While the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival has grown its monthly donors from 34 to 535 since launching its Sustain Fringe campaign one year ago, officials say it still needs to find more.
Megan Dart, the festival’s executive director, said that while about 750,000 people attend Fringe each year, only 2% are monthly donors. Dart said the festival still needs more than the $8,500 it now receives from its monthly donors, and money from other funding sources, to sustain the costs required to share more than 200 shows each August. If all ticket buyers made donations they could sustain the festival, she added, but asking them to do so has not been easy.
“To bring that level of vulnerability and transparency to the discussion around our financial sustainability was scary, and we didn’t know how people would respond,” Dart told Taproot. “That resounding response, I think, was really an indication of how important major events like Fringe are to the wellness of our city. Part of the campaign started a bigger conversation around the undeniable state of the arts industry as a whole.”
Beyond monthly donations, one new idea, which started as a joke, is for donors to pay to have their name (or someone else’s) affixed to portable washrooms via vinyl stickers during the festival. The organization has already sold naming rights at $250 a pop for three of its 35 mobile bathrooms. Dart said selling rights for all 35 would cover the cost of providing the outdoor rest stations.
“This is actually a real thing,” she said. “Our followers have a sense of humour, too. We kind of love the idea that if you give a shit about Fringe, we hope you adopt a (portable toilet), and that throne is yours for the 11 days of the festival.”
Money for the arts is becoming less plentiful. Funding for the Edmonton Arts Council has been stagnant since 2021, leading the council to change how it funds arts groups, Taproot reported in November. From 2021 to 2024, the province stalled funding for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts to just under $26 million per year. Federally, during the 2021 to 2022 funding period, the Canada Council for the Arts gave the least cash per capita to Alberta, The Gateway reported. Meanwhile, research through the Spotlight on Arts Audiences initiative shows Edmontonians are conscious about spending time and money on arts events.
If sponsoring toilets smells off to potential donors, though, Dart has another plan in the works. A Fringe Benefit will take place on May 23 at the Fringe Theatre Arts Barn. Guests will get a speakeasy-style experience with surprise performances, a silent auction, a 50/50 raffle, an announcement of this year’s festival theme, and another announcement by Fringe-sponsor Sea Change Brewing Co..
While Fringe is focused on keeping the show going for now, Dart has some ideas about growth, too. She said she hopes to further “activate” hubs around Fringe programming, like in the French Quarter. She also wants to invest in attracting people to come to their first Fringe.
“It’s hard to believe that there are born-and-bred Edmontonians who have never been to Fringe before. Those are the folks that I want to invite down, because I know once we get someone into one show, nine times out of 10, they are hooked,” she said. “I think Edmonton is facing a really interesting opportunity, too, in that we’re expecting this influx of new Edmontonians in the next couple (of) years. I think there’s great opportunity for us to really showcase what makes us a cultural capital of Canada. We are festival city for a reason.”