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. Through government support the Fringe was able to once again run for four weeks and deliver wonderful free Fringe events such as the Fringe Parade, Fringe in the Mall, the Fringe Street Theatre Festival and Desert Fringe in Port Augusta.
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.
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.”
The 2014 Adelaide Fringe will conclude this Sunday 16 March with the Awards Ceremony held in the Fringe Club. For more information, visit: www.adelaidefringe.com.au for details.
Image: Katie Noonan and artists at the Adelaide Fringe Launch