Adelaide Fringe organisers seek extra $1 million in State Government funding to help artists ahead of 2021 event
Struggling artists need more help over the next year so they can put on the 2021 Fringe. Event director Heather Croall says that means a $1 million funding boost – a 50 per cent increase – from the State Government.
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The Adelaide Fringe is seeking almost $1 million in additional funding from the State Government to help struggling artists in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Fringe director Heather Croall said preliminary discussions already had begun with the funding boost designed to reduce artist registration and ticket fees next year.
“In 2021, it’s not going to be business as usual,” Ms Croall said. “We can’t be expected to roll Fringe out as usual. The message that we’re getting loud and clear from artists and venues – coming out of nine months of no work – is that they need to see the risk to participate in Fringe reduced.
“If we can lower those fees, it will give them confidence to sign up again.
“The people of South Australia want to see Fringe back. We all want Fringe to be able to switch on in 2021 and bring Adelaide alive again.” Ms Croall said she was hopeful of not increasing ticket prices for next year’s Fringe, which will be held from February 19 to March 21.
The State Government provides just over $2 million funding annually to the festival.
A Government spokeswoman said it was “working very closely with the Fringe on arrangements” for the 2021 event.
The Fringe’s annual review, to be released on Wednesday, shows it attracted more than 32,000 interstate and international visitors this year, injecting a record $41.6 million of visitor-related spending into SA, up 8 per cent on 2019.
While total visitors were slightly down after COVID-19 affected the last week of the festival, this year’s month-long event delivered a record $96.7 million in total spending in SA, up from $95.1 million last year. As announced in March, Fringe box-office revenue reached $21 million from 853,419 tickets sold – up 3 per cent on 2019 – to cement its position as the highest-selling arts festival in Australia and the second largest fringe event in the world after Edinburgh in Scotland.
Total attendances at 1200 free and ticketed events across 31 days and nights also jumped 6 per cent to 3.5 million.
“The return on investment for the state from the Fringe is really high,” Ms Croall said. “We’re very good value for money.
“The injection we have into the economy from the tourism we generate is just incredible. It’s a great South Australian success story. We can’t wait to stage the brilliant, magical and world-class event that people know and love next year.”