Report compiled by Accenture on 12 November 2024
Adelaide Fringe’s international arts marketplace, connects companies with industry professionals
generating over $4.2M in future company earnings
in
The HIVE ‘speed dating’ event allows companies to meet one-on-one with industry buyers in short, rotating discussions.
Passion Pitch provides companies the opportunity to pitch their work virtually to buyers through prerecorded videos.
The Delegate Finder tool provides companies with a directory of industry buyers involved in Honey Pot.
Workshops and panels with companies to drive professional development.
Shows are empowered to find a new evolution to continue engaging changing audiences
Honey Pot acts as a touchstone for companies, with conversations that span years and shape careers
Companies can also connect with their peers, sharing experiences and starting new collaborations
Networking with buyers and industry representatives
Companies build their brand and reputation with additional bookings and shows interstate and internationally
Increases year-round income and generates business opportunities, creating jobs for companies
With increased investment Adelaide Fringe has delivered exponential growth in Honey Pot buyers and outcomes over the last decade.
Honey Pot established, bringing together 10 buyers to see shows and meet companies 2008
Continued growth reaching over 100 buyers for the first time in collaboration with Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM)
Buyer engagement and international expansion with strategic investments dramatically increasing buyers involved. 2016
Major growth, 300 buyers attend Honey Pot
This year Honey Pot continues to grow, bringing 370 buyers to participate and connect with companies 2024
Digital platforms, increasing connections and buyers, Adelaide Fringe allocates resources with year round Marketplace Manager employed and sophisticated digital services driving growth, 192 buyers attend.
Over the last 16 years, Honey Pot has grown from a small-scale initiative into a major marketplace within the Adelaide Fringe
$4M of company revenue In 2024, 379 deals for shows created $4.2M of bookings 2024
State Government support of $100,000K per annum since 2017
Current ROI to Government investment is $7.9 return in export value to every $1 invested, with more investment from State or Federal Government there is the potential to drive higher ROI each year.
Location of Company: South Australia | Company Name: Joanne Hartstone Presents | Website: https://joannehartstone.com/
Joanne Hartstone has been a staple of the Adelaide Fringe for 20 years. Engaging with Honey Pot both as an artist finding the right venue for her next production and as a buyer connecting with future collaborators Joanne credits this annual “melting pot” as the best time to understand emerging trends in across her industry.
Honey Pot hasn’t only helped Joanne jumpstart shows, it has “played a key role growing the life of a production” extending and evolving shows into new markets and formats. Joanne’s acclaimed solo show ‘The Girl Who Jumped Off The Hollywood Sign’ was extended for a run in Sydney and a country road tour with support from her Honey Pot network. For Joanne, the “slow burn” of connecting with buyers across the span of the festival and again in subsequent years gives her “invaluable insights into the new trends, limitations, and approaches artists are taking” and an expanding network to “ask the right questions to the right people”.
For those in the industry, the influence of Honey Pot and the Adelaide Fringe is everywhere. At the world’s largest Fringe festival in Edinburgh, “Adelaide is in the bones of many of the shows” with awards, laurels and Glam Adelaide reviews featuring prominently in both the advertising and the continued evolution of shows across the scene. Artists also don’t just bring their shows and accolades from Adelaide, they also bring their tech teams and support staff.
When she’s on the road Joanne is often recommending new artists bring their shows and their questions about getting established in the industry to Adelaide Fringe and to Honey Pot. "You still can't beat in-person to have these conversations" and "Honey Pot is the place to meet people“. The organic interactions with buyers experiencing your shows in front of real audiences is uniquely valuable for artists getting established. Honey Pot provides “the prefect icebreaker” for artists to engage with a “melting pot” of insights from a wide range of industry representatives.
“Honey Pot is the place to meet people”
“It puts the eyes of the world on Adelaide”
Over the last 5 years, participation in Honey Pot has grown 22%
Number of buyers and shows
$465k investment
State and Federal Government investment expanding opportunities and size of the marketplace (2020-24). Current ROI to Government investment is $7.9 return in export value to every $1 invested, with more investment from State or Federal Government there is the potential to drive higher ROI each year.
Honey Pot 2024 had strong engagement across three main programs
Percentage of companies engaging in Honey Pot program, 2024
The HIVE ‘speed dating’ event allows companies to meet one-on-one with industry buyers in short, rotating discussions. Over 576 companies and buyers participated in HIVE in 2024. The HIVE ‘speeddating’ event held at The Adelaide Convention Centre allows companies to meet one-on-one with buyers in short rotating discussions. Over 576 companies and buyers participated in HIVEs in2024
Passion Pitch provides companies the opportunity to pitch their work virtually to buyers through pre-recorded videos. In 2024, 163 videos were submitted during Honey Pot, almost double those in 2023.
