POSITION: Copywriter
LOCATION: Adelaide Fringe Head Office
REPORTS TO: Head of Marketing
EMPLOYMENT: 1.0FTE full time, flexible [Contract to July 2027]
POSITION SUMMARY
The Copywriter is Adelaide Fringe’s dedicated wordsmith. A versatile, audience-obsessed writer who can shift between long-form editorial, conversion-driven EDM copy, punchy social captions and powerful fundraising impact stories, without breaking stride. This is a specialist craft position for
someone who understands that every word is a decision and that great copy changes what people do, not just what they think.
The Copywriter works across the full Adelaide Fringe marketing program, writing for the main festival brand and the Adelaide Fringe Foundation’s philanthropic program and all external key communications. They bring a UX mindset to all content; understanding where audiences are in their journey and writing to move them forward. They write for humans first, but they also know how to structure content that performs in AI-powered search environments.
Adelaide Fringe is Australia’s largest open-access arts festival, a genuine cultural and
economic force for South Australia. Our copy needs to match that: bold,
inclusive and always honest, written in service of the people who make and
experience the Fringe.
ORGANISATIONAL RELATIONSHIP
Department: Digital, Marketing and Ticketing
Supervises: Nil
Internal Liaisons: Heads of Department, Marketing Coordinators, Design Studio, Partnership Account Managers, Artist & Venues team, Finance team, Ticketing team and any other Adelaide Fringe staff as required.
External Liaisons: Adelaide Fringe stakeholders including artists, venues, partners, gencies, photography/videography contractors and external stakeholders, Adelaide Fringe corporate partners, government bodies, local businesses, corporate membership groups.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Core Copywriting Across Channels
- Write copy across all Adelaide Fringe digital and marketing
channels, adapting tone, format and length for each platform and audience
without losing the brand voice.
- Produce long-form content including website articles, editorial
features, blog posts, artist stories, program guides and event overviews.
- Write social media captions and short-form copy for Instagram,
Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube, with a feel for what performs on each
platform.
- Write and edit EDM copy across audience segments; including
campaign announcements, partnership communications, artist updates, donor
appeals and newsletter content – with a strong focus on engagement and
conversion.
- Develop subject line variants for A/B testing across EDM
campaigns, using data and iteration to continuously improve open rates.
- Write LinkedIn ghostwriting for Adelaide Fringe leadership,
capturing individual voice while maintaining brand alignment.
Brand and Key Messaging
- Own and champion Adelaide Fringe’s tone of voice across all
written content, ensuring copy is consistent, distinctive and resonant across
every channel and audience segment.
- Write with nuance and care across Adelaide Fringe’s key values and
impact areas; including sustainability, reconciliation, inclusivity and public
safety.
- Develop and maintain copy frameworks and messaging guides for key
areas including the main festival, Adelaide Fringe Foundation and all external key
communications.
- Contribute to the development and refinement of Adelaide Fringe’s
brand voice and messaging hierarchy in partnership with the Head of Marketing
and Digital Content Lead.
- Write compelling philanthropic copy for the Adelaide Fringe
Foundation including donor appeals, impact stories, grant recipient features,
stewardship communications and event materials.
- Support fundraising campaign copywriting including digital
appeals, major donor communications and sponsorship proposals.
UX and Conversion-Focused Writing
- Apply a UX copywriting lens to all written touchpoints; website,
app, EDMs and landing pages, writing to drive audience action.
- Write and refine calls to action, button labels, onboarding copy
and microcopy that guides audiences through the ticket purchase journey and
other key conversion pathways.
- Collaborate with the Performance Marketing Lead and Digital
Content Lead to align copy with campaign objectives, paid media messaging and
audience segmentation strategies.
- Contribute to A/B testing of copy across digital channels,
analysing results and iterating to improve performance.
AI Search and Discoverability
- Stay current with developments in generative search and AI content
consumption, bringing recommendations to the team on how to adapt Adelaide
Fringe’s content strategy accordingly.
- Write content structured for discoverability in AI-powered search
environments.
- Work with the team to develop an approach to content that earns
visibility beyond traditional SEO, including through featured snippets,
knowledge panels and AI-generated responses.
General Responsibilities
- Proofread and edit copy produced by others in the Marketing team
as required, maintaining a consistent quality standard.
- Manage a high volume of concurrent copy requests across the team,
prioritising effectively and communicating clearly on timelines and capacity.
- Embrace and utilise organisational project management and digital
collaboration tools.
- Act as an ambassador for Adelaide Fringe’s culture, values and
brand across all communications and interactions.
- Observe and comply with all Work Health & Safety policies and
workplace procedures.
- Undertake additional duties as reasonably directed in a fast-paced
festival environment.
ESSENTIAL / DESIRABLE CRITERIA
Education & Experience
- 3+years of professional copywriting experience across multiple formats and channels; long-form, social, EDM and digital.
- Demonstrated portfolio showing versatility across tone, audience and format, including both
conversion-focused and editorial writing.
- Proven experience writing EDM copy, including segmented campaigns, and optimising
subject lines through A/B testing.
- Experience writing social media copy that performs; captions, hooks, CTAs, with an
understanding of what works on each platform.
- Demonstrated UX writing capability, including writing for digital journeys and conversion.
- Experience managing multiple briefs and deadlines in a fast-paced marketing environment.
- Understanding of SEO principles and experience writing content that performs well in search,
including emerging AI search environments. (desirable).
- Experience writing across values-driven or socially complex messaging areas such as
reconciliation, sustainability, inclusivity or community impact (desirable).
- Experience writing philanthropic, not-for-profit or fundraising copy (desirable).
- Experience in the arts, events or entertainment sector (desirable).
- •Tertiary
qualifications in communications, journalism, marketing, English or a related
field (desirable).
- Please refer to the Job Description attached for more information.
