A fringe festival is an open access performing arts festival where all submissions are accepted regardless of their style, subject matter or artistic quality. The world’s first fringe festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, was founded in 1947 by eight theater companies which turned up uninvited to the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival. The fringe festival format quickly became popular and new festivals began to emerge in different countries. Orlando, Florida became the first city in the United States to host such event.
The Orlando Fringe Festival was founded in 1992 by Rick Kunst, Andy Anthony and Terry Olson. Most of the venues at the first festival were vacant store fronts in downtown Orlando reconverted into performance spaces, although there were more traditional venues such as theaters and an outdoor stage. Since 2005, the festival has been held at the Loch Haven Park. Its venues also include several professional indoor theaters.
Orlando Fringe runs for two weeks in May, typically culminating on Memorial Day. It features artists from all over the United States and abroad. It is a non-curated festival, where participants are selected through a lottery. 25% of slots are reserved for international artists, 25% for national artists outside of Florida, and 50% for local (Florida) artists.
Each applicant pays a non-refundable application fee, and if selected a production fee based on the number of performances requested and the size of venue. Orlando Fringe is a non-profit festival, where 100% of ticket sales are given back to artists. Each performing group determines their own ticket price which may range from free to $11. To enter any show within any venue, all attendees aged 13 years or older must purchase a Fringe button. Button proceeds go to support the festival: as a non-profit event, Orlando Fringe needs funding to survive.
The Orlando Fringe Festival offers a rich and diverse program that doesn’t focus solely on theater. It showcases contemporary music, dance, and other forms of performing arts. Along with the main program, the festival features Kids Fringe (a series of events for children and families) and Visual Fringe (a portion dedicated to visual art).
Photo: orlandofringe.org