The Delegate Finder tool provides companies with a directory of industry buyers involved in Honey Pot. The platform had over 820 views in the leadup to and during Honey Pot 2024.
Location of Company: Victoria | Company Name: NCM (Nicolas Clark Management)
Website: https://nicholasclarkmanagement.com/
Nic and his team at Nicholas Clark Management engage with Honey Pot as buyers connecting with new artists and shows seeking representation and connecting with other buyers on behalf of those artists in the marketplace. For Nic, Honey Pot gives “unique and invaluable” access with new shows and the opportunity for new shows to build “genuine” connections with both the venues they will go on to tour at and the industry professionals who will help the show grow and evolve.
When seeking out upcoming artists and shows Nic and his team find the unparalleled access to the Honey Pot program invaluable. “The ability to see the show’s live with a real audience and see their genuine response” is of “substantial value” in identifying new shows to represent and how to support them. For Nic a “good show understands their audience appeal” and Honey Pot lets him and his team see this firsthand. At the Adelaide Fringe there is also greater access to a more diverse roster of shows with artists only needing to opt in ahead of the festival rather than take time out in their preparation to complete a vetting or selection process. For new artists, this lowest possible barrier gives the greatest access to the opportunities and connections of Honey Pot.
“First time shows at the Fringe have democratised access to networking and learning opportunities”
In subsequent years Nic and his team represent their artists to the buyers and connect in with the new trends in the market. Again, the unparalleled access of buyers to companies is the springboard for “meaningful” connections and insights. Access to a “diverse collection of buyers from a wide variety of markets” gives artists and shows insights into the changing landscape of their existing audience as well as opening new opportunities in new venues or markets. Setting up well for the Honey Pot marketplace can fill a show’s entire calendar, locking in the tours and securing show’s direction for the coming year.
“We really rely on Honey Pot to build our future year touring around Australia”
Honey Pot allows industry buyers to see the work of Adelaide Fringe companies, encouraging future deals and bookings to occur
• High Impact for Companies
In 2024, companies secured over $4.2 million worth of deals, an eight times return on Honey Pot’s production cost. Average investment return of $7.9 in export value for every $1 invested from government.
• Bespoke Buyer Experiences
The program enhances buyer experiences by offering tailored itineraries and a Show Finder directory, enabling efficient discovery of companies that align with their programming goals and helping companies present their work effectively.
• Facilitating Tangible Outcomes
Honey Pot’s platform drives real opportunities for companies, facilitating connections that lead to programming, collaborations, partnerships, and representation, ensuring these interactions result in tangible outcomes.
Honey Pot facilitated deals worth over $4.2 million in income in 2024 Value of deals booked through Honey Pot by location of companies, annual, $M
deals have been booked by companies through Honey Pot 2024, with an average deal value of $11,000 - $12,000. In 2024, $2.7 million of company income were from interstate companies, while $0.5 million was international.
+ $3.2M 42% annualised growth1
…with bookings and discussions across the globe Share of deal/discussions by location of booking, 2024, %
Nearly 230 (62%) of buyers at Honey Pot 2024 were from Australia, of which 17% were from South Australia
…and many interstate/international deals for SA Companies % of bookings for SA Companies by location of event, %
Location of Company: Victoria | Company Name: Dummies Corp.
Website: https://www.dummiescorp.com/
Jamie Bretman and Dummies Corp brought their first show to the Adelaide Fringe and Honey Pot in 2014, a decade later they keep coming back for the connections and touring opportunities at Honey Pot.
“Some conversations can take years to unfold” but when they do, they havelead to a wide range of opportunities for Jamie froma regional tour in East Gippsland to international bookings in Korea, China and Scotland. Honey Pot has"played a huge part in [network] building" for Jamie.
“Honey Pot is like an annual solid rock… we know if we put in the effort, we will leave Adelaide with the extra work we need”
Jamie has seen the opportunities for new artists and shows to get set up in the industry expand. He has helped to guide the next generation participating panels on topics such as rural touring. Helping answer the questions of emerging artists helped himunderstand how much veteran artists like himself have to offer and the value of the opportunity for "exchange of information" that HoneyPot provides.
“The Honey Pot marketplace is the best way into the Australian tour market”
• 379 deals have been recorded in 2024 as a result of Honey Pot.
• $4.2m in total deals:
o $1.1m in deals for SA companies
o $2.8m in deals for interstate companies, which equates to $3.9m in total deals for Australian companies
o $340k in deals for international companies.
• $2.5m in deals from international buyers
• $500k in tourism expenditure from 113 international buyers and 189 national buyers converging on South Australia.
