Afrikaburn cancellation & refunds: What you need to know
Here’s what the cancellation of Afrikaburn 2020 means to you as a ticketholder.
Following suit of festivals worldwide, Afrikaburn has cancelled its 2020 event amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
No one saw coronavirus coming, and as we find ourselves in unchartered territory we are all doing what we can to survive, including Afrikaburn.
The decision to cancel was by no means an easy one, though a necessary one for the safety of all.
The organization has released a statement detailing their entire process in reaching the conclusions they have now made.
The tell-all statement reveals how Afrikaburn is fighting for insurance (something we all know is like pulling teeth), includes a spreadsheet of their year-round revenue and expenditure and answers questions ticketholders have like what the status of refunds is.
Where has my ticket money gone?
Surprise, surprise, it takes a lot of money to host a festival, money that is spent a long while before the event actually takes place.
“At this time approximately R3 million has already been spent on preparations for the 2020 event to date, which includes R1 044 588 on Creative Grants, Mutant Vehicle Grants, Tech Grants, Theme Camp Grants, arts development and incubation, and the build of our Clan effigy, which was in progress,” the statement reads.
That’s just the costs involved in the setup. Afrikaburn uses profit from the event to sustain its yearlong projects and keep afloat.
As the spreadsheet shows, Afrikaburn stands to lose R1 366 859 without giving refunds.
The refund status if insurance doesn’t pay out (high probability):
- Anathi ticket holders will be refunded – and the reason being is this ticket type is more often than not linked to a grant of a value that is greater than the cost of the ticket. All Anathi ticket applicants who stood to benefit from an Access Grant were required to purchase their ticket upfront by 6 March, ahead of receiving the grant.
- Vehicle Passes will also be refunded.
- Subsidized tickets will not be refunded because recipients of this ticket type do not have comparable circumstances to Anathi ticket holders.
- 2020 tickets will not be redeemable in 2021, because the event has been cancelled not postponed – the next event will be at our new location, Quaggafontein.
Refunding tickets without insurance payout will mean the end of Afrikaburn, so just bear that in mind.
It’s good that they have opted to be transparent as there have been some grumblings from a sector of ‘Burners.’
Check out their statement here.
Afrikaburn 2020 may be over, but with a bit of understanding and teamwork hopefully next year they are back with a bang!