The Sydney Fringe Exceeds Ticket Sales Expectations

The Sydney Fringe today announced that they exceeded all year one targets for ticket sales and overall attendances at the burgeoning festival.

35,000 tickets were sold for Fringe performing arts events, with an additional 15,000 tickets sold for partner events (such as music), and over 50,000 attendees at dozens of other official Fringe events, which included such smash hits as the Changing Lanes festival, the Carriageworks visual arts exhibit The Awkwardness of Belonging, the Your Big Backyard event at Sydney Park and the Mobile Screenfest at the Factory.

"We didn't know what to expect from the first year - ticket sales aren't the only measure of success, but it's nice to know there is an audience in Sydney for alternative arts," said the Sydney Fringe's artistic director, Kris Stewart. "We had a mix of shows selling out, with other less commercial shows reaching smaller audiences - which is exactly what you want in a Fringe."

Multiple shows and events sold out across the Fringe, including Candy Royalle: Love Spectacular, Tales of Sexy Paleontology, Changing Lanes, Jeffree Star, Van Park with John Paul Young, Monica Trapaga's Monica Goes to Rehab and My Private Parts: An Inside View of Fertilisation. The musical Bare played to packed houses, as did Words & Music from Life's A Circus...and More, the Hideous Demise of Detective Slate, Intertwine and the CarriageWorks hit, Clammy Glamour from the Curio Cabinet, as well as many others. In an attempt to satisfy demand, extended seasons were staged for Love Spectacular, Sexy Tales of Paleontology, Four Seasons and It's Time to Sparkle Darlings!, with date and venue conflicts preventing planned extensions for many others.

Tanya Denny from Newtown Theatre said, "Newtown theatre had a very exciting Sydney Fringe festival with 63 performances in two weeks! The Fringe has re-invigorated the Newtown entertainment precinct, bringing new audiences and gave a much needed platform for new and emerging artists."

"The Fringe was simply fantastic for us," said Lew Palaitis, from the Hardware Gallery. "We broke all daily & weekly attendance records, and there was a noticeable impact with us being part of the Fringe. It was such a fun exhibition and the Fringe allowed us to make new connections that we would not have made otherwise."

"The Sydney Fringe was a powerful updraft of fresh air in a city that's really fallen behind the rest of the country as far as live performance is concerned," said Greg Appel, author of Van Park. "Our musical played to full houses - ending in a nightly stomp-along to John Paul Young's "Yesterday's Hero" - and it was clear that something of a entertainment storm enveloped the inner west for a few weeks this September."

The inclusion of a broad variety of free events, such as The Pop-Up Festival Tour of the City, Your Big Backyard, Projector Bike and ST2K, and the free live music played at The Imperial Hotel, Bloodwood and Buzzzbar, enabled locals and visitors from further afield to be involved in the festival.

All marketing targets were also exceeded, with partnerships that ranged from The Sydney Morning Herald and Time Out Sydney to the Alternative Media Group, artshub Australia, AussieTheatre.com, Avantcard, Drum Media, FBi Radio and the Sydney Star Observer. Including the media with the widespread banner and program campaign meant that the Fringe undoubtedly brought a new audience to alternative arts in Sydney.

THE SYDNEY FRINGE is a two week, multi-discipline cultural event set within the theatres, galleries, clubs and public spaces of Sydney's Inner West. The largest alternative arts event in NSW, The Sydney Fringe is a peek underneath at the urban and the unconventional, with activity ranging from edgy, alterNative Theatre to major concerts and visual arts openings; from free one-off events to all night parties, and performances of all scales. The Sydney Fringe has been founded by the Newtown Entertainment Precinct Association (NEPA), an alliance of Inner West arts and cultural venues, and it is proudly supported by the City of Sydney and Marrickville Council in association with Century Venues, Peter Lehmann Wines, Canadian Club, Grolsch, Purple Goat Design, The Sydney Morning Herald, Bytecraft and Sydney Airport, as well as the Alternative Media Group, artshub Australia, AussieTheatre.com, Avantcard, Drum Media Magazine, FBi Radio, Figureight, Marameo Designs, Newtown Business Precinct Association, Spotpress, Sydney Star Observer, Sydney Transport Authority and Time Out Sydney

 

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