Adelaide’s beloved Cabaret Fringe Festival is at risk of closing after the 2025 season due to a lack of sustainable funding. Despite strong audiences, artistic success, and a proud legacy dating back to 2001, the festival’s current financial model is no longer viable.
Originally conceived by the late Frank Ford AM, founder of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, CabFringe was designed to be a fiercely independent, open-access platform for emerging and experimental performers. It has since become a cornerstone of Adelaide’s cultural calendar—supporting hundreds of artists across dozens of venues.
“Cabaret Fringe isn’t just entertainment – it’s protest, play, and community in the raw. We’re not after bake sales. We’re after big support – because grassroots art deserves bolder backers”
– The Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival Team
CabFringe has survived multiple incarnations, from the gritty Weimar Room to the beloved La Bohème and beyond. But with the end of its three-year funding cycle, and earlier bequests fully allocated, the festival now faces its toughest challenge yet.
“We’re not asking artists or community members to dig into empty pockets,” says the CabFringe team. “We’re calling on serious donors, arts funders, and major sponsors who believe in fringe performance and independent art to step in.”
Cabaret Fringe has long been a launchpad for storytelling that doesn’t fit neatly on a mainstage—platforming diverse, daring, and deeply human voices. Organisers are calling this moment a rally cry.
“If you’ve ever been challenged, moved, or joyfully offended at a CabFringe show—now is the time to act. Let’s not let ‘underfunded’ be our final act.”
Cabaret Fringe Festival will proceed as planned in 2025. But without new and substantial financial backing, it may be the last.
