Adelaide Fringe: from sidekick to superstar

For 60 years Adelaide’s annual celebration of music, arts and comedy has been a world leader on the international stage.

For 60 years Adelaide’s annual celebration of music, arts and comedy has been a world leader on the international stage.

It’s the festival by the people for the people; born 60 years ago from the bravery of a few local artists and today proudly holding strong as the second-largest annual arts festival in the world, generating millions of dollars for the South Australian economy by attracting millions of visitors who come to enjoy thousands of shows in our city.But 60 years ago the Adelaide Fringe was a very different being. Created in response to the also newly established Adelaide Festival of Arts – a curated event featuring a program of international artists – Fringe organisers wanted to establish an open-access festival that celebrated local talent and welcomed all members of the local community.Today, that all-encompassing directive remains strong. Every February and March, the streets of Adelaide come alive with a melting pot of people of all ages, cultures and creeds, coming together for a month of fun, frivolity and entertainment. And there’s something for everyone, no matter your age or budget.“We have an audience demographic that ranges from two to 92,” says Heather Croall, director and CEO of Adelaide Fringe since 2015. “As people get older, they don’t stop attending: they bring the new generation with them. “It’s pretty rare – there’s not many festivals in the world where you see a demographic range as big as Adelaide Fringe. It’s a really hard thing to achieve and I think it’s because the artists and venues are so adaptive and responsive: like with our children’s program. It’s wonderful to see the venues and artists responding to that and giving the audience such diversity.”As well as diversity, ensuring the Fringe is accessible for everyone remains a major priority for organisers. “We’ve done a lot of work in the past few years and we’ve had help from the government to be able to reduce the amount of ticketing fees the Fringe was taking, so the artists and venues could retain more of the box office without having to increase ticket prices,” Croall says. “As well as free events, we run a community fund to get either free or discounted tickets for any parts of the community who feel they can’t afford Fringe.“We want people to feel they can afford to come and see Fringe not just once but a lot more during the 31 days and nights it runs, so there is a lot of free programming. This year we’re putting on Yabarra Dreaming and Light, the Aboriginal projections project, every day and night inside Tandanya. That’s a really important part of the Fringe – and it’s free.”This reciprocity between organisers, performers and Fringe-goers is a major reason for the event’s phenomenal growth and success and a fantastic example of the two worlds of entertainment and economy colliding, creating long-lasting benefits for South Australia. Last year, Fringe attracted an estimated 3.3 million visitors, selling more than 800,000 tickets and generating $19.5 million in box office revenue and $95.1 million expenditure in South Australia. And it’s not just the locals who love Fringe, with around $38.5 million flowing into the state’s economy from tourist spend during Fringe time. It’s impressive reading – and a number organisers hope to continue to improve on. “Last year ticket sales were 17 per cent up on the year before; this year we’re hoping to sell 900,000,” Croall says. “We’re aiming to hit 1 million tickets in 2022 and triple those tourist numbers over the next few years.” The wealth of the Fringe also lies in the myriad employment opportunities during this time, from food van operators to bar staff, glass collectors to ticket takers. “We generate hundreds of jobs directly through working for Adelaide Fringe but there are also all the jobs created by Gluttony, the Garden of Unearthly Delights, the RCC, Holden St, all of those venues everywhere,” Croall says. “Beyond that there’s the hospitality jobs generated because everyone is out and about in the bars and restaurants.”The success of the Adelaide Fringe over the past 60 years shows what happens when people come together to support something of which South Australia is deservedly proud. Each Mad March, South Australians feel an immense sense of pride in their state, brought about not just by the local success of the Adelaide Fringe but also in its international standing. More than 200 new Fringe Festivals have arisen worldwide over the past 10 years, yet the Adelaide Fringe remains the second-largest in the world after the Edinburgh Fringe. And behind this success, of course, lies the people of South Australia. “We’re grass roots up, community led,” Croall says. “The community is driving the Fringe they want and the Fringe is responding to the community’s needs. The love for Fringe is phenomenal. Everyone feels they have some ownership of Fringe and they do – it’s our Fringe, it’s everybody’s Fringe.”

Technology and creative arts working hand in hand

Nick Reade, Chief Executive BankSA

BankSA has been backing the Adelaide Fringe as principal partner for fifteen years, so we’ve seen first-hand the significant economic, social and cultural benefits the Fringe brings to our state.The Fringe festival continuously evolves to expand and broaden its reach, and in an Adelaide Fringe first, this year Lot Fourteen will host ‘Electric Dreams’, a three-day creative industries conference looking at how technology is changing the arts.Artists, technologists, curators, performers and festival organisers from all over the world will gain insights into how technology is changing the way we engage with and create art.World-leading university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who are working at the cutting edge of technology and innovation will be sharing their insights at the conference.MIT already has strong ties with Adelaide, having joined with the South Australian government, BankSA, as principal partner, Optus Business and DSpark, last year to announce the creation of a Living Lab in Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen.The Lab – the first of its kind in Australia and one of a handful internationally – will use big data to analyse a range of activities and issues for the state, and provide insights into the most effective ways for South Australia to drive both economic and sustainable population growth.We’ve seen how MIT has worked successfully across a range of industries around the world, including across the arts most recently in the ‘Open Music’ project with Berklee College of Music. This has seen a significant development for the music industry, whereby technology is being used to radically simplify the way music rights owners are identified and compensated.Data can create value in the arts and cultural sector by helping to understand the audience better, measuring the value generated, developing new business models, and learning from creative experiments to ultimately achieve further growth.By building on our existing relationship with global leaders, such as MIT, we can forge new and diverse connections, and lead they wat in the use of these new technologies.This year’s Fringe will see us matching our local relationships with global innovation to bring new and exciting concepts to South Australia first.If you’re interested in attending the conference, use any BankSA card to receive a 25% discount.