Make or break year for Christchurch's World Buskers Festival

World Buskers Festival organisers are urging Christchurch people to show their support for the event as it faces a make or break year.

Performers from all over the world are arriving in Christchurch this week for the 25th anniversary of the event, with evening shows starting on Thursday night and street shows kicking off on Friday morning. The programme for the 2018 silver jubilee includes a new show from The Boy with Tape on his Face, superstar drag artist Ginger Minj and comedian Urzila Carlson's new solo show.

This year's event is being monitored and reviewed by ChristchurchNZ after losing $275,000 over the last two years. ChristchurchNZ – which was formed in July in a merger between the Canterbury Development Corporation, Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism, and the Christchurch City Council's events unit – will report to the council on the future of the festival at the end of January.

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The festival lost $115,000 in 2016 after stormy weather disrupted five of the event's 10 days. In 2017, the event lost $160,000 due to venue problems and poor ticket sales. The 2017 losses were covered by the council.

Festival director Melissa Haberfield said it was a make or break year for the annual event. 

"We are hoping that the people of Christchurch are going to get in behind the festival. We are bringing brilliant artists to the city and all we need is the people of Christchurch to come out in their numbers.

"This is a festival for Christchurch people and this is an opportunity for the people of Christchurch to say this is really important to us and needs to continue."

Haberfield said the festival should not be downgraded from one of the council's major events to a community event.

"If it becomes a community event it would change the face of the festival quite significantly. I would hope it continues to be a major event and has more and more support from other organisations so it can continue.

"The calibre of acts we have at this festival is much more than just a community event."

Festival artistic producer Tim Bain said there were contingency plans to make sure poor weather did not disrupt the event. In 2016, five days of stormy weather disrupted the festival's cluster of temporary venues in Hagley Park. This year the festival is being held in central city venues. Evening shows will be held at Christ's College, the Christchurch Art Gallery, the Arts Centre and the Isaac Theatre Royal. Daytime shows will be held in the Arts Centre and outside the gallery.

"If there is rain we have the option of putting people in a real indoor venue. That helps a lot.

"A lot of the challenges of being in the park have been mitigated by being on solid ground this year."

Bain said buskers would return to Cathedral Square this year for the first time since the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes. Buskers will perform from 4.30pm at the food market in Cathedral Square on Friday and outside H&M on the corner of High and Cashel streets at lunchtime every day.

"Last year we started the take back the streets mantra and this is another step back into the city," he said.