Adelaide Fringe to cut artists levy on tickets

In a national first, the Adelaide Fringe will slash the inside charge it currently levies artists on their ticket prices, making it cheaper and more viable for artists to tour their work to Australia’s best festival city.

New funding from the South Australian Government will allow the Adelaide Fringe to abolish the inside charge to artists from 2018 for tickets costing $35 and below.

This will provide a big incentive for many artists to keep their tickets under this price point, which is also a win for audiences.

Inside charges for tickets over $35 will be halved, putting more money into the pocket of artists, many of whom operate on very lean margins.

Enabling artists to keep their ticket prices more affordable is a boon for audiences, who will share the benefits by being able to buy more tickets to more shows.

Reducing charges to artists also means the Adelaide Fringe will continue to attract a diverse and high calibre range of performers – especially first time artists – at a time of increased competition from other Fringes and smaller festivals.

A portion of the funding will also be used to build a targeted interstate marketing campaign in collaboration with the South Australian Tourism Commission.

The Adelaide Fringe is the first to totally abolish the inside charge on low-priced tickets, a move made as the result of listening to feedback from artists and producers.

It is also taking a bolder approach to a similar model recently and successfully adopted by the Edinburgh Fringe, the only Fringe in the world larger than Adelaide’s and with whom Adelaide Fringe has close ties.

All of this helps Adelaide Fringe maintain its hard-earned reputation amongst the world’s best and second only to Edinburgh.

Government funding will support the Fringe so it can continue to deliver the scale and quality of events, including tomorrow night’s free and hugely popular Fringe Parade, and regional activities like the award-winning Desert Fringe and activations in Port Augusta and Mount Gambier.

The Fringe employs over 200 people directly and its activities contribute to increased employment across a range of related industry sectors.

Fringe artists earn their living, build their reputation and forge new business opportunities by following the international festival circuit, especially the two biggest fringe festivals in the world - Edinburgh and Adelaide.

In 2016, over 400 local, national and international media organisations registered to review and write about the Adelaide Fringe.

The Adelaide Fringe-commissioned economic evaluation of the 2016 Fringe, estimates a total of $21.7 million in new expenditure by visitors to the State.

The 2017 Adelaide Fringe starts tonight.

6th February 2017 - ADELAIDE READIES FOR SHOWBROKER PERFORMING ARTS MARKET

17th August 2016 - ADELAIDE AGREES MAJOR FESTIVAL PARTNERSHIP WITH EDINBURGH’S FLAGSHIP EVENTS

13th March 2016 - ADELAIDE FRINGE AND WOMADELAIDE SEE RECORD ATTENDANCES 

15th October 2015 - ADELAIDE THE SOLE AUSTRALIAN CITY INVITED TO JOIN EXCLUSIVE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL CITY NETWORK

18th June 2015 - ADELAIDE FRINGE CONTRIBUTES $68 MILLION TO SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY