Banning photography at your kid's end of year show! Your view?

[kiwi]

In general children are afforded no more protection than adults, there are odd and rare exceptions regarding children under protective orders

It is not illegal to photograph anyone in a public place

If there are terms and conditions of entry that preclude photography the event manager may ask you to leave and if you don't you could be prosecuted for trespass, not for taking photos

Any request by say a football club for you to get permission from parents or managers is just their guidelines and that's all it is, not enforceable by law

This advice is not applicable to commercial use, that's another issue again and will usually also, at least in Queensland, require a blue card

[Longshots]

It is not illegal to photograph anyone in a public place

If there are terms and conditions of entry that preclude photography the event manager may ask you to leave and if you don't you could be prosecuted for trespass, not for taking photos

d

While you are correct Kiwi in certain points I should correct you on two issues here.

I began my photographic career, shooting performing arts - specifically dance, and that spread to every genre of performing arts, including rock concerts etc.

Terms and Conditions - most theatre or performing arts venues restrict photography for many reasons, and one very important one is not necessarily the issue of the event organisers, but sometimes the person/area to "blame" is in fact the copyright holder of the production itself. Let me give you an example, you cant shoot any production of Cats or Andrew Lloyd Webber productions without the specifi written permission from the Really Useful Theatre Company - and that applies even with amateur productions.

And they're not going to charge you with trespass if you have paid or have been given a ticket for entry into a venue (very different to a sports ground), they will simply point to their Terms and Conditions and point out that you agreed to the T&C's when you accepted or bought the ticket.

Most event organisers put restrictions in not because they have political correctness virus, but because of parents complaints. So the real issue is ridiculous over-sensitivity about the issue of still capture, which amazingly is treated quite differently if you're videoing an event - and for the life of me I have no idea why that is so !!