Biggest Festival in Australia

Under the agreements, each organisation has committed to strengthen cultural ties between Adelaide – Australia’s best festival city and Edinburgh, the world’s biggest festival city.

Adelaide Fringe and Edinburgh Festival Fringe signed a Memorandum of Understanding which commits the two to explore collaborative opportunities to learn from each other’s event delivery, investigate staff development and exchange information, while increasing and maximising opportunities for artists.

For Heather Croall, Adelaide Fringe chief executive and artistic director, the announcement represents a fundamental shift in the way Adelaide Fringe communicates and interacts with all of its users during the Fringe and throughout the year.

“This platform will also provide a sophisticated matchmaking for interstate and international buyers looking to purchase new work and improve media and PR interaction with the artists and events and increase access to the Fringe by educators and students of all ages, ” she says.

South Australian Minister for the Arts, Jack Snelling, says the partnership will “bring Adelaide into line with the best service of its kind”.

“That’s going to increase consumer and artist confidence in Adelaide. That in turn will create even more jobs for South Australians and inject even more money into our State’s economy, ” he says.

The Adelaide Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to “develop and promote creative, business and community collaborations”, including co-commissioning key artists to create a major work which is then premiered in Edinburgh or Adelaide.

Festivals Adelaide also announced Adelaide will host a meeting of the International Festival Cities Network in March 2017.

City representatives from Edinburgh, Barcelona, Krakow, Montreal and Berlin will gather in Adelaide to share ideas, knowledge and experience from a global perspective.

This includes a delegation of independent artists, companies, festivals, venues, directors and producers who travel to Edinburgh with the aim of boosting cultural exports and Adelaide’s reputation as a must-visit festival city.