Adelaide Fringe

The first "fringe" event came about in 1960, when a few artists decided to stage their own events in response to the exclusion of many local and smaller-scale artists from the curated Adelaide Festival of Arts. Fringe activities consisted of local visual arts, crafts, performing arts and amateur theatre groups organising productions, exhibitions and events alongside the Festival and running for two weeks. According to Fringe Vault, "These events that have been called 'unofficial fringe activities' formed the beginnings of the 'Fringe'. These were seen as separate to any 'unofficial activity supported by the festival' which were listed in the 1960 Festival of Arts Festival Souvenir Programme under Festival Attractions, other Events and other Exhibitions".[38]

In 1962, the number of unofficial local events and exhibitions grew to the point where, according to a thesis by Martin Christmas, "1962 appears to have been the Festival where it was recognised that 'ancillary' (fringe activities), were as important as the core cultural activities", and Max Harris wrote an article entitled Adelaide’s Two Festivals.[39][40][41]

In 1964, Fringe was host to 52 art exhibitions, collections and performances. Like the Festival of Arts, it was held biennially, for three weeks.[9] Both approved and unapproved events had grown in number. Significant productions of two Patrick White plays, The Ham Funeral and Night on Bald Mountain, staged by local performers in 1961 and 1964 respectively after being refused by the main Festival, served to cement the status of what started being referred to in the press as "Fringe" events.[38][42]

In 1970, the event grew to three weeks in duration, running from 6–28 March that year and experiencing significant growth in both official and unofficial events and including three major musical performances, four dance performances, an opera, film events and exhibitions.[43]

The first printed souvenir programme was published for the 1974 event,[9] with the title as "Adelaide Festival of Arts, March 9 to 30: Fringe programme".[44] However there were still a large number of unofficial events: the programme listed 41 exhibitions listed and 20 performances; unofficial events included 50 exhibitions, 10 performances and many other events.[45]

In 1975 the fringe became an incorporated association, and thus "legal", with writer and director Frank Ford as its founding chairman.[8] Its name was Focus Inc., with the focus on the development of South Australian culture.[9] The change of name caused some controversy at the time, but the reason was reinforce the notion that Focus was not a cultural cringe. The first independently organised Fringe, known as Focus Festival, came into being and was seen as a huge success. This was the true beginning of today's Adelaide Fringe, as a separate entity and with focused goals, and the first dedicated poster, proclaiming "Focus '76".[46] The 1978 poster said: "Focus: Adelaide's Festival of the Australian Arts".[47]

In 1982, the name on the poster, with a design by Pro Hart, changed to Adelaide Festival Fringe.[48] In that year there were 50 venues, 86 groups or individual artists, as well as 56 visual arts exhibitions in the city venues. There were also 16 groups doing performances in schools and public spaces. In 1988 the festival opened its doors to international artists, and the early 1990s brought further big changes, creating the most successful festival yet. It was beginning to put itself on the map internationally.[9] The brochures stated that it was "the biggest community arts festival in Australia" and "ranked second only, behind the internationally renowned Edinburgh Festival Fringe". The inaugural Opening Night Hindley Street Party was thrown, and patron Don Dunstan called on the state government to provide more funding.[49]

In 1994, the name on the posters changed from Adelaide Festival Fringe to Adelaide Fringe Festival, as a result of changes brought about in 1992-3. It decided to adopt the name Adelaide Fringe and to broaden the role of the organisation. Dubbed "the affordable festival", the 1992 festival was the most successful in its 32 year history, with many of the events taking place in the newly-completed Lion Arts Centre on the western end of North Terrace.[50] The 1994 poster showed "Adelaide Fringe Festival", in contrast to the recent past "Adelaide Festival Fringe".[51]

In 1998, the used its own especially developed ticketing system, FringeTix, for the first time.[52]

The 2000 Fringe dropped the "Festival" and started calling itself the Adelaide Fringe.[53][54][55] That year was dedicated to dedicated to former state premier and fringe patron Don Dunstan, embracing his vision of social justice and cultural diversity that continues to be an inspiration today.[9]

In 2006 South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced that the Adelaide Fringe would receive extra government funding (totalling $2 million) to enable it to become an annual event from 2007 onwards. [56][9]

In 2007, the Adelaide Fringe became an annual event, after receiving funding from the state government of A$500,000, which was deemed a success.[57][58] In 2007, 130,000 tickets were sold through the FringeTIX box office system – with an additional 10,000 ticket sales by national ticketing partners.[59]

In 2008, about 187,000 tickets were sold through the FringeTIX box office and their ticketing partners. 281 Fringe venues sold tens of thousands of tickets on the door. Family Day became Family Weekend and doubled in size and attendances. The final box office income was estimated to reach over A$5.3 million, the majority of which was passed back to Fringe artists.[60]

In 2009, pre-event ticket sales equalled that of the previous year. 2,800 artists featured in 250 venues across the city, in 508 comedy, theatre, music, dance and visual art shows.[10]

