Sydney Fringe 2024 Venue Handbook

VENUE HANDBOOK 2024

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VISION AND WELCOME

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO AND FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

2024 marks the fifteenth Sydney Fringe Festival and a lot has happened over those years. We’ve had lock outs and lock downs, new venues open and close, festivals come and go, and through it all our creatives have not just survived but thrived.

Here at Sydney Fringe, we know that our city is the best city in the world, and we believe our local artists are our city’s greatest asset. Every day we champion the independent cultural sector, placing it at the heart of Sydney, and each September, we invite you to join us in providing a platform for local stories to be told, local cultural offerings to be celebrated and our city to be transformed. Sydney deserves to have the best Fringe Festival in the world, and we need your help to make that happen.

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With over 85% of the work presented at Sydney Fringe produced by NSW based artists, Sydney Fringe is THE place for locals and visitors alike to get a taste of Sydney. Our festival supports and develops the next generation of creative thinkers, community leaders, city builders and participants. No other organization in Sydney is investing in the next generation in the same way we are, and no other organization supports the independent sector on as meaningful a scale as we do.

With over 2000 artists taking part in our month-long festival and over 100,000 audiences set to attend we need more fabulous venues, secret stages and weird and wonderful places to call home throughout September. So, if you love Sydney, love local stories and love a big ol’ party join the Sydney Fringe family and help us make our 2024 festival our biggest one yet.

Kerri Glasscock CEO & Festival Director Sydney Fringe

Box of Birds, Sydney Fringe 2022

Photographer: Scott Rennie

VENUES SNAPSHOT

The Sydney Fringe (TSF) takes an internationally unique approach of matching all events to venues.

The Sydney Fringe team work with artists and venues to ensure they achieve greater audience numbers and a greater chance of success.

The matching process ensures that venue operators are satisfied with their festival program and that the existing identity of the venue is maintained; a vital strategy in Sydney’s sensitive and tenuous venue landscape. We also work to deepen our connectivity within communities, expanding venue hub footprints and building new venue partnerships in and around festival hub locations to drive activity to each precinct.

In 2023, a total of 80 venues from across Greater Sydney were used to deliver the four main programs of the Sydney Fringe Festival: Partnership Events, Curated/ Open Access Events, Sydney Fringe Comedy, and Visual Art programs.

CIRCUS the Show, Sydney Fringe, Hello Darling, 2023 Photographer: Clare Hawley

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98,345

76,429

69,427

65,209

Sydney Spiegeltent, Sydney Fringe, 2023 Photographer: Scott Rennie

MARKETING REACH

Total marketing reach

66,322,858

DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The festival’s digital and social influence grows annually through new channels and fresh content . Our content showcases remarkable shows, diversity and inclusion, artist development resources, and vibrant Fringe stories. Our channels spotlight key events and connect our artist community with new audiences. We will continue to expand our digital footprint to boost the online presence and enrich Sydney’s arts scene.

Facebook followers

20,189 +8.40%

Instagram followers

11,200 +29.2%

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOUR VENUE?

Gain Access to a New Audience

The Sydney Fringe is the largest independent arts festival in NSW. With a marketing reach of 66 million in 2023, we are the most visible single event for independent artists and venues in Greater Sydney. By registering for the festival, you can gain broader audience exposure and showcase your own year-round programming.

Promote Your Venue through our Marketing Channels

As a participating venue, you’ll enjoy exposure throughout the Sydney Fringe marketing channels, including:

• A dedicated Venue page on our website listing your venue details and showcasing the events at your venue.

• A dedicated Venue page on our app listing your venue details, promotions and showcasing the events at your venue.

• Featured on the digital festival map.

• A Listing in the printed festival guide.

• Potential to be featured across our social media channels.

Connect with a Diverse Range of Artists and Event Presenters

Build relationships with our vibrant community of artists and event presenters. We’re here to cultivate relationships that extend beyond the event itself. By joining us, you’re not just participating, you’re unlocking access to artists and event presenters eager to bring their events to your venue.

40k Guides distributed

431 Digital Guide reads

1,277 App downloads

Page views

1,600,000 +31.25%

Video views

69,164 +1019%

Twitter followers

10,600 Tik Tok followers

864 +595%

Email subscribers

42,842 +28%

Take Advantage of Our Resources

Before the festival kicks off, we host an exclusive Venues Masterclass to provide you with insights into collaborating with event presenters, as well as invaluable resources. This includes vital information on accessibility for both presenters and audiences, access audits, tips on navigating our ticketing platform, and insights on jumping onboard our marketing campaign.

