Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival

What Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival does

Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival (ACFF) is an open-access arts festival operated by Cabaret Fringe Association Inc., a not-for-profit incorporated association registered in South Australia (ABN 83 466 717 052). Conceived in 2001 by the late Frank Ford AM and in its fourth incarnation since 2019 under a formal Board, the festival runs annually for approximately 10 days in late May/early June (2025 edition: 23 May to 1 June) across 14+ venues in Adelaide. It serves three primary constituencies: emerging and established cabaret artists seeking performance opportunities and income, Adelaide venues seeking winter programming, and a general audience seeking affordable live cabaret.

The festival's core product is the annual open-access festival, supplemented by the recurring CabLive! open-mic series (next confirmed: August 2026). The platform is non-curated: any artist or producer can register a show subject to tiered registration fees ($150 minimum per event including one session, $25 per additional session, capped at $200 per event). Tickets are sold online through the ArtFuel by I-Nex platform (an Australian-made third-party ticketing service used by multiple arts organizations), with a $4.40 per-ticket booking fee plus $3.30 per-transaction fee. There is no proprietary technology; the website and ticketing stack are standard WordPress/ArtFuel integrations.

Revenue mechanics are small-scale and diversified across three streams: (1) one-time artist event registration fees, (2) per-ticket and per-transaction booking fees on the ArtFuel platform, and (3) tax-deductible donations (including bequests). In 2025, 41 shows produced 81 performances and 2,100+ tickets sold, with $48,752 paid to artists. The organization has 6 employees, is volunteer-led, and is actively soliciting donations amid the end of its three-year funding cycle, having publicly warned of potential closure beyond the 2025 season.

Name

Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival

Legal name

Cabaret Fringe Association Inc.

Website

https://cabaretfringefestival.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival is an open-access, not-for-profit arts festival held annually in Adelaide, South Australia, operated by Cabaret Fringe Association Inc. It serves emerging and established cabaret artists, Adelaide venues, and general audiences through tiered show registrations, ArtFuel-ticketed performances, and donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts Festival & Live Event Production

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events without Facilities (711320), Other Performing Arts Companies (711190), Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (711110)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Fringe & Experimental Performing Arts (MPAGABAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Community Theatre & Storytelling Festivals (MPAGAEAI), Arts & Culture Community Festivals (Multidisciplinary Arts Weeks) (MPAGAEAG)

Keywords

• Arts festival management
• Live cabaret performances
• Ticketed event production
• Open-access arts platform
• Festival ticketing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Adelaide

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Event Registration Fees: Artists and producers pay registration fees to participate in the festival. Fees are tiered based on number of sessions: $150 minimum per event (includes 1 session), $25 for each additional session, up to a maximum of $200 per event.
2. Ticket Sales (Booking Fees): The festival takes a flat fee of $4.40 per ticket sold. Additional transaction fees of $3.30 apply per transaction. Tickets are sold online through the ArtFuel platform on behalf of artists and venues.
3. Donations and Philanthropy: The festival accepts tax-deductible donations ($2 AUD and over) to support operations. Donations are described as supporting the open-access, community-focused mission. The festival is currently issuing a public call for support due to funding challenges.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival operates an open-access annual cabaret arts festival held over 10 days in late May/early June in Adelaide, South Australia, featuring performances across 14+ venues. Artists register shows directly through the festival's online system and pay registration fees, while tickets are sold to audiences through the ArtFuel platform with a per-ticket fee structure. The organization also runs CabLive!, a recurring open-mic style cabaret night at partner venues.

Product overview

The Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival is an open-access arts festival offering ticketed performances and events across multiple venues in Adelaide. The core product is the annual festival (typically 10 days in May-June), supplemented by ongoing CabLive! open-mic events. The festival uses the ArtFuel platform for ticket sales and event registration, and accepts tax-deductible donations to support operations. Artists and venues can register through an open-access system, while audiences purchase tickets to individual shows.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CabLive! Recurring open-mic style cabaret performance event held at partner venues, offering performers free entry with pre-registration and ticketed audience entry. Targeted at emerging cabaret artists seeking performance opportunities and audiences seeking affordable live cabaret.
• Annual Cabaret Fringe Festival

Quantifiable outcome

• 2025 Festival: 41 shows, 81 performances, 2,100+ tickets sold, $48,752 paid to artists, 4 awards totaling $7,700
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Diverse-CitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDiverse-City is a key venue partner hosting CabLive events (open-mic style cabaret nights) and the UniSA Cabaret Showcase. Located at 163 Gouger St, Adelaide, it is a primary venue for festival programming including the August 2026 CabLive edition.
• ArtFuel by I-NexcoreTechnology or IntegrationArtFuel is an Australian made, hosted and supported service and software product designed for arts organisations, festivals and conferences. Provides the ticketing, event registration and box office technology for the festival.
• The Real ThielminorGTM or Marketing PartnerThe Real Thiel is an accounting firm for creatives founded by Lauren Thiel (current Treasurer of the board). Provides financial services support to creative small businesses in the arts community.
• City of AdelaideminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCity of Adelaide appears as a sponsor on the website footer, indicating municipal government support for the festival.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Melbourne International Comedy Festival: Major Australian comedy and cabaret-adjacent festival that draws similar audiences and talent pools; relevant as a broader incumbent that competes for the same artist roster and discretionary arts spending in winter.
• Adelaide Cabaret Festival: The curated, larger Cabaret Festival founded by Frank Ford AM from which the Cabaret Fringe was conceived as an 'enfant terrible' sibling; operates in the same city and genre but as a curated, mainstage counterpart rather than an open-access platform.
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe: The world's largest open-access arts festival and the original 'Fringe' model from which Adelaide's fringe ecosystem takes its name; shares the open-access multi-venue structure and is the global benchmark where Adelaide Cabaret Fringe-affiliated shows win BEST OF FEST recognition.

Direct peers

• Perth Fringe Festival: Western Australia's open-access fringe festival with shared artist community (note that COMEDY awards for shows registered through Adelaide Cabaret Fringe were also awarded at Perth Fringe), comparable size, and similar artist crossover patterns.
• Sydney Fringe Festival: NSW-based open-access fringe festival operating the same hub-and-venue model across inner-city venues; competes for touring cabaret and fringe artists on the east coast of Australia.
• Adelaide Fringe Festival: The flagship open-access fringe festival in Adelaide that the Cabaret Fringe sits alongside; both share the same city, open-access registration model, multi-venue structure, and Arts SA heritage, making Adelaide Fringe the most direct comparator for scale, funding access, and audience crossover.
• Melbourne Fringe Festival: Australia's largest open-access fringe festival running in Melbourne; shares the same open-access, multi-venue, multi-genre model and similar artist registration/ticketing structure, making it the closest national peer for operational benchmarking.

Others

• Helpmann Academy: South Australian performing arts training and development organization that overlaps with the same emerging artist pipeline that the Cabaret Fringe draws from; relevant as a talent development and potential partnership counterpart rather than a competitor.
• Adelaide Festival Centre: The state-owned performing arts venue and former institutional home of the Cabaret Fringe (via Adelaide Festival Centre Trust); relevant as a major venue partner, programming collaborator, and historical funding channel in the Adelaide arts ecosystem.

Regional players

• FEAST Festival: Adelaide-based queer arts and culture festival running in the same city and overlapping in community/cabaret programming; comparable scale, volunteer-led structure, and reliance on local government and donations, making it a useful regional operational peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cabfringe
• Facebookfacebook.com/adelaide.cabaretfringefestival
• Instagraminstagram.com/cabfringe
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/adelaide-cabaret-fringe-festival

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival