Is Adelaide Fringe For You?

When considering putting on a show at Adelaide Fringe, it’s vitally important to be aware of the challenges and risks that come with being part of an open access festival. It is important to understand the model of Fringe and what it can and can’t do for you to determine whether it aligns with your creative pursuits. Is Fringe the right place for you and your craft? We can help you figure that out.

Open access means artists, presenters and venues register to participate without selection or curation by us as a festival. In other words, you choose us, not the other way around. 

Having a clear understanding of WHY you are registering your show and what you want to achieve will help you to make the most of your season with Fringe. Each year we survey artists about why they do Fringe and the top answers are below. Earning box office does not come in these top reasons.
Infographic explaining reasons artists participate in events: to attract future work opportunities, for fun and enjoyment, and to perform for new audiences.
What are your responsibilities?
  • Registering your show/venue
  • Securing a show/venue and putting a written agreement in place
  • Working out a budget and financing your season
  • Developing and rolling out a marketing strategy
What does your registration include?
  • Show listing in the printed Adelaide Fringe Guide (if it’s fully registered by mid October 2024)
  • Show web page listing on adelaidefringe.com.au (2.3 million visitors in 2024)
  • FringeTIX team services including customer service, accessibility bookings,  event changes, audience communications, reports, promo codes and more, from registration all the way through curtain call
  • Personalised support from our Marketing team to guide and train you in maximising your sound and finding your audience
  • Access to sales campaign initiatives that help to drive ticket sales 
  • Free participation in the Honey Pot Arts Marketplace to help you secure onward touring deals
  • The chance to participate in events and programs to promote your work, including Program Launch and Meet the Media 
  • Ongoing support, guidance and advice every step of the way.
How can Fringe support you?
  • You can access our team year-round 9am–5pm Monday to Friday, and every single day during the festival—this includes the team in Artist & Venues support as well as the teams in Marketing and Ticketing
  • Personalised 1-on-1’s with our Artist & Venue, Marketing, and Honey Pot teams before and during the season
  • Professional development opportunities through our FringeCHAT and FringePOD channels
  • An extensive resource library (AVR) that contains FAQs, budgeting and marketing templates, ticketing assistance and so much more
  • Access to our Media Contact List and a platform to host your Media Kit, including high quality imagery and a press release
  • The opportunity to opt-into promotions and flash sales that have targeted marketing campaigns to specific audiences
  • The opportunity to apply for funding support and grant rounds
  • The option to participate in our Awards Program and go in the running to win prize money, touring opportunities and professional development mentoring.

What should you know?

Financial Investment

There are elements that venues, presenters and artists need to budget for throughout the entirety of the registration process and through to settlements. A realistic budgeting plan is paramount before deciding on your involvement in the festival. You can download a budget template here.

Essentials: Expenses such as registration fees, venue hire and ticketing splits.

Wages: If your show involves multiple artists and/or you’ve engaged with contractors such as a Publicist or Social Media Consultant, have you considered how you will cover these costs? And most importantly, have you accounted for YOUR wage in your budget?

Production: Are you preparing for a new show that demands fresh props and costumes? Is it time to upgrade your technical equipment?

Marketing & Promotion: While listing your show in our Official Fringe Guide and website is a good start, effective marketing goes beyond this. Have you created high-quality images and videos? Is your copywriting selling your show to your audience? Are you investing in paid advertising or traditional flyer distribution? Promoting your show will generally involve some costs, and you need to decide what avenues will best reach your audience.

Accommodation & Travel: If you're traveling to Adelaide, you’ll need to consider how you’re getting here - what are your airfares, car hire, and/or public transport costs? Don’t forget about accommodation! Where will you stay? Will you need to pay to stay at a hostel or hotel, or can you stay with someone you know for a low-to-no cost? Consider the distance between your accommodation and your venue(s), and how you’ll get between the two. 

Contingency: It’s a good idea to overestimate expenses and underestimate revenue when budgeting. Add a 10% contingency to your budget to give you room to breathe if something unexpected happens.

Profit & Loss: How are you determining your ticket prices and what are your realistic profit expectations? How many tickets will you need to sell to break even? If you don't break even, what kind of loss are you prepared to operate with? See below ticket sales stats from the 2024 season to help guide you. We encourage everyone to take notice of what average ticket prices are at Fringe for different types of shows. The overall average ticket price is $32 across Fringe, be sure to price your ticket appropriately. 

