There are probably two sporting events in the world that are bigger than the festival in terms of people ... the Olympics and the soccer World Cup, ... The soccer World Cup sold 2.7million tickets last year and we sold 2.6million between all the festivals.
The most significant new initiative this year is our Web site. It allowed audiences to plan ahead, catch up on the latest news, and for the first time, actually buy tickets online in real time, which is a real breakthrough for an organization of our size.
This year we welcomed artists from Hollywood to Hong Kong and everywhere in between.
This year is, by common consent, the most political Fringe for a long time. It's not just theater. It's the comedians, dance, musical theater ? we've got musicals about the war on terror.