In the shadow of wrangles of arts funding, the debate over vibrancy vs. the arts and the general day to day blood, sweat and tears being poured into our industry by local practitioners, news that the 2016 Adelaide Fringe once again smashed records is heartening for a sector that is clearly of massive value to the South Australian economy.
Yesterday the Adelaide Fringe’s Annual Review revealed that the Fringe delivered a staggering $21.7 million of new money to the state from interstate and international visitors, up almost 70 per cent in five years. The total estimated number of visitor bed nights rose to almost 77,200, a 14 per cent increase on the 2015 figure, while the total expenditure related to the event was $77.6 million, up almost 13 per cent on last year’s figure of $68.8 million.
But the crucial bottom line is that the 2016 Adelaide Fringe generated $14.8 million in box office revenue – most of which goes directly to artists – a 64 per cent increase in five years. Ticket sales were up 11 per cent to 604,000 and attendances also sky rocketed to 2.26 million, an 8.4 per cent increase on 2015.
Adelaide Fringe Artistic Director and CEO Heather Croall said the Adelaide Fringe was by far the highest ticket selling multi-art form festival in Australia. “I am thrilled at the outcomes of my first year as head of Adelaide Fringe. We recorded outstanding results across the board, Adelaide should be very proud of this incredible festival. The growth in the number of tourists coming to Adelaide Fringe this year shows the word is out, which is very encouraging and sets us well on our way to our target of tripling tourism numbers over three years.”
So, back pats all round. It’s undeniable that the rapid growth of the Adelaide Fringe over the last few years has been mind blowing. Despite some of the debate which occurred during the festival about whether or not the scale was starting to impact upon the atmosphere and opportunities for smaller shows to compete, in terms of economic objectives, the Adelaide Fringe is rightly being heralded as a tremendous success. And it remains a celebration of so many art forms.
Next year’s Adelaide Fringe will run from 17 February to 19 March, 2017. The program will be launched in November this year. That’s literally only a few months away. Here we go again!
More News
