Fringe World

Coordinates: 34°55′24″S 138°35′44″E / 34.92343°S 138.59565°E

FRINGE WORLD Festival
Genre Arts/Fringe
Frequency Annual
Location(s) Perth, Western Australia
Years active 2011 to Present
Previous event January 23, 2015 - February 22, 2015
Next event January 22, 2016 - February 21, 2016
Organised by Artrage
Website
Official website

Fringe World is an annual multi-arts fringe festival held in Perth, Western Australia, featuring artists and acts from a range of styles including circus, cabaret, comedy, music, dance, theatre, film and visual art. Fringe World is produced by Artrage (Western Australia).[1]

Fringe World is an open access Festival, which means that artists from anywhere in the world can register to be part of the Festival.[2] The open access policy is similar to that of the Adelaide Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe festivals.

One of the key venues at Fringe World is De Parel Spiegeltent, which was purchased by Artrage in 2011 with the assistance of Lotterywest.[3] The full name of Fringe World’s spiegeltent is De Parel Van Vuren or ‘The Pearl of Fire’, it was built in 1905 by Belgium’s renowned Klessen family. A unique architectural jewel, the mystical venue has hosted legends such as Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin and Gypsy Rose Lee.[3][4] Fringe World is also the only fringe festival in the world to own its own speigeltent.[3]

Fringe World Festival is held prior to and with a two week crossover to the Perth International Arts Festival.[5] Fringe World and the Perth Festival are separate organisations/events.

History

1983-2011

The Festival Fringe Society of Perth was established in 1983 and was the forerunner to the Fringe World Festival. The Society held an annual Fringe Festival up until 1988 at which time the organisation decided to move the Fringe from summer to spring and to re-brand it as Artrage, an annual festival dedicated to the presentation of alternative independent arts - a format that was followed until the organisation’s 25th ‘Silver’ Festival Anniversary in 2008.[6] Shortly after this time Artrage began consulting with stakeholders and the wider arts community in Perth around the idea of reintroducing a genuine independent ‘fringe’ to the Perth summer. This lead to the presentation of a pilot Fringe program in February 2011, staged in the newly purchased De Parel Spiegeltent in the Perth Cultural Centre.[7]

2012

The 2012 Festival was the first full Fringe World Festival, held from 26 January to 19 February. The Festival presented over 150 shows running across 30 traditional and non-traditional venues in Perth.[8]

2013

More than 120,000 tickets [9] were sold at the 2013 Festival, which featured more than 300 free and ticketed events and included more than 50 venues.[10] The majority of events in the 2011-2013 Fringe World Festivals were held in Northbridge and the Perth CBD, but more specifically at several pop-up performance venues (including De Parel Spiegeltent) in the Perth Cultural Centre.

2014

In 2014 Fringe World revealed that it would be expanding its presence in Northbridge with another site of venues to be held in Russell Square, Perth, which would be transformed into The Pleasure Garden for the Festival's duration.[11] The 2014 Festival was held from 24 January to 23 February and featured 1,788 participating artists, 418 free and ticketed events, 80 venues, free and ticketed attendance of over 370,000 and box office sales of over $3.2million.[12]

2015

The 2015 Fringe World Festival was held from 23 January to 22 February and was billed as '31 Days of Perthect' featuring a program of more than 500 events at over 100 venues throughout the Perth metropolitan area.[13] The 2015 Festival featured The Gold Digger, a new custom-designed pop-up venue in the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia courtyard, that presented a program of Australian and international comedy talent as part of the Fringe Comedy Central program.[14] The Gold Digger was presented by the Perth Theatre Trust as part of a long-term collaboration with Fringe World.[15]

Regional touring

Fringe World has been touring to regional Western Australia since 2012.

With support from Fringe World partner Woodside De Parel Spiegeltent has toured to Karratha several times since 2012 to present shows at the Red Earth Arts Festival.[16] Also with support from Woodside, Fringe World has toured artists to the Shinju Matsuri Festival in Broome.[17]

Support from the Western Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet has enabled Fringe World to present the Outer Fringe tour to regional WA since 2013.[18]

World Fringe Alliance

Fringe World is part of the World Fringe Alliance alongside other key fringe festivals including;

References

  1. ↑ "Fringe World Perth". Worldfringe.com. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
  2. ↑ Hutchens, Brendan (12 February 2015). "Perth's Fringe World, all you need is desire and the will to perform". ABC. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Arylene Westlake; Sarag Hartree (2012-01-23). "Inside the Spiegeltent". Perth Now. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
  4. ↑ "Fringe World".
  5. ↑ Moodie, Clare (20 January 2015). "Fringe World to attract record numbers, fuels rivalry with Perth International Arts Festival". ABC. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "Silver Artrage Festival launches with a bang...and Burlesque!". Australian Stage. 18 September 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  7. ↑ Romaro, Ashryn (18 January 2011). Faster Louder http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/news/27002/Perth-Fringe-Festival-2011. Retrieved 29 April 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ Mark Dragham. "First details revealed for Perth's Fringe World Festival in January 2012". The AU Review. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
  9. ↑ Stephen Belvis (2013-02-25). "Fringe wraps up in winning style". The West Australian. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
  10. ↑ Stephen Belvis (2012-12-05). "Fringe lets its hair down". The West Australian. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
  11. ↑ Holly Richards (2013-11-11). "Fringe adds second site for festival". The West Australian.
  12. ↑ Bevis, Stephen (August 9, 2014). "Fringe makes big impact". The West Australian. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  13. ↑ Bevis, Stephen (3 December 2014). "Fringe World Bigger and Better". The West Australian. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "Comedy at WA State Theatre Centre". Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "The Gold Digger: Part of FRINGE WORLD 2015". Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  16. ↑ "The Spiegeltent in Karratha". Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  17. ↑ "A Taste of FRINGE WORLD at Shinju Matsuri". visitbroome.com.au. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  18. ↑ "Funding ensures festival goes beyond the fringe". Lotterywest. Retrieved 29 April 2015.

External links