Melbourne Fringe board rejects artists' request for 'fair cut'

Melbourne Fringe board rejects artists' request for 'fair cut' of festival takings Mon 1 Jun 2026 at 5:15am In short: Requests outlined by Melbourne Fringe artists in an open letter signed by almost 600 people have been rejected by the festival board. The call for a "fair cut" for artists included a request to reduce the cut for venues taking part in the festival from 35 per cent back to 30 per cent. The board said in its reply to artists that the festival was operating in an environment of rising costs and reduced opportunities, and CEO Danny Delahunty defended the organisation's existing fee set-up. The Melbourne Fringe Festival board has rejected a call to reduce fees charged to artists, who argue the cost of putting on a show is becoming too great. An open letter to Melbourne Fringe, which has now amassed 580 signatures from artists, producers, techs and others, asked festival organisers to "give artists a fair cut". "Your mission is to 'democratise the arts' and uphold 'a vision of cultural democracy, empowering anyone to realise their right to creative expression.' We believe in that mission. It is why we keep showing up. But the current terms for Festival Managed Venues are pulling in the opposite direction." The letter asked for two main changes, the first being to revert the venue cut at festival-managed venues back to 30 per cent of each ticket sale, after it was raised to 35 per cent. The other demand is to "stop charging fees on fees", requesting that the 35 per cent cut should be taken from net sales after ticketing fees are applied, rather than before. The board has rejected both the requests. Writer, producer and clown Lukas Meintjes is behind the campaign, and has decided not to participate in Fringe this year due to the costs involved. "That's just wanting more, a bigger cut, from the artist and that's just unacceptable," he said of the increased fees. "It's very sad that only the people that have money can keep making shows and that's one of the things I don't like. "Performing shouldn't just be for the wealthy, the people that have the bank of mum and dad to fall back on." Writing back to signatories, chair of the Melbourne Fringe board of directors Michael Kantor said he wanted to acknowledge the concerns raised as "reasonable", but said the board was not able to adopt the requests for the 2026 festival. "Artists are operating in an environment of rising costs, reduced opportunities and growing pressure across the sector. Melbourne Fringe shares those concerns deeply," the reply read. The festival also put an information pack out for artists, with more in-depth responses to their demands. "The 2026 model of an increase to a 35 per cent door split is not about Melbourne Fringe seeking to increase profit. There is no profit, and never has been. This model is about reducing the scale of an operating loss that can no longer continue at previous scale. "Or put more simply: without changes to the model of artist contribution, Melbourne Fringe could not continue operating the Festival Hub in its current form." Performers call for change Award-winning comedian Andy Balloch said, last year, after everything had been calculated, including the venue fee, inside ticket fee, registration fee, and the cost of a tech rehearsal, Fringe took 48 per cent of his takings. He said, this year that number would be closer to 60 per cent, if he wanted to put on his show at a festival-managed venue. "I know the thinking behind it is it will have a trickle down effect on punters … but what Fringe have done is … pass on all of the risk to the artist and take on none of the risk themselves," he said. "It's already risky putting on a show, it's even riskier putting on a show in September and October this year when we will be in the middle of a terrible cost-of-living crisis." He said, this year he wouldn't be putting on his show in a festival-managed venue at Trades Hall, which he said was "the hub" of the festival. "That's where everyone goes," he said. "It's way more exposure, you get all the foot traffic. "I have options but there are so many people that don't. "It would be so much harder if I was a person of colour, it would be so much harder if I was a trans artist." He said the arts scene risked becoming "a really homogenised arts sector of just rich white people who can make it". Melbourne Fringe creative director and CEO Danny Delahunty defended the festival's existing set-up. "The 'fees on fees' claim misunderstands that a 35 per cent door split is just a mechanism for costs to be shared equitably between artists of different means," he said. "This process, including the calculation on gross sales, is the standard used by thousands of similar venues around the world operating in shared-risk models. "Changing a calculation does not reduce those costs, it just requires us to find alternative means to recover them." He said almost half of the lowest-selling shows in the subsidised venue model pay a minimum guarantee, meaning their venue hire is already capped, typically at 10 per cent of their total potential earnings. "The campaign's proposal would likely require both an increase of these guarantees and a reduction of the provided equipment and infrastructure. "The top sellers would get a discount, while the most vulnerable artists would be paying more and getting less. Any model that benefits those with means over those without is unacceptably flawed." "That is precisely why Melbourne Fringe invests so heavily in reducing barriers to participation." Both individuals and arts organisations 'under pressure', union says The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has had preliminary talks with the CEO of the festival, which equity president Ursula Searle said had been productive. "They've been really supportive and really responsive to this campaign and to the open letter and in our meeting as well they were really great at working with us to move forward." She said artists were still being surveyed when it came to what their concerns are. "What it's telling us so far is that it's unaffordable to do Fringe unfortunately, because of fees going higher and also largely because of the cost of living," she said. "Because there's been so many cuts to funding for independent artists as well as the arts at large we're both in a bind. "Artists don't have enough money to do open access performances and create their own works but also festivals and venues are under pressure because they're not getting enough funding either."