Adelaide Fringe will break its previous box office records by the time the 2014 event wraps up on Sunday night. Ticket sales have increased by more than 10 per cent with approximately 447,000 tickets sold across the four-week event.
Announcing the success of this year’s Adelaide Fringe, Director and Chief Executive Greg Clarke said “an increase in the number of events, an extensive marketing campaign, the new half-price tickets, new venues, and more events in the suburbs and regions have all helped increase ticket sales”.
The new Vic Square Hub, which contained 24 Fringe venues, also helped promote the Fringe’s diverse program of events and venues and complemented the Fringe’s long-standing hub in the East End.
Mr Clarke believes this year’s extraordinary success is also due to the genuine enthusiasm of South Australians, exciting venues, accessible ticket prices but most importantly the high number of amazing shows, 472 of which were Australian premieres.
Of the shows reviewed by The Advertiser so far this year, 70 were awarded four or more stars with 17 receiving five- star reviews. These included ‘smash hit’ circus shows Limbo and A Simple Space, theatre productions A Special Day, Bunker Trilogy and Bitch Boxer, cabaret show The Vaudevillians, and comedians Dave Hughes and Sammy J and Randy.
Mr Clarke also highlighted that the hard work and commitment of Fringe Ambassador Katie Noonan has significantly increased national media coverage resulting in increased audiences.
“With such a large increase in ticket sales, it cements Adelaide Fringe’s position as the largest arts festival in Australia and one of the major open-access arts festivals in the world.”
Fringe Chair Judy Potter said “Adelaide Fringe has experienced enormous growth since the festival moved to an annual event and has transformed into one of the most significant festivals on the world stage”.“Ticket sales have increased by approximately 138 per cent since moving to an annual format, demonstrating how popular this event has become and how important the arts are to the vibrancy and long-term growth of Adelaide and South Australia.”
“It is amazing to see the support this yearly event receives not only from the State Government, our principal partner BankSA and our Corporate Partners but also the millions of people who come out in droves in February and March every year ensuring Adelaide Fringe continues to thrive,” Ms Potter said.
The 2014 Adelaide Fringe will conclude this Sunday, March 16, with the Awards Ceremony held in the Fringe Club. For a list of this year’s award nominations and more details visit adelaidefringe.com.au.
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