Lutheran Care is delighted to join Adelaide Fringe as its Community Fund Partner for the 2023 festival, ensuring more South Australians experiencing vulnerability and hardship can attend the event and experience the benefits of exposure to the arts.

Lutheran Care’s principal support to the Adelaide Fringe’s Community Fund will allow the festival to give away tickets in record numbers and to more shows than ever before to vulnerable and at-risk families and individuals. The tickets will be distributed via community groups, schools and other charitable organisations.

Being the Adelaide Fringe Community Fund partner closely aligns with Lutheran Care’s focus on social inclusion: one of the organisation’s core values. Through its work, Lutheran Care strives to create a more caring and just society where no one is left behind. This extends to equal access to the arts, so everyone can enjoy the wellbeing benefits of participation in community life and connection with culture and creativity.

Lutheran Care’s support will also benefit Fringe artists who have been significantly impacted by the pandemic over the past few years. In many cases, artists were unable to perform and earn a living.

Lutheran Care Chief Executive Rohan Feegrade said Lutheran Care’s partnership with the Adelaide Fringe will ensure more children, young people, individuals and families have access to the magic of the Fringe and the opportunity to create lasting and joyful memories.

“The Adelaide Fringe Festival is the biggest arts festival in the Southern Hemisphere and offers audiences a wide range of entertainment across Adelaide and regionally.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to join them as the Community Fund Partner,” says Mr Feegrade.

This is the first time a leading South Australian non-profit organisation has invested so significantly in making the Adelaide Fringe more inclusive.

“Our contribution to the Community Fund means we can help fund more tickets and bring the joy of the Fringe into the lives of people who may be experiencing exclusion, hardship or facing a traumatic period in their lives,” Mr Feegrade says.

“These tickets will benefit people who may be socially isolated, or not have the means to attend the Fringe, as we know that ticket price can be a barrier to attending events. This is especially so when the priority is to put food on the table, and keep a roof over your head and the lights on.”

Adelaide Fringe CEO and festival director, Heather Croall, was thrilled to announce Lutheran Care coming on board as the Community Fund Partner.

“Thanks to support from Lutheran Care, we’re going to be able to buy and give out more Fringe tickets to disadvantaged communities than ever before.”

2023 is set to be a bumper year for the Adelaide Fringe with more than 1200 shows across comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, visual art, music and interactivity.

More than 350 venues across South Australia will host Fringe shows including a new hub called Fool’s Paradise in Victoria Square which will be home to a giant 15m tall pyramid with shows from one of the 2023 Ambassadors, Penny Arcade.

Lutheran Care will assist the Adelaide Fringe team to collectively identify groups, organisations and schools whose clients and communities will most benefit from the Community Funded ticket allocation.