DESPITE STRONG growth in ticket sales, the Dublin Theatre Festival slipped into the red last year due to a drop-off in sponsorship and corporate entertainment income.

The festival, which is billed as the oldest dedicated theatre festival in the world, reported a deficit of just over €46,000 for 2008, according to its latest annual results.

This compares with a surplus of €28,422 a year earlier.

Although box office sales rose by more than €100,000 to €1.16 million last year, the company’s total income shrank by 23 per cent to €2.97 million.

This was partly due to the fact that the company’s income was boosted in 2007 by a once-off grant of €500,000 from the Arts Council, plus a grant of €250,000 from the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism to fund its 50th anniversary programme.

In addition, sponsorship levels declined in 2008, and income from the festival’s corporate entertainment programme fell from €175,000 in 2007 to €110,000.

“We found that companies were not in a position to entertain at levels that they had been,” chief executive Loughlin Deegan explained.

However, Mr Deegan said he was hopeful that corporate entertainment levels would not decline any further at this year’s festival, which will run during September and October.

The company also expects sponsorship levels to remain steady this year.

The festival’s title sponsor, Ulster Bank, committed to a three-year sponsorship deal worth €1 million in 2007, and the Dublin Airport Authority is also on board this year as a significant co-sponsor.

“Like all entertainment organisations we’re a little bit less certain about our box office performance given the recession,” said Mr Deegan.

The company is budgeting for a drop of 25-30 per cent in ticket sales this year.

Although this is the last year of the festival’s sponsorship agreement with Ulster Bank, Mr Deegan said discussions were under way about the possibility of extending the deal.