Canada’s oldest fringe theatre festival is the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. Modeled after the famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe, it was first held in 1982. Several Canadian cities soon followed suit and founded their own fringe festivals to promote independent theatre and performing arts.
Festival St-Ambroise Fringe de Montréal joined the family of Canada’s fringe theatre festivals in 1990. The festival was founded by Patrick Goddard and Jeremy Hetchman. Since 2011, it has been run by choreographer and impresario Amy Blackmore who serves as the festival’s executive and artistic director.
Festival St-Ambroise Fringe de Montréal is a member of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals. All member festivals of the Association are expected to follow four guiding principles:
- Participants are selected on a non-juried basis. Some fringe festivals select participants on a first come, first served basis, but Festival St-Ambroise Fringe de Montréal uses a lottery.
- Unrestrained artistic freedom. Producers have no control over the artistic content of the performances, and there’s no censorship.
- Accessibility for artists. All performers and performing groups have an easily accessible opportunity to apply and participate in the festival.
- Accessibility for the audience. Ticket prices are low, and 100% of the proceeds go to the performers in order to cover their expenses. The festival itself is supported by sponsors, donors, and volunteers.
The program of Festival St-Ambroise Fringe de Montréal features fringe (experimental) theatre, repertory theatre, dance, music, drag queen shows, burlesque, puppetry, spoken word, storytelling, comedy, magic, and other types of performing art. Every year, over 60,000 tickets are sold to the shows that make up the St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival. Like most fringe events, the festival doesn’t have a single venue (although it does have headquarters), and shows are held at various venues throughout Montreal.
Photo: montrealfringe.ca
