2024 Adelaide Festival attracts record-breaking crowds

Adelaide Festival 2024 has smashed attendance records with 478,890 attending all Adelaide Festival and Writers’ Week events, both ticketed and free (including WOMADelaide), with a massive weekend of free events still to come.

In its 39th edition, Adelaide Festival has done what it set out to do: provide a two-week festival packed with extraordinary, accessible events for everyone.

The Festival evoked awe, contemplation, and thunderous applause from audiences. Crowds immersed themselves in sessions in the shady gardens of Adelaide Writers’ Week; audiences were transfixed by the opening event on Glenelg beach at sunset, and by art practices pushing human endurance and boundaries to the limit

The total number of tickets sold to Adelaide Festival performances was 63,765. Interstate audiences remained committed to their annual festival pilgrimage to Adelaide, snapping up 30% of ticket sales. Additionally, sales at Dillons’ book tent at Adelaide Writers’ Week broke records with over 15,000 books sold across the week.

Adelaide Festival Chair Tracey Whiting advised “The 2024 Adelaide Festival has been a celebration of the vibrancy of the arts and the spirit of our community. From standout performances to thought-provoking exhibitions, it has resonated with audiences from all walks of life. As we commend the dedication of the Festival team, we look forward to nurturing creativity and fostering cultural connections in the years to come.”

SA Minister for Arts Andrea Michaels added  “The 2024 Adelaide Festival stands as a testament to our city's cultural richness and innovation, attracting record crowds. From Stephen Page's Baleen Moondjan at Glenelg beach to Bart van Peel's mesmerizing Whale installation, Barrie Kosky's captivating The Threepenny Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre to AGSA’s beautiful Biennial, Inner Sanctum, the Festival has showcased extraordinary artistic brilliance and audiences have turned out in record numbers to witness it.”

Artistic Director Ruth Mackenzie shared “Adelaide Festival is artist-led and has a proud tradition of presenting the best artists, both established stars and the stars of tomorrow, from around the world, including South Australia. We are so grateful to all our artists, partners, donors, sponsors, Creative Australia and especially the Government of SA, for making the 2024 Adelaide Festival so innovative and exciting.”

Chief Executive of Adelaide Festival Kath Mainland noted “Adelaide Festival stands as Australia’s premier international festival, and witnessing world-class international artists share the stage with their talented counterparts from South Australia has been an absolute delight. March in Adelaide, with its plethora of festivals, really is the best place in the world to be. Adelaide Festival offers an unparalleled experience to our artists and audiences, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has played their part along the way.”

Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week Louise Adler AM said: “Adelaide Writers’ Week 2024 is over: the weather gods smiled upon us, the many attendees were an attentive and appreciative audience, and enthusiastic book buyers filled the Dillons book tent.

“Our six days together were marked by a generosity of spirit and a shared sense that the life of the mind matters as much as ever in these complicated times. Over 200 writers offered us laughter and tears, reflections and provocations, and much to think about until we congregate again in March 2025.” 

Free events have been a staple of the 2024 Adelaide Festival program. To date 317,125 attendees have taken advantage of free concerts, exhibitions and installations. This figure is expected to rise by over 75,000 after Little Amal, Floods of Fire and Whale conclude at the end of the Festival.

Free events still to come

• The centrepiece free event of this year’s Festival is Little Amal: an iconic 3.5-metre-tall puppet who will be in Adelaide until Sunday 17th March appearing on Saturday at Semaphore Beach and Floods of Fire: Our Voices, Our Dreams at University of Adelaide; and on Sunday she will walk across the Riverbank Pedestrian Bridge with Port Adelaide Football Club fans

• The festival-within-a-festival Floods of Fire is directed by international theatre maker Airan Berg, and commissioned and led by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, in partnership with the Adelaide Festival, The University of Adelaide in celebration of its 150th anniversary, AEDA and City of Adelaide. The first part of the event, Floods of Fire: Our Voices, Our Dreams, will see 80 free performances, songs, workshops, presentations and roving performances, involving more than 1,700 participants and takes place on Saturday 16th March from 2 – 6pm at The University of Adelaide grounds

Bookings at adelaidefestival.com.au 

Image. Little Amal meets South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas on her arrival into Adelaide for the Adelaide Festival closing weekend. Credit: Tony Lewis