FRINGE IMPACT REPORT REVEALS FUTURE PLANS FOR GROWTH

FRINGE WORLD’s 2018 Impact Report reveals the Festival has consolidated its rapid early years of growth and maintained its position as the largest annual event in Western Australia and the third largest Fringe festival in the world, in terms of tickets sold and attendance.

The Festival delivered more than $8.6 million in payments to participating artists, which means more than $37 million has been paid out to artists and arts companies since the first full festival in 2012. This is revenue being delivered to the artistic community that wasn’t occurring in WA before FRINGE WORLD.

The 2018 Festival featured 730 events at 155 venues and achieved more than 360,000 attendances at ticketed events with total free and ticketed attendance of more than 900,000. The Festival also recorded its biggest day of sales on record, with more tickets sold in 24 hrs on one Saturday during the 2018 Festival than across the entire 2011 inaugural season.

Minister for Culture and the Arts David Templeman launched the Impact Report and said the positive impact of FRINGE WORLD was not limited to its fingerprint on the cultural sector.

“The Fringe is known and loved by the WA community and helps to create jobs both directly and indirectly,” he said.

“FRINGE WORLD has an enduring place in the hearts and minds of all Western Australians and it is good to see FRINGE WORLD responding to the question of ongoing sustainability for artists and independent producers.”

FRINGE WORLD’s economic impact grew in 2018 surpassing the $101 million milestone, equating to 2,236 FTE jobs. For every $1 invested by the WA state government, $81 was stimulated and spent in the local economy.

FRINGE WORLD Chief Executive Marcus Canning said that the positive impact of the Fringe across so many areas in the local economy and community are the result of the dedication and brilliance of the thousands of people who contribute to the Fringe, in particular all of the artists.

“The report annually charts the Festival’s positive impact across social, economic and community terrains. It also captures the ways the Fringe contributes to the cultural development and attraction value of Perth, stimulates Perth’s night-time economy and most importantly, how the Fringe supports artists both during the Fringe and across the year,” he said.

In terms of the future, indicators point to ongoing growth for FRINGE WORLD with the Festival continuing to attract new as well as returning audiences across all demographics each year. Mr Canning said that capitalising on the success of FRINGE WORLD to deliver extended value for the state held great potential with some smart additional support from government.

“Edinburgh and Adelaide, the first and second largest Fringes in the world, achieve gobsmacking tourism results thanks in large part to targeted support over extended periods. FRINGE WORLD has untapped potential for the state on this front and we hope to deliver even more economic impact in future years through new partnerships that focus on attracting visitors to WA during our buzzing summer festival season, it’s the best time of year to welcome the world to Perth.” Mr Canning said.

The primary source of evidence supporting the Impact Report are comprehensive surveys completed by more than 6,400 people. Key results revealed in the Impact Report include:

• 73% of the surveyed audience indicate that FRINGE WORLD had contributed to them feeling safer in Northbridge and Perth city centre. This is a 20% positive increase from seven years ago.
• 97% agree that the Fringe made the city a more vibrant place.
• 90% believe that Fringe is an event that brings the whole community together.
• 78% believe FRINGE WORLD is one of the top five best things about Perth.
• 98% think that FRINGE WORLD is something they would like to do every year.

Some new parts to the report include; a Q&A with Festival Director, Amber Hasler and CEO, Marcus Canning that seeks to address commonly recurring questions that get asked of the Fringe; a very detailed financial report that unpacks all of the income and expenditure areas of the Festival; and a report about how FRINGE WORLD has supported artists affected by the collapse of the independent event company JumpClimb, that went into liquidation post-Fringe leaving artists they had contracted unpaid.

 “Event companies not being managed with due diligence and adequate responsibility can badly compromise the health of the sector as we’ve seen this happen over a number of years with a number of companies folding and leaving their bills unpaid. FRINGE WORLD is absolutely dedicated to Fringe artists and we responded to JumpClimb’s collapse swiftly, decisively and with as much direct financial aid as possible to address the debts to artists left by JumpClimb. It was not our obligation in any way, but we felt it was our duty.” Mr Canning said.

ARTRAGE, the organisation behind FRINGE WORLD, is now ranked No. 1 in WA’s cultural organisation landscape in terms of number of patron engagement as well as the total value of sales and No. 3 in terms of total turnover, ranking behind the WA Museum and Screenwest. In contrast, ARTRAGE ranked 12th in terms of the amount of state funding investment, which equates to less than 6% of turnover.

Click here to read the Impact Report.

FRINGE WORLD recently announced a new winter cinema experience at the historic Old Perth Girls School in East Perth, which is stage one of FRINGE WORLD’s plan to turn the Girls School into a thriving creative precinct. The Girls School cinema will open on 15 June and more information is at girlsschoolcinema.com.au

The open-access Festival will open for event and venue registrations in July. More information is at fringeworld.com.au

A 2029 Bicentennial Fringe plan is in the pipeline and the 2019 FRINGE WORLD plan is already bedding down including additions and special surprises for The Pleasure Garden alongside a significant new presence at Yagan Square. The 2019 FRINGE WORLD Festival will be held from 18 January to 17 February.

ENDS

For all media enquiries, please contact:

Jo Hos
FRINGE WORLD Marketing Director
(08) 9227 6288 ext. 111
0430 552 962
jo@artrage.com.au

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Image credits:
Thumbnail: Club Swizzle. Photo by Jason Matz
Header: The Pleasure Garden: Photo by Portia Gebauer.