Halifax Fringe

Who are we?

We’ve been presenting an accessible, unjuried, and uncensored festival for the past 33 years. The Fringe includes theatre, music, circus, dance, comedy, education, and more. 2023’s festival occurred over 11 days in 10+ venues with 55+ productions performing over 350 individual performances. All performances take place in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, with venues spread across the downtown and North End neighbourhoods, allowing audiences to easily jump from one venue to the next while also reaching multiple communities.

Why is Fringe so special?

100% of the box office is returned to the artists! We use a lottery system that prioritizes festival applications from equity-seeking artists, including (but is not limited to) Indigenous artists, artists of colour, transgender artists, disabled artists, fat artists, and neuro-divergent artists. In recent years, 100% of equity-seeking applicants have received a spot in the festival (and 50% of festival slots are reserved for these artists). We recognize the over-representation of white, cisgender, able-bodied voices in theatre.

As a Fringe Festival, our organization is mandated to support cultural democracy. By operating from an intentionally uncurated model, we remove the traditional gatekeepers from our process of presenting art. The notion of artistic excellence is subjective and culturally specific; by creating an open access platform we elevate work by artists with backgrounds or artistic practices that are not adequately supported by mainstream artistic institutions.