Adelaide Fringe 2023 has wrapped the season with a record breaking year and made Australian history as the first festival in the country ever to sell 1 million tickets. 

Hitting the million ticket mark at 10.01pm on the final night of the event, the total tickets sold at the 2023 Adelaide Fringe were 1,000,916 with a total box office value of $25.17million, this will result in $23.9million being paid out in box office to artists and venues across the Fringe. 

Adelaide Fringe saw more than three million attendance across the 2023 season. 

With more than 1900 sold out performances across the season and a program that boasted 1280 shows, the Adelaide Fringe in 2023 was an international destination for tourists looking to discover arts and culture and for more than 6000 artists looking to perform at one of the world’s largest festivals. 

Adelaide Fringe Director and CEO Heather Croall said, “we are thrilled to have had the season we’ve just witnessed, selling one million tickets in a national first at any festival is an accolade that South Australians can proudly claim” 

“I’d like to thank the Adelaide Fringe team who have worked tirelessly this season to make Fringe happen. I must also extend a massive thanks to our generous partners, our incredible volunteers and every single person who attended Fringe and made it the record-breaking season it was”. 

It was a year of firsts at Adelaide Fringe with the festival holding its first ever Donation Day and raising $40,000 dollars for the Fringe Foundation with the generous help of Lumo Energy SA and Novatech Creative Technologies who were matching partners on the day.  Every dollar raised for the Adelaide Fringe Foundation goes towards helping artists to present their work, to buy tickets for communities who experience disadvantage and to make Fringe experiences as welcoming and accessible as possible. 

There were over 200 grants given out to artists and venues in 2023 to the value of almost $1 million. 

The season average for a sold house landed just under 43%, well above the industry standard when compared to other Fringe festivals across the globe.

BankSA Fringe Corner was a major landmark on the Fringe landscape decorated in this year’s poster competition winner, Alana Naylor’s Fleur de Fringe artwork, with the iconic location acting as a destination for ticket buyers, a meeting spot for friends or place for information and assistance from the Adelaide Fringe Volunteers. 

Each week Adelaide Fringe shows were judged by a panel of arts industry leaders and arts lovers with awards being allocated each week within each category. Adelaide Fringe concluded with the overall seasonal winners announced on Friday the 17th March. The 2023 Pick of the Fringe Award presented by BankSA was awarded to London Calling. Click HERE to see the full list of Adelaide Fringe Award Winners. 

BankSA State General Manager, Consumer, Enza Ferraro said,“BankSA was proud to partner with the Fringe again – our 18thyear – to make it more affordable for more South Australians to buy tickets and enjoy shows. Our 25%-off ticket offer for BankSA cardholders was hugely successful and supported this year’s record ticket sales.

 

“We’re pleased this support has seen more people attending the Fringe and supporting artists, local business and venues, providing a significant economic boost to the state.”

Minister for Arts, Andrea Micheals MP said "South Australia has proven that we are one of the world's greatest Festival cities. The Adelaide Fringe is iconic and the second largest arts festival in the world and now, for it to become the first Australian festival to ever sell one million tickets, well and truly cements our reputation as the arts capital of Australia."

"This is an incredible accolade for our state as well as for the Adelaide Fringe and I congratulate Heather and her team as well as all of the artists for smashing their box office record."

"The Malinauskas Labor Government nearly doubled the Adelaide Fringe's funding with an additional $8 million over four years and this triumph demonstrates the savvy insight of that investment in our globally renowned Adelaide Fringe."

Adelaide Fringe is supported by the State Government of South Australia. 

The 2024 Adelaide Fringe will run from 16th February to the 17th March.