Sydney Fringe Festival Still on Track For September

As of now, the Sydney Fringe Festival is expected to go on as planned in September.

The festival's team released the following statement:

This is a note from the team at Sydney Fringe, to update our partners, artists, venues and community on our organisation and Festival planning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, we send our thoughts to our fellow arts organisations as they navigate this devastating time for our industry.

Sydney Fringe holds the health and wellbeing of our staff, partners, patrons, artists, venues and community as a top priority.

At this stage in our Festival planning cycle, we are doing all we can to look after our team members and community, as well as doing our bit to curb the spread of the virus. Accordingly, we have implemented working from home, hygiene and social distancing policies in the same way as many organisations have done. This includes putting a hold on all travel and asking that meetings with our staff be held via phone, Zoom or Skype wherever possible. We know you are all doing the same and will work with us to make this as effective as possible.

In regard to planning for the Festival, we are currently proceeding with business as usual for our September Festival. We will let our stakeholders know immediately if there is any change to that as we continue to monitor and adhere to all government and health protocols.

In an interview with the Health Minister, Greg Hunt, and the Chief Medical Officer, Prof Brendan Murphy on 15/3, the Minister suggested they believe the arc and course of the virus will have moved beyond its most critical stage within six months. Sydney Fringe, will therefore be ideally timed to lead the big recovery for Sydneysiders having come through a long winter of dark venues and social distancing.

The economic impact of Sydney Fringe 2019 was $11,939,441 into the Sydney economy, with $660,000 crucially going to artists across the month of Fringe. 2019 saw Sydneysiders attend 498 Fringe events across 25 postcodes, with all of the flow-on effects to small business. And, with our Partners' help, in 2020 we can do even better. There's no question, come Spring, this stimulus and celebration of culture is exactly what Sydney will need.

Presently Sydney's artists, technicians and venue staff are looking to suffer a terrible six months between now and September, with their work opportunities screeching to a halt. Our sector has registered a loss of over $100 million dollars in income since Friday due to the cancellation of events. Sydney Fringe is committed to being here for them, creating those income-generating opportunities once September is here.

With an enormous amount of culture happening in small to medium venues right across the city and greater Sydney, Fringe stages events that are perfectly sized for the people of Sydney to safely venture out to reclaim their city. Unlike a big international event that imports people on mass - Fringe celebrates Sydney Stories with Sydneysiders (and our intercity & interstate friends who come to join). There are so many reasons that our show must go on!

So, the Sydney Fringe team will work tirelessly towards reinvigorating Sydney in September. We are incredibly grateful to work alongside our Partners and community of artists and venues.

Together, we can do this.

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