The New Zealand Fringe Festival is an open access arts festival in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand held over several weeks in February and March each year. The 2020 programme marked the festival's 30th anniversary.

Background

The festival was established in 1990 and was the first fringe festival in New Zealand. It followed fringe festival models from Edinburgh and Adelaide. The first festival was held at

BATS Theatre BATS Theatre is a theatre venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Initially founded as the Bats Theatre Company in 1976, then established in its current form in 1989. BATS Theatre has seen the development of many performing arts talents of New Zeala ...

. Initially it ran as a biennial festival to coincide with the

New Zealand Festival of the Arts Aotearoa New Zealand Festival is a multi-arts biennial festival based in Wellington New Zealand that started in 1986. Previous names are the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, New Zealand International Arts Festival, New Zealand Arts ...

and was also curated by them until the Fringe Arts Trust (FAT) was formed in 1994. The current governance is the

Creative Capital Arts Trust Creative may refer to: *Creativity, phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created * "Creative" (song), a 2008 song by Leon Jackson * Creative class, a proposed socioeconomic class * Creative destruction, an economic term * Creative dir ...

, an umbrella organisation established in 2011 to manage New Zealand Fringe Festival and the Wellington street festival

CubaDupa CubaDupa is New Zealand's largest outdoor arts and music festival, celebrating the unique character of Cuba Street, Wellington, Cuba Street, Wellington. It attracts up to 100,000 people. The festival is managed and produced by the non-profit ...

. Since 2011, NZ Fringe has grown 237.5% from 52 shows to 189 shows in 2022. The non-profit organisation is governed by a voluntary board of five trustees. Staff have included Drew James (Chief Executive), Gerry Paul (CubaDupa Festival Director), and Vanessa Stacey (New Zealand Fringe Festival Director ).

Programme

New Zealand Fringe is an open access festival, providing various platforms for artists to experiment, present, and show new or refined works. The festival is held annually for three weeks during February/March. The festival often has over 150 events with can include more than 600 presentations over the three week season. It includes contemporary work in art forms including audio (podcast), busking, cabaret, comedy, circus, dance, improvisation, music, online, physical theatre, poetry, puppetry, spoken word/storytelling, theatre, visual & digital art. New Zealand Fringe directed by Vanessa Stacey and is produced and managed by the non-profit

, with

Drew James Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas * ...

as Chief Executive and a team of professional arts managers and seasonal staff.

Participation

As an open access there are no constraints on the content or presentation of the work. Participating artists pay a one-off registration fee and the New Zealand Fringe assists the artists by providing festival marketing (website, fringe programme, marketing collateral), practical information, and one-on-one advice. As a non-commissioned, open access festival, the production and presentation costs are the responsibility of the practitioner. New Zealand Fringe Festival runs a Kakano New Works Funding scheme to foster and support new New Zealand productions. There are international festival relationships to create exchange and touring opportunities to New Zealand artists.

Accolades

In January 2014, National Geographic named NZ Fringe Festival one of 10 international ‘Must Do in February Festivals’. Vibrant Gold Awards Finalist 2022 In November 2014 NZ Fringe Festival won the

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Regional Community Award for Arts and Culture.

Alumni

Many New Zealand arts and entertainment practitioners and companies have had shows at the New Zealand Fringe including,

Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's comed ...

Rhys Darby Rhys Montague Darby (born 21 March 1974) is a New Zealand actor and comedian, known for his energetic physical comedy routines, telling stories accompanied with mime and sound effects of things such as machinery and animals. He was nominated for ...

, Strike Percussion, and

Footnote Dance Footnote New Zealand Dance (founded in 1985) is New Zealand's oldest contemporary dance company. Based in Wellington, it has been described as "New Zealand’s most enduring and influential contemporary dance company." History Footnote was found ...

References

{{Fringe festivals in Australasia Festivals in Wellington Fringe festivals in New Zealand Tourist attractions in the Wellington Region Arts festivals in New Zealand