The Adelaide Fringe celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. Compared to the previous year ticket sales were 27% higher.[61] For the first time, Fringe sold 100,000 tickets prior to the opening parade. The event received extra State Government funding of A$350,000 to support the anniversary event. The grant covered the cost of producing eight inflatable astronauts and erecting them around the city.[62] 300,000 tickets were sold at box offices, more than twice as many as were sold in 2007.[63]

In 2011, the Fringe Parade was cancelled due to rain, but 334,000 tickets were sold, equating to over A$8 million. 1.45 million attendances were recorded and ticket sales had increased 11% over the previous year.[64][65]

The 2012 festival ran from 24 February to 18 March.[66] Approximately 40,000 spectators attended the Fringe Parade, and 367,000 tickets were sold, a 10% increase on 2011 sales. Ticket sales equated to an approximate value of A$9 million. The event featured over 4,000 artists and 923 events, in 300 venues. There were 20% more events than in 2011. [67] CEO Greg Clarke launched the event not only in Adelaide, but also at the Sydney Opera House and in Federation Square in Melbourne. There were also two big changes on opening night: the parade ran down the centre of the city along King William Street, and the celebrations before, during and afterwards were not just in the East End of the city centre, but in Fringe venues everywhere. There were also a number of large free outdoor events during the festival.[68]

In 2013, after a boost in government funding, Fringe was extended to run for a 4-week period, commencing Friday 15 February.[69] There were over 4,000 artists registered, appearing in 930 events and 6139 performances,[70] and 407,153 tickets were sold.[71] The dollar value of ticket sales equated to A$11.6 million.[72] The event generated A$64.6 million, which was an increase of 34% on the previous year.[9]

In 2014, the festival ran for 30 days and nights from 14 February until 16 March, and brought together over 4,000 artists from around Australia and the world. Over 900 events were staged in pop-up venues in parks, warehouses, lane-ways and disused buildings as well as established venues such as theatres, hotels, art galleries and cafes.[73]

In February 2015, Heather Croall came on board as CEO and Festival Director.[74] More than A$13 million worth of tickets were sold, made up of more than 536,000 tickets sold across 376 venues, resulting in an increase of 20% compared to the previous year.[75]

Ticket sales for the 2016 Adelaide Fringe Festival rose 12% on the previous year, with more than 600,000 tickets sold. More than 1,100 performances were staged across 430 venues.[76] British comedian Alexis Dubus vowed not to perform in future Adelaide Fringe Festivals, citing his reason as the festival being driven by larger venues, which attract crowds who buy drinks instead of show tickets, leading to poor ticket sales and cancellations for shows.[77][78][79] (However, he returned to the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2018.)[80]

In April 2016, the "Made in Adelaide" initiative was announced by the state government, which provided funds totalling A$55,000 to support nine acts taking their work to the Edinburgh Fringe, to help build connections between the two festivals.[81] In August 2016, the Fringe began an official partnership with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.[82] Among the acts was a live audio drama of Matthew Reilly's 1998 book Ice Station.[83][84][85]

In November 2016, CEO Croall spoke of the need for better marketing to attract more tourists, and ways to help ensure that artists received a decent share of income.[4]

The start date of the 2017 festival was postponed by a week to 17 February, with the March long weekend falling on weekend four of the festival, instead of the last weekend. It was in 2017 that it became the largest arts festival in the Southern Hemisphere, and the second largest Fringe in the world.[9]

Adelaide Fringe 2018 once again broke all records, attracting 2.7 million people in attendance across free and ticketed events, including 100,000 for the Opening Night Street Party (which replaced the opening night Parade) and 505,000 for the Parade of Light digital projections onto the buildings along North Terrace on every night of the 31-day festival. More than 6,900 artists performed in 1,231 events across 442 venues.[86] Box office revenue reached A$16.6 million from 705,761 tickets sold (up 7 per cent).[86] The event also saw a greater share going into artists' pockets, after A$1 million of funding from the state government enabled the Fringe to abolish inside charges for artists with tickets under $35, and to halve those for all others. The move was praised by artists, including Dubus, who returned with a new show that year.[80]

Records were again broken in 2019, with attendance by tourists increased by 72% on the previous year (possibly a consequence of increased interstate marketing[8]), a total of nearly 3.3 million attendances, and A$95 million in estimated expenditure. 7000 artists participated in 1326 events. The reach of Fringe has been pushing further out of the boundaries of Adelaide, into regional centres.[9]

The Fringe celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2020.[87] While the 2020 Fringe was the first in years to see a decrease in the number of registered events ("over 1200", compared with 1320 in 2019),[88] the events were more widely spread, with half of the venues outside Adelaide city centre, including both suburban and regional locations such as Stirling, Gawler and Murray Bridge.

The World Fringe Congress, first held in 2012, was held in Adelaide for the first time in 2020.[89]

The last weekend of the festival was somewhat impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, although government rules on social distancing and travel did not start until the following week. Nonetheless it brought in a record $96.7 million in estimated gross economic expenditure, with box office revenue also hitting a record $21 million, selling 853,419 tickets.[90]

Dates have been announced for the 2021 Fringe (19 February – 21 March), but future planning is hampered by uncertainty caused by the global pandemic and consequent greater financial risk to performers and venues.[90]