$563k in export value to the SA economy as a result of Honey Pot $1.3m in national export value as a result of Honey Pot
South Australia’s economy benefits from $563k in export value1 sending local companies out to the world and bringing audiences and buyer spending to the state. This is comprised of:
• $489k of SA based companies generating income and jobs by booking deals interstate and internationally
• $10k from interstate and international visitors buying tickets to 42 SA based events
• $63k export value as a result of SA tourism expenditure
At the national level, $1.3M of export value1 is generated by international tours and spend from international audiences arising from Honey Pot deals.
• $1.1M from 103 deals for Australian companies generating income and jobs through booking international tours.
• $69k from international and interstate visitors buying tickets at 145 shows performed in Australia
• $85k export value as a result of tourism expenditure
Location of Company: United Kingdom | Company Name: Wright&Grainger Company Website: https://www.wrightandgrainger.com/
Alex, and his artistic partner and co-producer Phil, first got involved in Honey Pot as emerging artists in 2018. Since, his work has grown alongside the community and the friendships he has made in Honey Pot. Alex says, "it's quite hard to imagine what our work and career would look like without honey pot, it’s so tied up with where our careers have gone it’s not possible to extricate one from the other." Honey Pot has been a "real crucible for … creative relationships" for Alex with the connections formed through Honey Pot leading to creative collaborations and a big community within the industry.
UK born and based, Alex's work has found it's home with Australian audiences with more tours and performances in Australia than back home. " Adelaide is such a great industry and marketplace there’s lot say yes to, so [Alex and Phil] kept saying yes".
“Best marketplace in the world for first connections.”
Location of Company: South Australia | Company Name: Lewis Major Choreography Company Website: https://www.lewismajor.com/
Lewis Major has toured in 27 different countries from solo shows tiny rural venues to "massive" festivals. Having first participated in Honey Pot in 2019 as an emerging artist, Lewis says that Honey Pot "definitely" increased the pace of his career trajectory as an artist. Honey Pot has offered a place to make and build industry connections throughout all stages of his career for newcomer on the scene to seasoned multinational act Lewis has "done the whole gamut" through connections made at Honey Pot.
"Good
Export value is calculated by adding revenue from the following three sources
For both the Australian and South Australian export value calculations, the method below is applied but using the different region boundaries. We note that export value calculations attribute monetary value creation to a
Component Assumptions and Limitations
Data collection Data on deals following Honey Pot are gathered from both shows and buyers through the following three channels: a) survey res ponses on Honey Pot impact, b) email check in at 3, 6 and 12 months after Adelaide Fringe, c) returning buyer registration for the following year’s festival. Where revenue for a given deal is not reported it is estimated by the Honey Pot team based on the size of the show, type of venues(s) and length of deal, as a net value to artists not including touring exp enses. Responses across these three channels don’t cover all participating companies in the 2024 Honey Pot, a starting point to improve the analysis could include methods to estimate how many companies not responding to follow up did or did not book deals because of Honey Pot.
Profit and wages share
Interstate and international ticket sales share
To calculate export value the profits and wages were estimated from the recorded value of each deal by applying industry averages using ABS Australian Industry (2024) extracts. These extracts give the share of profits and wages as a share of total income for the “create and performing arts” sub-industry (25% and 23% respectively) for 2023. These values were applied for all deals in the Honey Pot 2024 dataset.
The contribution to export value from ticket sales to interstate and international patrons for companies within South Australia/Australia (to calculate South Australia’s GSP and Australia’s GDP respectively) use shares of ticket sales proxied from the ratio at the 2024 Adelaide Fringe. This assumes tha t deals across the state/country have, on average, a similar demographic to the Adelaide Fringe. This stand in could be improvised with direct data from ticketing shares from a s ample of typical companies arising from Honey Pot deals in the future.
Buyer spending Spending in South Australia by domestic and international buyers is determined using data from the National Visitor survey (2024) and International Visitor Survey (2024) respectively. Categories not relevant to the spending of Honey Pot buyers (e.g. on education and touring related categories) is excluded from the survey data aggregation. Where buyer spending does not match that of a typical overnight visitor to South Australia, direct data from a sample of buyers wou ld provide a more accurate estimate of export value.
ROI calculation Return on investment was calculated by dividing the 2024 export value by annual government expenditure on the Honey Pot program.
Possible next steps Details
Data collection Gathering the following additional metadata could help improve both the estimation of revenue arising from deals and estimate the number and size of deals not reported back to the Honey Pot team: the duration of a deal; the size of each show; the logistical complexity of touring
Improved deal estimation
Interstate and international ticket sales share
Working with a sample of companies willing to discuss the specifics of deals arising from Honey Pot could be used to improve the confidence in estimating the value of other deals arising from Honey Pot.
The assumption to proxy the share of ticket sales to international and interstate patrons with data from the Adelaide Fringe could be improved with data directly from (a sample of) the performances arising from Honey Pot deals themselves.
Report published November 2024