Press Release:
More Rootin’ Tootin’ Than High Falutin’
The 2012 Toronto Fringe Festival kicked off to record crowds and sales on July 4th at its headquarters, in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s. This year had the highest grossing opening sales day in Fringe record. There were over 300 people in attendance for the opening ceremonies and poster sprint; the poster wall filled up completely within two minutes; and the Fringe sold $14,000 worth of tickets.
The brand new Artist Alley arrangement allowed for the Fringe to showcase its visual artists like never before. The visual artists sold over $13,000,which is a 400% increase over last year. With 10 visual artists, 10 alley plays, The 100 running around, an open mic stage and a daily rotating local food vendor, The Artist Alley was the place to be during the festival.
2012 tickest were 1% away from an all time record, despite the fact that there were 13 less companies than the record year. The Toronto Fringe sold 59,182 tickets to this year’s festival. This means that the Toronto Fringe returned $450,470 to artists. This total brings the Toronto Fringe to just shy of $6 millionreturned to artists since its inception in 1989.
The 2012 Toronto Fringe Festival had 155 shows featuring artists from Toronto and around the world. This year’s festival didn’t see a “run-away” hit, but rather a large group of successful productions with many of those shows having near sold out runs. The site-specifics this year were truly an exemplary example of Fringe spirit selling out buses, bars and bra-shops! The 2012 had a very successful Tip-the-Fringe campaign raising over $43,000. The continuing support of the creation lab by our patrons and the matching campaign from TD Bank means that the Toronto Fringe can continue to be the home for independent theatre year-round.
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