About Melbourne Fringe
Melbourne Fringe is the leading organisation for the independent arts in Victoria. We facilitate the presentation of contemporary work across all artforms. Our artistic program gives both emerging and established artists opportunities to gain diverse professional skills and present new work.
The Melbourne Fringe Artist Development Program offers a unique and high-demand range of resources and support for artists and producers working across all artform areas. Through year-round individual consultations, resource kits, forums, workshops, mentor programs, student education programs, salons, internships, entry-level staff positions and our Melbourne Fringe Festival Awards program, independent artists and producers develop their practice. Our Sector Development Program advocates for the independent arts, and facilitates networking and professional development for small-to-medium arts organisations.
The culmination of independent arts activity throughout the year, the Melbourne Fringe Festival presents the work of thousands of artists to a large and committed audience. Our open-access Independent Arts Program includes hundreds of new shows, offering a diverse experience of contemporary arts which is led by the artists themselves. Our curated Fringe Hub in North Melbourne offers an up-to-the-minute representation of innovative new work across artforms and practice levels, creating an inspiring arts precinct thriving with community activity and sophisticated new ideas. And our Made by Melbourne Fringe program presents free, large-scale, collaborative artworks in the public spaces of the city.
The 2010 Melbourne Fringe Festival presented the work of 3,989 artists in 331 shows, presented at 132 venues and locations across Victoria, to audiences of 459,003. This generated $21.4m in total expenditure, as independently assessed by EconSearch.
Melbourne Fringe is pivotal to the success and the sustainability of the independent arts community who make Victoria the state of the arts.
The Melbourne Fringe program is composed of several key elements, each integral to the whole:
- The Independent Arts Program – our well-known, uncurated, open access component featuring thousands of artists from both within and beyond Melbourne’s thriving independent arts scene;
- The Fringe Hub at North Melbourne – featuring a curated selection of the independent program – as well as the licensed Festival Club – a relaxed socialising and networking space featuring two weeks of nightly entertainment at no cost;
- The Made By Melbourne Fringe program – our self-produced keynote projects, presented free and in public spaces, exploring some of the most extraordinary new ideas within the independent arts sector;
- Our Artists’ and Sector Development Program – featuring our mentorship programOUTSIDE EYE, our forums and Fringe Friday salon sessions, our internship and volunteerprogram, and the coveted Melbourne Fringe Awards. Plus year-round advice, support and resources.
