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Melbourne Fringe often struggles under the weight of professional artists stealing the spotlight, fees making it difficult for audiences to see cheap theatre, and the creation of large barriers for those artists not rich enough to have gone to VCA.
But what is the solution? The Fringe receives very little funding per show, despite being the second biggest festival in Melbourne. Some of our greatest actors and comedians had their start in Fringe. So what can we do?
4 comments
If they're telling the truth, sounds clear cut that there's no room to move on the split.
Yea, I definitely don't put the burden on Fringe, who don't appear to be reckless with the funding they receive. Personally, I blame the government, who prioritises arts funding to the Prestige companies. MTC receives mid 7 figures a year and can't fill their seats past opening night, while Melbourne Fringe goes well over 250k attendees every year. That's a quarter of a million tickets in less than a month of being active.
Public records show that last year MTC only "sold" 190k tickets off 3.3 million in federal government funding alone. Which means the federal government (not including state and city) pays 17 dollars per ticket sold. Melbourne Fringe received STATE funding of 1.1 million, or about 3 dollars a ticket sold. It doesn't receive federal funding afaik.
Then you have to take into account that a ticket to MTC is three times the price as your standard fringe show....
It's a mess, and obviously difficult to properly audit, but imo, there's enough info to say the money is going to the wrong places.
That is damning, this should be more widely known.
Prestige arts is being held up by grants and donations. What hurts the most is that your typical Fringe production goes on for under 5k (often under 1k). Some of MTC's donors could fund 100 Fringe shows every year. But they wouldn't get the tax deduction, and that's what really matters to them.
In more positive news about it, though. The Australian Cultural Fund allows small projects to be funding in a way that allows for tax deductions, with 100% of the donation going to the artists. There are a few hoops to jump through, but not as many as you might expect.