Live Performance Australia’s Ticket Attendance and Revenue Survey 2015. The annual survey is the most comprehensive survey of ticket sales for Australian live performance events.

The report showed that the revenue for 2015 was $1.41 billion with 18.38 million tickets sold to live performance events – a decrease of 6.7% in revenue and 0.9% in attendances when compared to 2014 numbers. Average ticket prices declined by 4.7%.

For the first time Live Performance Australia has also released supplementary data reporting on Australia Council for the Arts (Key Organisations) and Australian Performing Arts Centres Association member venues. The supplementary data shows 1.56 million tickets were issued to 7,736 live performances at regional and metropolitan venues generating revenue of $43.6 million in 2015, though the report acknowledges that this is not a comprehensive survey of regional and metropolitan venues. With these figures included, the live performance industry contributed $1.45 billion in revenue and 19.94 million in attendance.

“These figures underscore the economic and cultural value of the live performance industry for millions of Australians,” said Live...