2013 represents a new way of looking at all things Melbourne Fringe. The Festival is now calling upon the independent arts community to create these new perspectives, by exploring the full scope of their creativity and registering work for presentation this year.

Artist Registration for the 2013 Melbourne Fringe Festival is now open.

Artists wishing to participate can register at the 2013 Melbourne Fringe Festival Registration Site from 3 May – 24 May.

As a multi-art, open-access Festival, Melbourne Fringe exists at the intersection of a broad range of ideas and practices.  The Festival is looking for work across Performance, Comedy, Music, Cabaret, Live Art, Circus, Dance, Digital/Video Art, Visual Art and Kids programming.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for artists to put themselves out there and get their work seen by new audiences,” said Independent Arts Manager Felix Preval.

“Melbourne has one of the most dynamic independent arts scenes in the world and quality and diversity of work in Melbourne Fringe reflects that.

“If you’ve been thinking about staging a show, or putting together an exhibition, anything, I would say – just do it!”

Participation in the Melbourne Fringe Festival is of real benefit to artists looking to have their work widely noticed and acknowledged. 2012 Melbourne Fringe artists have gone on to receive 17 Green Room Award nominations and perform at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Auckland Fringe Festival, New Zealand Fringe Festival, Adelaide Fringe and Fringe World. Selected shows are also taking part in the new Melbourne Fringe On Tour program, which sees 2012 Festival favourites visiting outer metropolitan and regional Victorian venues and towns.

Announcing her retirement from the Board at the Melbourne Fringe AGM on Monday 22 April, Ms Ginsberg expressed warm feelings about her time with Melbourne Fringe and her ongoing support of the organisation and Festival.

“It has been an extraordinary four years and I am proud and satisfied that I served the organisation well over my tenure,” Ms Ginsberg said.

“There is now a new and vibrant board and staff poised ready to take on the future and invigorate Melbourne Fringe for the next few years and it is an ideal time for me to move on.

“I have had a very long and serious relationship with Melbourne Fringe since the early ‘80s and will always have profound affection and an abiding respect for the organisation.”

Ms Ginsberg’s involvement with Melbourne Fringe extends back to the beginnings of Melbourne Fringe – as a participant in the very first Festival in 1983. In 1986 she appeared as an improvisational trapeze performer in the Festival and since then has supported Melbourne Fringe has a mentor, awards judge, board member and Chair. An important figure in Melbourne’s arts community, Rinske’s work as an artist, teacher and mentor will seen in countless Melbourne Fringe Festivals to come.

Melbourne Fringe CEO, Jayne Lovelock, paid tribute to Ms Ginsberg upon notice of her retirement.

“The support and inspiration that Rinske has given to Melbourne Fringe as Chair is paralleled only to the support and inspiration she continues to give our independent artists. We will miss her energy, talent and commitment.”

A Master in Theatre Practice (VCAM 2009), Ms Ginsberg currently lectures in Movement at the VCA. She intends to continue her involvement with Melbourne Fringe in various capacities outside of the Board.

(Top photo L-R: Janine Eckert, Rinske Ginsberg, Jayne Lovelock, Felix Preval, Neal Harvey, Meghan Bourke)

Great design makes true a form, a shape or function that already exists somehow; it reveals a truth we aren’t aware of yet.

Discovering great design is a revelatory experience, but it’s also a moment of recognition. It’s the sensation you get when the unfamiliar becomes something you’ve always known – call it déjà true. Great design fills the space between the real and the imagined in a way that makes it feel timeless.

This year’s Fringe Furniture designers will bring these half-glimpsed truths into sharp focus and make them real.

Fringe Furniture 2013: Make It True

Registrations for the event are open 28 June – 26 July, so designers should start planning now. For more information and an archive of past exhibitions, see the Fringe Furniture website.

To stay up to date with Fringe Furniture-related information, sign up to the eNews, follow us on Twitter (@melbournefringe) and watch for work-in-development updates on Instagram (@melbfringe) and Pinterest.

Dates: 18 September – 6 October, 2013

Times: Wed – Sun, 11am – 5pm

Venue: The Abbotsford Convent

The program will support four emerging or established producers participating in the 2013 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Program participants will receive Arts Centre Melbourne support, mentorship and an honorarium of $1,000 each.

