Page 38 - Fiji Traveller 2024 Issue 6
P. 38

The  Fiji  Fringe  Festival





                                                      A guide



          Get ready for the 2024 Fiji Fringe Festival, which will be held   This year’s festival will be held at the University of the South
        in Suva and Nadi this March.                         Pacific’s (USP) Laucala Campus, and at the Vou Hub in Nadi.
          Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister, Manoa Kamikamica has lent his   Director of the USP Oceania Centre, Larry Thomas believes
        support to the festival, saying a world without art would be a   the  beauty  of  the  Fiji  Fringe  Festival  is  the  direct  benefit  to
        bleak and worrying place.                            artists, as they get 80% of ticket sales and do not have to pay
          “The Fiji Fringe Festival serves as a platform that celebrates   for staging and production costs. He says artists do not receive
        the creative arts and the role it plays in fostering and nurturing   as much support as they should in Fiji and the Pacific, “Yet, we
        Fijian artists, and provides the stages for our locals to showcase   go to them and we ask them to come and dance, paint a picture
        their God-given talents,” the Deputy PM said at the recent launch   or sing a song.
        of ticket sales.                                       “There is so much happening. At USP, we have the Oceania
          “The festival stands as a testament to celebrate the celebration   Dance, Pasifika Voices, which has been going for a while. And
        of  diversity,  community  and  learning  within  the  vibrant  artistic   with Covid, I think that's when everyone realised, we need the
        landscape of Fiji.”                                  arts.”
          The inaugural Fiji Fringe Festival last year hosted 262 local   While urging more support for this critical sector, he believes
        artists, attracted 11,361 audience members and saw participating   the future looks bright, as Fijian artists are producing work of
        artists collectively earn $80,000, says its organiser.  international quality.
          Festival Founder and Director, Sharleen Ali says in 2024, the   “Our artists have exhibited in the UK, they've exhibited in Paris,
        aim is to again provide opportunities for young local artists to   they  have  exhibited  internationally,  and  their  art,  particularly
        showcase their talents in dance, music and theatre.  contemporary art, is of a very high standard. You know, I work
          “We are going bigger,” Ali says. “There’s a lot more people   with artists all the time and I've seen the development over the
        coming  in  to  showcase  their  work  in  terms  of  art  and  people   last quarter of a century. And it's just very, very impressive.”
        creating  pieces.  [There’s]  a  lot  more  SMEs  wanting  to  come   Tickets for the Fiji Fringe Festival are on sale on the Ticketmax
        in  and  sell  products.  So  [we’ll  have]  creative  artists,  young   platform, with platform founder, George Fong saying: “We have
        performers, theatre, dance sessions, we’ve also got comedians   been really proud to support the arts in Fiji. To date we've sold
        coming back.”                                        tickets for over 40 events. What I saw was that a lot of artists and
          The Fiji Fringe Festival will also provide an opportunity for a   entertainers  struggle  with  selling  tickets,  and  moving  into  the
        selected artist or group to perform at the Adelaide Fringe Festival   digital space. And that's a big reason why I developed, designed
        in 2025, and for artists from the Adelaide Festival to come to Fiji.  and developed this platform to allow organisers an easy way to
          “We will be announcing the winner [of this opportunity] at the   be able to sell the tickets, manage their sales, reconciliations,
        end of Fringe and then they go to Adelaide the year after that.   and payout in an easy and transparent manner.”
        And Adelaide pays for their accommodation, they pay for the
        marketing, there’s a huge list,” says Ali. She is in discussions   For tickets to Fiji Fringe Festival events, visit ticketmax.com.fj
        with two fringe festivals in Italy about the possibility of similar
        exchanges.









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