ABOUT
SYDNEY
FRINGE

The Sydney Fringe Festival is the largest independent arts festival in New South Wales with over 450 events presented in over 70 venues across Greater Sydney each year.

Each September culture creators from all over the city join forces with us to share Sydney’s stories presenting new work from all genres. Outside of festival time we activate unused space creating new cultural infrastructure and precincts.

VISION

In 2019 we celebrated a decade of Sydney Fringe. As expected it was our largest festival ever and saw over 1600 performances by over 2200 artists hit the streets of Greater Sydney across 25 postcode areas. This year we intended to push the boundaries of what we could achieve further because we love our city, we love our artists and we want as many of our audiences to see as much as they possibly can during our festival. Of course the Covid-19 crisis meant that our 2020 activity was completely reimagined, and we presented an online international collaboration Global Fringe. In 2021 the second wave of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown has forced the cancellation of this year’s festival. In spite of this though our core vision remains.

The Sydney Fringe provides a platform for Sydney stories by Sydney voices in their originating landscape. Where else can you see literally hundreds of world premieres made right in your back yard. And if you are stopping by, a visitor to our beautiful city then our annual festival is the perfect place to gain an understanding of how Sydney is feeling, what we are doing and where we are going.

Each September culture creators from all over the city join forces with us to demonstrate the type of city they want to live in all year round. As an open access festival our program is curated by our artists for our audiences.

The Sydney we love is vibrant, experimental, expressive, playful, fun, creative, connected and diverse. We look forward to a day when our creative communities are adequately resourced, effectively supported and valued for the contribution they make to our great global city. Until then we will continue to celebrate together each September as Sydney Fringe works with our community to transform the landscape of our city into unique experiences not found at any other time of the year. From activating unused buildings, unlocking hidden gems and presenting major outdoor activations, the Sydney Fringe Festival connects you to the city in new ways.

As our city emerges from the ravages of the pandemic we will need our independent artists, thinkers and creators more than ever. They will be a key contributor to the recovery process and a new vision for the future. Sydney will need it’s Fringe Festival more than ever before.

THE TEAM

Festival Director and CEO Kerri Glasscock

Business Manager Zoe Davies

Programs Producer Peta Downes

Partnerships Activations Manager Daria Grove

Festival Manager Kiri Pedersen

Access Coordinator Madeleine Stewart

Artist Liaison and First Nations Coordinator Erica J Brennan

Marketing & Communications Manager Sarah Findlay

Artist Liaison Coordinator Shea Russon

THE BOARD

Sydney Fringe Festival is governed by the Sydney Fringe Inc Board

Chair and Public OfficerLesley Watson

Deputy ChairMaree Taylor

TreasurerFiona Lin

Advocacy and OutreachGreg Khoury

DirectorLouise Fischer

DirectorDanika Houghton

DirectorJeremy Moller

THE ACCESS ADVISORY PANEL

Morwenna Collett

Emily Dash

Anthea Williams

Digby Webster

Riona Tindal

LEADERSHIP AND ADVOCACY

The Sydney Fringe is Sydney’s leader in addressing prohibitive issues facing local artists. We advocate, activate and agitate for reform. Join us.

Each year The Sydney Fringe drives a number of key projects in partnership with local and State Government, and major stakeholders to build a more viable, vibrant and sustainable sector.

In our town it’s all about space. We work year round with our partners to creatively think outside the box and find lasting solutions to enable more creatives to open space, and existing creative spaces to flourish.

In 2015 the Fringe headed a 10-month pilot project to address the current shortage of affordable small to medium sized performance spaces in Sydney. The project studied the needs and requirements of local Independent artists, and examined the current regulation around temporary leaseholds and the limitations and expense that prohibits general retail premises being used as performance spaces. From this pilot three new permanent performance spaces were created in Sydney, with the resulting project report and list of recommendations submitted to City of Sydney Council in early 2016.

Since 2016 our advocacy work has continued as we managed the conception and direction of new temporary creative arts precinct OFF BROADWAY (2016), a ground-breaking 7000m2 industrial site activation the HPG Festival Hub (2017-2018) and the transformation of an old nightclub in the heart of Kings Cross into an open-access, multi venue Indi arts hub Fringe HQ (2019).

In 2018 we published the findings of these research projects as An Anthology of Space 2015-2018: Activating Unused and Underutilised Space for the Performing Art and Creative Industries of NSW

The national and international profile of the Sydney Fringe has rapidly grown over the past three years. Now globally recognised for our unique model, and game changing activations and pilot projects that drive lasting change in the city.

INNER WEST LIVE MUSIC AND PERFORMANCE CENSUS 2019

In 2019 the Sydney Fringe worked in partnership with the Live Music Office to produce the Inner West Live Music and Performance Census. This important document now provides a vital benchmark of the activity that existed in the Inner West LGA prior to Covid, and will form a valuable starting point for arts and cultural recovery strategy in the area.

FRINGE HQ

In 2019 with support from property owner Greencliff, and funding provided by the City of Sydney and the State Government of NSW the Sydney Fringe activated a site at 26 Bays Water Rd, Potts Point as a temporary open-access/non-curated arts hub for the independent arts sector of Sydney.

ACTIVATING UNUSED AND UNDERUTILISED SPACE FOR THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES AND PERFORMING ARTS SECTORS OF NSW

After four years of activating everything from tiny shopfronts to large scale industrial space we compiled An Anthology of Space in 2018. The report collated all the research projects undertaken by The Sydney Fringe and our partners, and proposed solutions to overcome the onerous red tape that is strangling Sydney’s creative sectors.

OFF BROADWAY PRECINCT

In 2016 the Sydney Fringe managed the conception and direction of a new creative arts precinct OFF BROADWAY in partnership with the Inner West Council. Placing creative tenants into empty shopfronts and activating temporary performance spaces.

THE RE-ADAPTIVE USE OF BUILDINGS AS TEMPORARY PERFORMANCE SPACES

In 2015 the Fringe ran a 10 month pilot project to address the current shortage of affordable small to medium sized performance spaces in Sydney.

PRODUCER WORKSHOPS

Each year the Sydney Fringe runs a six month program of workshops and masterclasses designed to equip early career artists with the necessary producing tools required to put on their festival show, and provide more established artists with a brush up on producing skills.

In 2020 this program has been expanded to include specific masterclasses on Access and Inclusion and Building Sustainable Practice.

FRINGE IGNITE

Our annual opening celebration FRINGE IGNITE was born from a recommendation of the 2013 Live Music and Performance Action Plan created by the City of Sydney to develop an event template that was ‘Live and Local’ to enable struggling high streets across the country to revitalise their area with live music events, and to encourage local businesses to host live music. FRINGE IGNITE continues to develop resources to enable others to produce similar events and is presented in partnership with APRA/AMCOS and the Live Music Office. The program has now been rolled out State-wide by the Live Music Office with the support of the NSW State Government under the project banner Live and Local. Sydney Fringe is delighted to have played a role in the creation of this wonderful program filling high streets all across NSW with local live music.

WORLD FRINGE

We are a proud member of the World Fringe Network!
World Fringe is the International Fringe Festival Association bringing the Fringe community together. Each year over 200 Fringe Festivals across the globe showcase hundreds of thousands of artists and performers. 19 million people see approximately 170 thousand performers in 60,000 free and ticketed events. Over 8 million Fringe tickets are sold in over 6 thousand venues across the globe.

ABOUT SYDNEY FRINGE