The Woodfordia team has been reduced from 26 staff to 14, including four part-time positions.
The decision to phase out JobKeeper subsidies at the end of March would force further redundancies, Ms Jackes said.
The 10-piece Balkan Brass ensemble Uska Kan accompanies the Circus Spectacular at a recent Woodford Folk Festival.Credit:Marian Faa
After all events on the Sunshine Coast hinterland site were cancelled in 2020, Woodfordia Inc used the government grants to change its festival activities into smaller events, such as Bushtime and the Festival of Small Halls.
The Woodford team has now also scaled back its popular mid-year mini-festival, The Planting.
On Thursday the state government reported there were now 41 COVID-19 cases in Queensland hospitals, many from Papua New Guinea.
Ms Jackes said Woodford organisers supported the lockdowns, despite the impact on their events.
“They have been an effective tool in stopping the spread of the COVID virus when it has spread out of the hotel quarantine,” she said.
However, Ms Jackes said the risk of the virus leaking from hotel quarantine in Queensland remained, and because vaccination rates were low, future events also had to be cancelled.
“We have decided that for the months of March, April and May, we won’t be holding events,” she said.
“We will reconsider at the end of May what our position is.
A crowd welcomes the new year sunrise at Woodford Folk Festival in 2015-16.Credit:Grace Pashley
“It has been a challenging year for our team. So many long-term contractors did not receive any work from Woodfordia, and 2800 artists did not get a gig at Woodfordia last year.
“Sadly, there were a number of employee redundancies, and most of the remaining staff worked at reduced hours or solely at the JobKeeper subsidy rate.”
The Woodford Folk Festival has run for 34 years and bridges the Christmas-New Year period, bringing thousands of artists, performers and families together for six days.
Ms Jackes said the organising team remained optimistic.
“While we are not holding events, we will focus on keeping the land maintained, keeping our stakeholders informed, reviewing our documentation and systems, upgrading software and, most importantly, imagining a beautiful future,” she said.
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