FOUNDING A FRINGE
The
Basics
Bringing a Fringe Festival to your community will be a coup for the arts
in your city. Before you get too far into planning however, there are a
few questions you must be able to answer:
1. Will your Festival primarily be based around indoor theatre productions?
2. Will your Festival be completely uncensored?
3. Will applications from theatre companies be accepted either through a
lottery or on a first-come, first served basis?
4. Will your Festival return 100 per cent of the money generated from ticket
sales to the artists themselves?
5. Will your Festival adhere to the CAFF mandate?
If you answered “yes” to these five questions, then CAFF would
love to see a proposal from your Festival.
What are the Benefits
of Joining CAFF?
By joining CAFF, your Festival would become part of a massive touring circuit
that features thousands of international artists. Your ability to attract
national and international companies would increase dramatically.
CAFF affiliated Festivals are keen to share ideas and information. Established
Fringes are able to help newer Fringes in their early stages of development
and provide concrete advice on everything from what questions to ask on
your artist technical form, to crowd control on your outdoor site.
CAFF can also provide leverage for securing national sponsorships.
How to Join CAFF: The
Application Process
New applications to CAFF are reviewed at the organization’s Annual
General Meeting, which is usually held in mid-November. Your application
would be presented to the CAFF membership. The membership would then vote
whether to accept your Festival as a new CAFF member.
While there is no set application form for CAFF membership, there is specific
information you should include with your application:
1. Will you adhere to the CAFF mandate?
2. What will your application process be? What will the application fee
for artists be?
3. What do you envision your Festival will look like? How many theatre companies
will you accommodate? How many venues? Will you focus on presenting indoor
theatre productions only, or do you wish to incorporate an outdoor element?
Be realistic. Think carefully about how large or small your audiences will
be in your first couple of years.
4. What kind of community support do you have?
5. What’s your budget?
6. Where do you anticipate getting funding/sponsorship from?
7. When would you like your Festival to run? How does that fit in with the
rest of the CAFF touring circuit dates?
8. Which organization/people are behind the proposal? Are you an established
not-for-profit organization? Are you an ad-hoc committee? In short, tell
us something about yourself.
Contact
Chuck McEwan, President (CAFF) at the Toronto Fringe
festivalproducer@mtc.mb.ca
* Note: All Canadian based performance festivals who wish to title themselves
a “Fringe” or “Fringe Festival” must seek membership
in CAFF.