Become an Independent Arts Supporter

As an open access festival, we provide a platform for all genres and experience levels of event presenters. Annually, we welcome over 400 Event Presenters and 100,000 ticket holders to our events across September. By becoming a Fringe venue, you can provide a supportive platform and much needed performance space for local artists.

Be Part of a Festival that Invests in the Cultural Life of Sydney

We are committed to year-round advocacy and work to grow and strengthen the culture and nightlife of our city. We advocate, activate and agitate for reform. Each year we drive several key projects in partnership with local and state government and major stakeholders to build a more viable, vibrant and sustainable sector.

KEY DATES

HOW DO WE WORK WITH VENUES?

Open Access

Sydney Fringe doesn’t curate the program for the festival as a whole - individuals and venues choose to participate in the festival and decide what type of event they want to present. During the venue matching process Sydney Fringe will introduce event presenters to venues. This is based on the presenters needs and what space we feel will suit them. It is at the venue’s discretion to decide if this match is the best for them before proceeding.

Registration Cost and Booking Fees

Registering as a Sydney Fringe venue is free!

Sydney Fringe charges a small inside booking fee to the event presenter on tickets sold. This inside charge covers some of the festival’s core operating costs such as ticketing, staffing and marketing to promote the festival.

Sydney Fringe Ticketing

The Sydney Fringe manages ticketing for all events in the festival. We cannot facilitate external ticketing and any door sales conducted at the venue must be done through Sydney Fringe Festival’s website.

We have a dedicated ticketing team who manage the end-toend ticketing process for you, including building the ticket sales platform, supporting Event Presenters, managing all customer enquiries and providing a self-service portal for reporting. Event Presenters and venues will work together to manage front of house at the event with an easyto-use scanning app or a door list. See further information on here.

Sydney Fringe Marketing

We market the festival wholistically. This means Sydney Fringe are responsible for marketing our programs, Fringe produced events and the Fringe experience. The individual venues and event presenters are responsible for promoting their own events and venues. Therefore, events, venues, and the festival collectively share the responsibility of effectively marketing and ensuring maximum audience attendance.

The Sydney Fringe marketing campaign is citywide, employing a multi-channel approach across various mediums, both large and small scale. Throughout August and September, you’ll see the Fringe campaign on out-of-home displays, in print media, through digital advertising, and across all social media channels.

Sydney Fringe Support

Registered venues have direct access to our Programs and Operations team. We can guide you on all aspects of your Fringe involvement including planning, working with artists and event presenters, access, operations and other enquiries. We are here to provide support and to maximise your festival experience.

We are a Not-For-Profit

Sydney Fringe is a Not-for-Profit organisation. Any profit generated by the Festival is invested into further developing the Festival and supporting our vibrant local cultural ecology.

WHAT CAN YOU OFFER?

It’s important to consider what you can offer artists and event presenters. How are you going to attract them to present their show at your venue? Why are you a good fit? What makes your venue unique?

Artists and event presenters make the final decision on where they would like to present their event.

Our Event Presenters look for:

• A dedicated performance space.

• An affordable and flexible space with a competitive venue hire deal.

• A great geographical location with potential of passing traffic.

• Attractive time slots on weekends and peak times for audience engagement.

• Venues specific to their genre needs and technical requirements.

• A venue that is accessible for both them and their audiences.

Venue Hire Options

There are a variety of models for charging artists to hire your venue:

• No Venue Hire: Provide the venue at no cost to the artist, with the potential to increase bar and food sales.

• Flat Venue hire: Offer a flat fee for venue rental that ensures you cover your costs. For example, a per night fee or a weekly hire rate.

• Box Office Split - share the risk with the artist and offer split ticketing income instead of a set hire fee. A common split is 70% artist and 30% venue.

• Combination - you can create your own combination that works best for you. For example: an upfront venue hire deposit against a Box office split of approx. 70/30.

Fringeville, Hurstville 2024

Photography: Zoe Hyland

107 Projects Redfern, Sydney Fringe Venue 2023

Photography: Scott Rennie

How to Cook the Perfect, Sideshow, 2022, Photography: Clare Hawley

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

REGISTER YOUR VENUE

We use the artist and venue registration platform Eventotron for venues to build out their profile. This profile will have all the information for the Sydney Fringe team to best match event presenters to venues. This will also be used to build your web profile for in festival.