Insurance: Public liability insurance is often a requirement and a wise investment to cover any unforeseen incidents.

Fringe Charges: Adelaide Fringe aims to help artists have the most fruitful experience in their Fringe season. This can include outcomes from the Honey Pot marketplace and/or solid box office. In recent years, Adelaide Fringe significantly lowered the inside fee charge on each ticket to 5% in order to increase the box office return for artists and venues. Our registration fees have remained at the same level for almost 20 years.

Pricing Strategy and Break-Even Analysis

To mitigate financial risks, it’s essential to develop a clear pricing strategy and understand your break-even point.

1. When setting Ticket Prices, consider the following:
  • Audience Demographics: Understand your target audience’s willingness to pay
  • Competitive Analysis: Research prices for similar shows at the Fringe
  • Value Proposition: Ensure your ticket price reflects the perceived value of your performance and inline with the level of pricing across Fringe
  • Be strategic with discount pricing
  • Make use of the price type offers we have such as Fringe Membership and Lumo Flash Sale.
2. Calculating the Break-Even Point (BEP):
  • Identify your costs - this should include registration fee, venue hire, marketing, technical crew, cast etc 
  • Identify your potential earnings 
    – Funds you can raise via grants, sponsors, crowdfunding, private investment
    – Box office income 
When setting your costs and income, we recommend that the box office you need to achieve to break even should not be set at a level any more ambitious than selling 20% or 25% of your ticket inventory. We advise against setting your potential earnings on the assumption of selling a high percentage of your ticket inventory (especially if this is your first Fringe or if your previous seasons have not sold a high percentage of the inventory). 

Funding Support
Adelaide Fringe distributes small grants to artists, venues and producers participating in the festival; this is done via application through an annual round. Applications for the 2025 Adelaide Fringe Fund open 1 August and close 10 September 2024.

These grants are possible thanks to donations we raise year-round and State Government funding. 

Our resource library is full of information about other avenues of support, such as councils who can provide subsidies, rehearsal spaces and ongoing grants. There is a regularly updated resource in AVR (Artist & Venue Registration platform) that lists all opportunities available to venues and artists.
2024 Adelaide Fringe ticketing statistics infographic showing percentage of inventory sold per show, average ticket price, and distribution of ticket sales.
As you can see in the graph above, 70% of Fringe shows in 2024 sold 30% or more of their available tickets in their inventory. A small number of shows sold 10% or less, and equally a small number of shows sold 95-100% of their tickets available. Please be aware that while the average number of tickets sold for Fringe shows is 48%, there is a risk you could sell less than that - so keep this in mind when you are budgeting. 

There are myths around—such as “10% of the shows sell 90% of the tickets”. This is not the case, as you can see in the spread of sales set out in the graph above.  

Be Prepared

Artist preparedness is not just about the quality of your performance, but how effective your overall show is when presented within the unique environment of Adelaide Fringe. Achieving this requires a careful balance of various elements and a clear understanding of your long-term objectives such as:
  • Who is your audience? It’s one of the most important questions to ask yourself when producing a show - if you can’t answer this, how will you find them in order to sell tickets? Familiarise yourself with this landscape and consider how your work will resonate with a diverse and new audience.
  • Embracing networking opportunities with fellow artists and industry professionals to seek valuable feedback and foster collaborative growth - read more about these opportunities in our International Arts Marketplace, Honey Pot, below.
  • Keep on top of your marketing knowledge and understanding so you can navigate and thrive in an ever-changing competitive environment.
It’s up to you to create a killer marketing strategy that speaks to your audience and sells your show, however our dedicated team is here to guide you through your Fringe journey, whether over the phone or in person. Contact details for different teams are listed below.

Our extensive AVR resources are readily available to equip you with the knowledge you need, and we continuously source and offer development opportunities to help our artists thrive and grow beyond Adelaide Fringe.

Do you know about Honey Pot?
Honey Pot is an International Arts Marketplace that connects artists and producers with industry programmers from across the world to secure future work and touring deals beyond the festival. 

Every year millions of dollars worth of touring deals are secured through this program, due to the connections and relationships established through our marketplace. You can learn more about Honey Pot here.
Adelaide Fringe will run from 21 February – 23 March 2025.

If you decide that Adelaide Fringe is right for you, we can’t wait to have your show in our program!
Banner image: Meg in the Magic Toyshop at The Warehouse Theatre. Photo: Razan Fakhouri, Adelaide Fringe 2024.