COVID Considerations - Plain text document.docx
We are by no means out of the woods yet with regards to all things COVID, and there is a lot happening behind the scenes to make sure we can deliver a safe and sustainable Festival in October that delivers a positive experience for artists and audiences alike.
Melbourne is in a very different place right now compared to the start of the year, and we anticipate that over the next six months our communities will continue to learn and adjust to best practice for living with COVID. This is a continual work in progress for us, as we update and adjust our plans in-line with the best recommendations at hand. Everything from our programming to our public space design is planned not only to work within the current guidelines, but with flexibility built in for if things do change between now and the Festival.
You might be thinking - what if my season or part of my season needs to be cancelled because of COVID? This resource explains the ways Melbourne Fringe can provide support, should COVID affect your Fringe event
For event programmed at the Trades Hall Festival Hub, Fringe will be retaining flexible policies around cancellation, so that if you need to cancel a show because of COVID, we will bear the venue costs (i.e. your venue hire will continue to be calculated on a split of gross sales, and no cancellation charges will be levied for cancellations due to COVID). But there is more we can and will be doing in this space.
If you are performing outside of the Festival Hub, we encourage you to have a conversation with your venue around their COVID cancellation policy. Ensure that you are satisfied and feel supported by their COVID cancellation policy, and that it is included in your Venue Hire agreement prior to finalising your Fringe registration. If you need any advice or guidance, don’t hesitate to contact the Artist and Venues team.
This year, Melbourne Fringe has implemented a new registration fee structure to provide financial relief for events with smaller seasons.
If your event had fewer than 200 seats available across the season, you’ll pay $100 less for your Fringe registration.
To register your event, you need to pay the $95 deposit. The remainder of your fee is calculated at the close of your season. This means if you’ve had to cancel sessions and your audience capacity has been severely restricted, you’ll pay a smaller registration fee.
At Melbourne Fringe, we’re committed to helping artists find money for their art. Our new Fringe Fund provides commission opportunities, concessions on fees, and even cold hard cash to ease financial pressure on artists so they can create amazing new art, and afford things like bread and butter.
To check out the Fringe Fund opportunities available, head **HERE.**
Trades Hall Festival Hub will be operating under, and adhering to, the most up-to-date best practice advice from the Victorian Government, Live Performance Australia and Hospitality Industry Guidelines, as they relate to all aspects of our operation (e.g. audience and artist care, cleaning standards, bar operations, etc)
We will do absolutely everything we can to place the health of artists, staff and audience as a top priority. We do not anticipate that there will be a reverse of public health advice regarding public gathering restrictions, but if there are then we have built in avenues to limit the impact that this will have on your programming offer; that said, it is not impossible that some aspects of the Festival may have to change (e.g. the total capacity of audience allowed, or adjustments to starting times to allow for additional cleaning between events, etc)
We won’t pretend we have all the answers. We’ll plan for what we can, and work through these complicated times to the best of our ability, but we’ll be open to changing these plans without hesitation if something isn’t working. Flexibility is key to any level of success in these difficult times.