• All venue Information

• The full venue details: number, email, address, website, socials, image

• Assign a contact for TSF to reach out to - this is important so we can send you venue Bulletins

• Provide all the access information of your venue - including physical access, accessible public transport services nearby, visual and audio access options

• Confirm that you agree to our Venue Terms and Conditions

Are you a new venue to Eventotron? If you are new to Eventotron and Sydney Fringe, create an account. Enter your email address in the ‘New Users’ box then click ‘Register’. You will receive a password by email very quickly. Use that password to login to Eventotron.

Have you participated in Fringe before? If you’ve already participated in Sydney Fringe Festival before, please contact venues@sydneyfringe. com and we will import your venue to this year’s festival. Please provide in the email your venue contact details for this year’s festival.

STEPS TO REGISTER

STEP 1

Sign up to our venue registration platform Eventotron OR contact venues@sydneyfringe. com to move your venue to this year’s festival. Update your Eventotron profile with required information.

STEP 2

STEP 3

Event Presenters register in Eventotron.

STEP 4

TSF provides event presenters with advice about venues for their event.

STEP 5

TSF recommends and introduces artists to venues for their season.

STEP 6

Session Times and dates are negotiated and decided by event presenter and venue.

STEP 7

Venue Hire agreement is created and signed by event presenter and venue.

STEP 8

Festival Program Locked, deadline of May 31 2024.

** As we are an open access festival we will not be able to gauge the events we can offer venues until after registrations close on Mar 31.

TICKETING

Sydney

Sydney Fringe Festival has a full-service ticketing department, managing the build and administration of all festival events through our provider Ferve Tickets. Venues are responsible for collaborating with their events on promoting and driving ticket sales. It is a requirement that all ticketing is managed by TSF and we cannot facilitate external ticketing services.

As this is a collaboration, we have listed how we will work with you.

What Sydney Fringe will do?

Ticket Links

Sales Report

TSF builds all of the events into our ticketing system, which integrates to our website. The event is then searchable on the Sydney Fringe Festival website and app.

TSF provides Event Presenters with a Producer Portal log in to access door lists and summary reports for each performance. Each event is provided with one login.

Ticket Holder Check-in Ticket holder check in TSF strongly suggests the use of the Ferve Tickets scanning app, which will be linked to the producer log in. Using an iPhone, you will be able to easily scan tickets, check numbers and use a digital door list. This app is $1.19 on the Apple App Store.

Final Sales Settlement

TSF will provide a final sales settlement and door list to the event presenter after their event.

What the Venue do?

Ticketing links to be listed on the venue’s Sydney Fringe Festival page to refer ticket buyers to.

Door Sales

The easiest way to purchase tickets at the door is via the Sydney Fringe Festival website or free Sydney Fringe app. This data immediately transfers across to the Ferve Tickets scanning app.

Venues will need to request sales reports from Event Presenters.

Venues will need to agree with Event presenter on who is responsible for checking in ticket holders at the venue on performance dates, using the Ferve Ticketing scanning app.

Venues will need to agree with Event presenter on who is responsible for checking in ticket holders at the venue on performance dates, using the Ferve Ticketing scanning app.

Venues will not be provided with a final settlement from TSF. It is at the Event Presenter’s discretion if they choose to share settlement reports.

Spiegeltent, Sydney Fringe, 2023 Photographer: Belinda Rolland

MARKETING EXPECTATIONS

As a Sydney Fringe Festival venue, you will receive marketing materials to ensure your space is proudly identified as part of the festival. Ahead of the festival, our team will consult with venues to determine the quantity and type of marketing assets you require. Depending on the size of your venue and its level of involvement in the festival, we will supply:

• Sydney Fringe Festival Guides

• Sydney Fringe promotional items for decorating your venue during the festival, including:

• Sydney Fringe Festival posters

• Sydney Fringe branded bunting

• A Sydney Fringe venue sticker to place facing outward on your venue.

You will also be provided with social media assets to use when promoting shows via your channels. We encourage venues to also collaborate with their Event Presenters on sharing marketing collateral to promote the season and venue.

We love to support venues that actively engage with Fringe on their channels. So please share and post about the shows at your venue, and tag us, and the event presenters,s as much as possible so we can reshare your content.

Facebook: @TheSydneyFringe

Instagram: @sydneyfringe

CONTACT US

If you wish to speak to our Programs and Operations Team about your venue and how to register please reach out Mon - Fri, 9 - 5PM via:

Venues@sydneyfringe.com

0402 371 004

02 7813 4527

Rowan Brunt, Acting Programs Manager

If you would like to discuss how we can assist with access requirements during festival season please contact:

Access@sydneyfringe.com, 0278134527