Perth Voice Interactive

THERE’S no money in the arts, goes the old saying.

For WA artists, it’s increasingly becoming a reality, Fringe artist playwright Tiffany Barton sighs. A friend, armed with a PhD from WAAPA and “very busy working on shows”, made $15,000 last year — about $288 a week, which isn’t enough for rent, let alone food.

Ms Barton has started a Facebook advocacy movement, with the aim of urging governments to back local artists. She also wants the Fringe World festival to cut its $300 registration fee and stop charging artists 32 per cent of takings.

But Fringe isn’t budging, despite the registration fee worth less than one per cent of its revenue (12 per cent comes from corporate sponsorship).

“It is an important part of the Fringe model that artists register and pay a small fee to participate,” says festival spokeswoman Sian Collins.

“Fringe World has the cheapest registration fees of equivalent Fringe festivals around the world. As a not-for-profit, each and every dollar that comes into the festival gets invested back into the local WA cultural ecology and scene.”

Last year the Fringe box office raked in $6.2 million: $4m went to the performers and $2.2m to the Fringe organisation. The event is said to have tipped $71 million into the local economy.

WA arts minister John Day says the government is contributing enough, pouring $6.6m into Fringe since it began in 2011.

“The 2016 program alone has received more than $1.2 million through Lotterywest, the department of culture and the arts and metropolitan redevelopment authority,” Mr Day says.

He encouraged performers to apply for grants.

by EMMIE DOWLING