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Since 1993, Minnesota Fringe Festival has created Minnesota's only
non-juried, uncensored platform for the performing arts.
For eleven days every August, artists and audiences gather at some of the Twin
Cities' top venues to take part in what can only be described as
an explosion of creativity.
Minnesota Fringe Festival is a celebration of all levels
and genres of the performing arts. On our stages,
you'll find first-timers and pros working in tandem in every discipline:
comedy, drama, dance, musical, puppetry, storytelling and more.
From the sublime to the surreal, from kid-friendly fares to
shows you might not want to take your mother to, Fringe offers over
160 different productions annually.
By the time the Fringe closes, we'll issue over 50,000 tickets in eleven days.
Over 1,000 artists will play at dozens of professional venues to
thousands of audience members.
Over 400 dedicated volunteers will donate their time and labor to run the festival.
And all for the chance to see new works of art—
and have fun.
Every year's lineup is filled with surprises. Fringe doesn't play favorites,
we don't check pedigrees and we don't get in the way
of what happens on stage.
Fringe is truly Minnesota's most open forum for the
performing arts: the shows you see here haven't been selected by
by a jury and they haven't been reviewed by a committee.
Instead, anyone is welcome to apply and,
in February, we select our participating shows at random, by lottery.
That's because at the core of our mission,
we believe everyone deserves an equal shot to make great art.
Fringe exists to make producing art
a rewarding—and manageable—experience for our producers.
We offer one-on-one help sessions and lead workshops in marketing, copywriting,
graphic design, technical production, budgeting, copyright law and more.
We don't interfere with casting, script writing or other artistic decisions.
Instead, producing a show at Fringe
means learning the business side of art.
What we offer our artists is more than just
a venue rental. It can be an intensive, hands-on workshop to acquire valuable skills
not only to have a successful run in our festival, but throughout our artists' careers.
We strive to make Fringe as accessible as possible for our
audiences. Every show must be 60 minutes
long or less and our top ticket price is just $12.
This means audiences can pick a wide array of shows to sample
and give a chance to a genre or a company or story they might normally skip over.
When you come to Fringe, the only tough decision is,
"What should I see next?"
August in Minneapolis-St.Paul means Fringe.
Lines into theaters run out the door. The
press
writes dozens of Fringe stories. And
everyone tries to see as
much as they can before it’s over.
Lobbies buzz with discussions about theater.
Audiences submit thousands of show reviews to our website.
Artists make new connections and lay the groundwork
for future collaborations.
Barriers that normally exist among artist and audience
and volunteer and donor
get very blurry and then disappear completely.
Fringe is a producer conference, a theater lab and a party—
and all of it is entirely inspiring.
From artist to audience, from producer to volunteer,
from funder to staff member, Fringe is home to everyone
and anyone in Minnesota with a story to tell and a belief
that art can transform not just one person,
but a whole community.
We hope to see you at Fringe.