What is this „Fringe“ you speak of?

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the world’s largest cultural event, featuring about 5000 artists and attracting up to 5 million visitors every year. Just like in many other cities that have adopted the concept, Edinburgh is an absolute hotspot during the festival – it is something anyone should experience at least once in their lives. And yet, most people I tell about it in my native German Ruhr-Area have no idea what this is. This is probably due tow to facts: Firstly, it is quite an unusal concept. And secondly, it doesn’t exist in Germany. So far. 

What we do have are cultural events such as Akzente, Theatertage and others. The problem with that is that they primarily highlight the ones that don’t need highlighting, namely the established theatre companies. A Fringe Festival, on the other hand, gives airplay and stagetime to those that didn’t get their shot at the big stage yet. 

The first Fringe in Edinburgh came to pass when the city’s independent artists wanted to step out of the shadows of the official „Edinburgh Festival“. They just started their own party, and in the years that came after, this party became much bigger than the original one. They just flipped the script, and what was once on the fringe became the main event. To this day, there is noone who decides who is good enough, popular enough, fitting enough. The artists talk to whomever has a venue, a spare room and sometimes a broom closet, and do their shows there. Of course it is a big challenge to spend your days flyering, self-advertising and fighting for attention along thousands of other artists, as well as perform every day for up to four weeks. But it is also an incredibly chance to connect with other artists, get your name out there and maybe, just maybe, be seen by the right person.

This is exactly how we are planning to do it. We don’t choose the most well known, the most established or the most comfortable. 

We offer a stage. And in the end, maybe, just maybe, we will get a chance to witness that magical moment that only heart-felt art can create.