You Are Me, Lygon Court - Melbourne Fringe 2023. Photo by Nick Robertson
Melbourne Fringe is a celebration of cultural democracy and art for everyone. By embracing diversity and a spirit of independence, we create a unique space for artistic self-expression linked to the life of our great city. That’s why Melbourne Fringe is the most adventurous, inclusive, all-encompassing multi-artform festival in Australia.
Every year we feature thousands of artists performing 400+ events in over 160 venues. Fringe venues are all over Melbourne, from CBD laneways, to the suburbs and beyond. Any space can be a Fringe venue – fully kitted out theatres, galleries, bars, warehouses, shopfronts, caravans, and even laundromats (yes, you heard us right). Basically, if you have space, you can be a Fringe venue!
As an Open Access festival, it means anyone can be a part of Fringe, and all work is presented by the artists or their independent producers. This means anyone and everyone can be involved in Melbourne Fringe… it doesn’t matter how big or small your venue is! We don’t select or curate the program or book artists or shows for you, but we can help guide you through the process.
• Introduce your venue to a new audience • Connect with our fabulous culture-making, risk-taking, world-shaking artists • Appear on our website • Venue signage pack identifying you as part of Melbourne Fringe • Dedicated Fringe staff member to manage ticketing • Participant Services staff available to help Psst…It’s totally FREE to register your venue for Melbourne Fringe. We don’t charge our venues anything to take part.
There are basically three different ways venues can engage with Fringe: • Minimal engagement You are a venue for hire, charging regular venue hire costs to the artist. Then the artists register their work in the Festival, but there’s minimal involvement from the venue. • Medium level engagement Your venue hosts multiple Fringe events. This option may or may not have a programming role, and the choice is yours as to whether it’s a curated program or not. • Maximum engagement Your venue becomes a dedicated ‘Fringe Venue’ – where there’s a specific programmer/venue manager who actively seeks to engage with the Fringe community and will program a full season of works in the Festival. This option means greater investment from you, and potentially being flexible with the way you do things; perhaps instead of one artist having full use of the venue, you split the hire of the space into blocks of time and look at ways artists can share the venue and hire costs. Fringe is able to assist you with creating and promoting an expression of interest process so that you can attract more artists.
Having said all of that, there are no ‘set’ ways to work with Fringe and it is often a combination of approaches! Melbourne Fringe maintain an extensive database of brilliant venues of all shapes and sizes – this database is available to all Fringe artists and producers, who will use it to find the perfect home for their show, exhibition or event. If an artist or producer is interested in using your venue they will contact you directly to negotiate. The agreement is always between the artist/producer and the venue, and not between Melbourne Fringe and the venue.
(we can help you answer these questions if you’re unsure, don’t worry)
• What spaces do you have on offer and at what cost? • Do you charge artists a flat rate hire fee or offer a door split (take a % of their box office)? • What can you offer in terms of technical equipment and staff? The answer may be nothing, and that’s ok – just be upfront with your artists from the beginning about what’s on offer. • How can you support artists to help them succeed during the Festival? • How much time and resources are you able to invest in your Melbourne Fringe season? • What days and times can you offer to artists over the festival period?
• Do you want to exhibit 2D artworks only? Maybe stand-up comedy? Or perhaps you’re keen for artists to come and totally transform your venue? Articulating what you’re looking for can help to attract the right kind of artists to your venue. • Think about your programming and scheduling: do you want to offer one show exclusive use of the space, or have multiple shows in one night with changeovers in between? • What information do you require from artists to determine whether your venue is a good fit? We recommend having some questions ready to go in an email, or running an expression of interest process via survey monkey or similar. Get in touch with our Participant Services team if you’re unsure and we can help you out – we’ve got templates galore!
<aside> 💡 HOT TIP: Once you have agreed everything with your artists, be sure to get it all in writing and sign a venue agreement (we can help you out with a template if you like).
</aside>