How Fringe works
Broaden your understanding about all things FRINGE WORLD with this article about how Fringe works.
How artists participate in Fringe
FRINGE WORLD is an open-access Festival, which means anyone can participate and have a go. Participants pay a registration fee, find a spot in a venue and they’re in. It’s up to individuals, companies and venues to choose to take part.
FRINGE WORLD manages directly a number of the venues in the Festival and we program these, however this programming is not curated like other arts festivals (i.e. Perth Festival) and it’s an open-access registration process for artists to take part. The venues that FRINGE WORLD managed directly in the 2019 Festival were The Woodside Pleasure Garden, The Ice Cream Factory, Girls School, the pop up venues at FRINGE Central in The Perth Cultural Centre and the pop-up venues at Yagan Square. The other venues in the Festival are independent and not directly managed by us and we don’t have involvement in their programming or management.
The model of Perth’s FRINGE WORLD is unique amongst the more than 220 other Fringe Festivals around the world, most of whom don’t directly program or manage any venues. Our model of Fringe is one of the key reasons why the Festival has been able to expand so fast, essentially fuelling its own growth through sales rather than primarily relying on government and corporate support.
The beauty of the Fringe platform is that it offers a smorgasbord of choice for punters, and it means that emerging artists will be able to perform alongside more experienced artists.
How Fringe supports artists
One of our core values is that our success is defined by the success of our artists and we are proud that since 2012 FRINGE WORLD has paid more than $45 million to participating artists and arts companies.
The open-access Fringe platform is one that allows for incredible opportunities for artists and arts companies, but like any open-market there are also risks.
Within this model participants - like any small business, self-starter or entrepreneur - need to be responsible for budgeting appropriately, managing all aspects of their season and marketing their work; that is the nature of Fringe.
FRINGE WORLD provides extensive information to anyone thinking about participating so they know what to expect and can make considered decisions. The Artist Info Pack is the first thing that artists receive before registering with the Festival and it includes sales performance summaries across the spectrum of shows in the Fringe and key financial facts.
This information is provided so artists can set their expectations and sales projections at realistic levels, budget accordingly and make informed decisions about whether Fringe is the best platform for their work, what their goals are for their season and how they plan to reach them.
FRINGE WORLD continues to support artists through a range of measures and we also present the most generous Awards of any Fringe festival in the world, to support artist development thanks to the Fringe Fund.
More information
Annually we publish an Impact Report about the Festival, which includes results from our extensive surveying and key insights into how the Festival works.
It’s a lengthy document, but it's a worthwhile read if you are interested in a broader understanding about Fringe and the positive impact and reach of the Festival.
The 2018 FRINGE WORLD Impact Report can be read online here, and we will be releasing the 2019 Impact Report in June this year.