Sydney Fringe calls on Federal Government to recognise independent festivals as national infrastructure

Sydney Fringe has lodged a submission to the National Cultural Policy Review, arguing that Australia’s open-access independent festivals are national cultural infrastructure operating without federal recognition and proposing the policy framework to fix it.

Sydney Fringe, New South Wales’ largest independent arts festival, has formally called on the Federal Government to recognise major open-access independent festivals as national cultural infrastructure within the next phase of REVIVE, Australia’s National Cultural Policy.

The submission, lodged this week, makes the case that festivals like Sydney Fringe sit entirely outside the federal cultural policy framework despite delivering federal policy outcomes: artist development, audience reach, workforce growth and cultural tourism at a scale and unit cost no other vehicle achieves.

“Each September, Sydney Fringe turns 89 venues into stages and hands them to anyone with a story to tell,” said Sydney Fringe CEO Patrick Kennedy. “There are no curators at the door deciding who’s worthy. That openness is the whole point and it’s exactly the kind of cultural infrastructure that national policy hasn’t yet named or protected.”

A festival the size of a national institution

The numbers underline the argument. Sydney Fringe presents more than 450 events across 89 venues each September, engaging over 3,300 artists and reaching more than 103,000 audiences in a single month. Since the launch of REVIVE in 2023, the festival has delivered $124 million in cumulative economic impact.

Perhaps most striking is the return profile. Sydney Fringe returns $59 for every $1 of state government investment – the highest in the national Fringe network.

“We’re doing nationally significant work on a fraction of the public investment our impact would justify,” Kennedy said. “That’s a remarkable result, but it’s also a warning. Infrastructure this valuable shouldn’t be this exposed.”

A federal responsibility gap

The submission argues that independent festivals face a structural problem that only federal policy can solve. They are funded almost entirely at state, territory and local levels, yet their artists, audiences and economic impact span every level of government.

When a single state funding decision moves adversely, it can destabilise a festival contributing nationally and no state government’s mandate extends to protecting that national function. The submission describes this as a federal responsibility gap, and warns that without federal recognition, Australia risks dismantling a world-leading cultural ecosystem “one state budget at a time.”

The artist career pathway tells the same story. An independent artist might premiere a work at Sydney Fringe, develop it at Melbourne Fringe, tour it to Adelaide Fringe and FRINGE WORLD Perth, and use those credits to reach international stages such as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. No single state framework can recognise or resource a pathway that crosses every jurisdictional boundary by design.

A national alliance, a national ask

Sydney Fringe’s submission accompanies a joint submission from the National Fringe Festivals Alliance (NFFA), comprising Sydney Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne Fringe, FRINGE WORLD Perth and Darwin Fringe. Together, the Alliance is proposing a $25 million, four-year National Independent Festivals Framework, reviewed at two years, to sit within the next phase of REVIVE.

The framework would establish four targeted funds: a National Artist Creation and Presentation Fund with fair-pay floors aligned to MEAA award rates; a National Touring and Mobility Fund to support artists circulating across the country; a National Sector Capacity and Investment Fund covering accessibility, cultural safety and independent venues; and an International Independent Arts Connections Fund to build export pathways for Australian work.

“The Alliance makes the national case, and we stand fully behind it,” Kennedy said. “Our submission shows what that framework unlocks here in New South Wales, for the thousands of artists who currently subsidise their own seasons, and for the audiences who make Fringe matter.”

Sydney’s distinct role

The submission also highlights Sydney’s particular contribution to the national picture as the country’s primary international visitor gateway, Sydney captures international cultural tourism through Australia’s most globally recognised destination, and anchors the eastern-seaboard leg of a near year-round national touring circuit, with Sydney Fringe flowing directly into Melbourne Fringe and beyond each year.

Independent festivals, the submission notes, stay longer in visitors’ itineraries, reach across generational and demographic lines, and do so at ticket prices well below comparable curated festivals. They are, in the most literal sense, the people’s festivals.

What happens next

The National Cultural Policy Review will consider submissions from across the sector as it shapes the next phase of REVIVE. Sydney Fringe is urging the Federal Government to act while audience demand and artist participation are at record levels.

“The infrastructure exists. The audience exists. The artist demand exists,” Kennedy said. “What’s missing is federal recognition that matches the geography of an ecosystem that, until now, has been built without one.”

Read the full Sydney Fringe submission, click here.

Read the full National Fringe Festivals Alliance submission, click here.