Adelaide Fringe bounces back as international stars set to return to Womadelaide
This year’s Fringe rebounded from the pandemic to generate a major windfall for the state. And it is set to be paid back big time in 2023.
Arts
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The State Government has doubled its election promise for the Adelaide Fringe committing an additional $2 million of funding per year.
The commitment of $8 million over four years will go towards interstate and overseas marketing, securing headline anchor events, and additional grants for artists.
“The Fringe not only captures the public’s imagination with its celebration of so many art forms, it also brings thousands of additional dollars, jobs and tourists into South Australia, said Arts Minister Andrea Michaels.
“The additional funding will support the Fringe and the broader arts and cultural ecosystem in many ways. When you add the visual art components, the lighting and street performance activities, the free events and the range of outer metropolitan and regional events into the mix, there are so many ways to enjoy a Fringe experience beyond ticketed events.”
The announcement follows the release of this years Adelaide Fringe economic impact study which showed the year’s festival generated $74.9 million in spending and attracted $50.1 million of new money into the state.
The study found the Fringe attracted 32,000 tourists from around Australia, staying for a total 178,055 visitor bed nights.
Tourist spending at the Fringe had almost quadrupled in the past six years, from $607 per person in 2017 to $2258 each in 2022.
Adelaide Fringe director Heather Croall said the event was “truly designed” to support the arts and artists but also had other benefits.
“As this year’s economic impact statement confirms, the arts is an important industry in SA which causes a ripple effect that reaches thousands of local businesses across the state,” Ms Croall said.
“In our audience survey 93 per cent of attendees told us that Fringe positively impacts their mental health and 96 per cent said Fringe is important to the state.”
Ticket sales increased 15 per cent on last year to 727,567, worth $19.7 million in box office revenue, of which $18.7m was paid directly to artists and venues and $16m remained in SA.
A total 5820 artists performed in 1195 shows – including 252 premieres – at 363 venues.
An additional $2.7 million of grants were raised and distributed to artists, producers and venue operators, to help reduce the financial risk for shows at this year’s Fringe.
Adelaide Fringe has also become the largest annual arts festival in the world, after the Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland was cancelled in 2020 and held a scaled-down event in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.
FRINGE BOUNCES BACK, BOOSTS SA ECONOMY BY $75 MILLION
This year’s Adelaide Fringe rebounded from the pandemic to generate $74.9 million in spending and attract $50.1 million of new money into the state.
An economic impact study found the Fringe attracted 32,000 tourists from around Australia, staying for a total 178,055 visitor bed nights.
Tourist spending at the Fringe had almost quadrupled in the past six years, from $607 per person in 2017 to $2258 each in 2022.
Adelaide Fringe director Heather Croall said the event was “truly designed” to support the arts and artists but also had other benefits.
“As this year’s economic impact statement confirms, the arts is an important industry in SA which causes a ripple effect that reaches thousands of local businesses across the state,” Ms Croall said.
“In our audience survey 93 per cent of attendees told us that Fringe positively impacts their mental health and 96 per cent said Fringe is important to the state.”
Ticket sales increased 15 per cent on last year to 727,567, worth $19.7 million in box office revenue, of which $18.7m was paid directly to artists and venues and $16m remained in SA.
A total 5820 artists performed in 1195 shows – including 252 premieres – at 363 venues.
An additional $2.7 million of grants were raised and distributed to artists, producers and venue operators, to help reduce the financial risk for shows at this year’s Fringe.
Adelaide Fringe has also become the largest annual arts festival in the world, after the Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland was cancelled in 2020 and held a scaled-down event in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.
Meanwhile, WOMADelaide organisers have vowed to boost the number of international artists back to pre-pandemic levels for next year’s event.
Over 650 performers showcased their talent at this year’s four-day festival of world music, helping to generate over $17m in economic benefit for the state, it was announced this week.
Brazilian jazz-funk trio Azymuth, LA-based Guatemalan singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno and UK DJ Floating Points were among a small overseas contingent in Adelaide, with the vast majority of the bill domestic-based, highlighted by Courtney Barnett, Baker Boy and Paul Kelly.
While March’s Covid-capped event in Botanic Park was a great success, director Ian Scobie said next year’s program would return to its international roots.
“As Australia’s first large scale multi-stage outdoor festival to be able to successfully proceed in 2022, in the light of ever-shifting Covid restrictions and the limited practical availability of international artists, WOMADelaide 2022 was embraced by a massive audience,” Mr Scobie said.
“WOMADelaide 2023 will see the return of a rich program of international artists it is renowned for as it marks 30 years since the first ‘stand-alone’ event in 1993.”
The festival created 52,300 visitor nights in SA, with 91 per cent of visitors saying they would definitely visit the state again. Among the festival’s attendees were more than 5,000 children under 12.
Earlier in the week, Adelaide Festival revealed interstate visitors almost tripled at this year’s event, boosting its economic benefit for the state to $51.8m. But results remain well down on the event’s pre-pandemic levels.
An estimated 11,728 visitors came from interstate and spent a total 103,335 bed nights in SA, up from just 4690 people and 35,301 nights in 2021.
The $51.8m in gross expenditure was up from $42.5m last year, while the Festival also created the equivalent of 250 full-time jobs, up from 218.
The Festival’s new chief executive Kath Mainland said it was is wonderful to learn of the event’s economic impact on the state economy, as well as its contribution to cultural life.
“Seeing interstate visitors returning is incredibly heartening,” Ms Mainland said.
“Not only did Adelaide Festival again prove its importance … through local
employment, ticket sales and attendances, but through the impact it has on business in the city, our artists and our residents.”
Box office takings of more than $5m were announced at the end of the Festival in March.
However, the Festival has yet to return to the record levels set by its last event before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, when it achieved $6m at the box office, attracted 19,046 interstate and overseas visitors for 141,258 nights, and generated $76.8m in spending.
Highlights of this year’s program included international opera The Golden Cockerel, Pina Bausch dance work The Rite of Spring, and the return of artist Patricia Piccinini’s floating Skywhales.
The Fringe will release its economic results on Friday.
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