Applications will open Tuesday 16 April, right after a “speed meeting” session at the next Melbourne Fringe Forum on Monday 15 April. The “speed meeting” session is aimed at linking artists seeking a producer for their show in this year’s Festival and producers seeking a show to work on.

For more information, see the Producer Mentorship Program page.

A series of hilarious and provocative comedy monologues written by award-winning playwright Victor Rodger, the performance explores the experience of life as a gay Samoan male.

Black Faggot will appear on Australian soil later in the year as part of the 2013 Melbourne Fringe Festival program.

Described by Melbourne Fringe’s Felix Preval as the “absolute hit” of the Auckland Fringe Festival, the play also picked up the Auckland Fringe Award for Best Production: Theatre and the Development Award.

(Picture: Black Faggot director Roy Ward is joined by writer Victor Rodger, Melbourne Fringe Independent Arts Manager Felix Preval and producer Karin Williams at Basement Theatre, Auckland on the final night of the play.)

Running 6-29 September, the 2013 Sydney Fringe overlaps with the Melbourne Fringe Festival from 18 September. To encourage artists to tour shows to both Festivals – a season in Sydney followed by a season in Melbourne – Sydney Fringe is offering a full refund of their participation fees. Artists select a box during Sydney Fringe registration to signify their intent to register with Melbourne Fringe and become eligible for the refund.

This means that when you register with Melbourne Fringe, you can take part in two Fringe Festivals for the cost of one registration fee.

If you’re an artist wanting to access this superb touring opportunity, contact us and we’ll assist in delivering relevant information to you. We’ll also do what we can to help interstate artists find venues in Melbourne that will allow them to fit performances at both Festivals into their timeframe. 

The Tiki Tour Ready Award, supported by Auckland Fringe – presented by Michael Keating 

WINNER: Emily Taylor, Cannonball

Innovation in Theatre, supported by Brisbane Powerhouse – presented by Sarah Neal

WINNER: Show Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine

Outstanding Comedy Show, supported by Brisbane Powerhouse – presented by Sarah Neal

WINNER: Truth

Innovation in Dance or Cabaret, supported by the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts - presented by Lewis Jones

WINNER: Shian Law, Body Obscure Object

The Tour Ready Award, Supported by Adelaide Fringe – presented by Greg Clarke 

WINNER: How to draw cartoobs and other typos

Best Experimental Performance, Supported by PACT Centre for Emerging Artists – presented by Julie Vulcan

WINNER: Hello My Name Is

The Discovery Award, supported by Melbourne Festival - presented by Josephine Ridge

WINNER: Zoey Dawson, The Unspoken Word is Joe

Outstanding Indigenous Artist, supported by the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts - presented by Eugenia Flynn

WINNER: Sandy Greenwood, Othello: Death Poll 

Best Emerging Writer, Supported by Writers’ Victoria, in association with the Melbourne Theatre Company – presented by Roderick Poole               

WINNER: Sofia Chapman, The Four Accordionists of the Apocalypse 

Innovation in Culturally Diverse Practice, supported by Kultour - presented by Stephanie Kabanyana

WINNER: DasSHOKU Shake!

Best Emerging Producer, supported by Auspicious Arts – presented by John Paul Fischbach

WINNER: Brian Robertson, The Unstoppable, Unsung Story of Shaky M

Original New Circus, supported by Circus Oz – presented by Antonella Casella

WINNER: Mitch Jones, One Night Stand 

Best Emerging Circus Performer, supported by ACAPTA - presented by Anni Davey

WINNER: Hannah Cryle, Pants Down Circus 

Best Cabaret

WINNER: Just a Little Something I’ve Been Working On

Best Circus

WINNER: Pants Down Circus

Best Comedy

WINNER: Choose Your Own Portenza!

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Slutmonster and Friends

Best Dance

WINNER: Opal Vapour

Best Live Art

WINNER: Sex Poetry Booth

Best Music

WINNER: Automation

Best Performance

WINNER: Show Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine

Best Venue

WINNER: Trades Hall

Best Visual Arts

WINNER: So Fukin Native

Best Fringe Kids

WINNER: Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and his Singing Tiger

People’s Choice Award

WINNER:  Aunty Donna and the Fax Machine Shop