Minnesota Fringe

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About

Through their summer festival and dynamic year-round programming, Minnesota Fringe is an artistic disruptor for local and national artists — to take bold risks, develop new ideas, and hoist themselves to the next rung of their artistic ladder. As the producer of the largest performing arts festival in the Midwest, our annual Minnesota Fringe Festival event fills tens-of-thousands of seats with audiences viewing dozens of works at hundreds of performances by more than 1,000 artists on a variety of stages in late summer. Amidst many changes over the past quarter century, Minnesota Fringe remains steadfastly committed to its core principles of providing​ producing opportunities for artists of a wide variety of backgrounds, abilities and experience levels; and creating novel ways of engaging with the performing arts; and continued accessibility to the arts for all.

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Submission Requirements

The Minnesota Fringe Festival has grown from featuring 52 shows in 1994 to showcasing nearly 550 performances of over 100 shows in 2024. Amidst many changes over the past three decades, Minnesota Fringe remains steadfastly committed to it's core principles: producing opportunities for artists of a wide variety of backgrounds, abilities and experience levels; creating novel ways of engaging with the performing arts; and a continuing commitment to accessibility for artists and audiences. 

In the interest of fairness, Fringe Festival artists are selected by random luck of the draw through an un-juried and un-curated lottery process. Anyone can apply to be a festival artist and, if the application is chosen in the lottery, they have a guaranteed slot that year. If their lottery number isn't chosen, artists are placed on a waiting list for openings in case other selected performers need to drop out.

Fringe Festival shows are less than 60 minutes in length with around a half hour-break between each performance. Attendees can purchase a ticket to shows online in advance or at the venue, 5- and 10-show passes to see multiple shows at a discount or become a Fringe with Benefits member to obtain a VIP pass for unfettered access to the entire festival. Festival venues are often clustered to make traveling to multiple shows simple by walking, biking, personal and public transportation options.

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Finances

Anyone can apply to be an artist in the Fringe Festival and, if selected via lottery, are guaranteed a slot. A show whose lottery number is not selected is placed on a waiting list in case previously selected performers drop out. Producers will be paid 70% of box office receipts based on tickets sold for individual performances. More information can be found on the Festival Application Information page in November.

To ensure a wide range of artists can participate, we offer three producer funding opportunities to help tackle costs of normal festival participation: our Fee Deferment Program, allowing artists to deduct their producer fee from their final box office payout (meaning $0 paid in advance); Festival Artist Grants and a Touring Artist Grant, which cover up to 100% of producer fees in full, creating an opportunity for a limited number of artists to produce their show for a $0 fee. All initiatives are managed and selected by Fringe's Artist Committee, a volunteer group of artists who have participated in past Fringe programming.

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Auditions

If you're interested in being ON STAGE during the Minnesota Fringe Festival, consider participating in our VIRTUAL Unified Auditions open in April.

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Volunteer Information

Fringe Volunteers are at the heart of what makes this festival tick. You’ll gain valuable experiences, practice new skills, make tons of friends, and contribute to making our Festival one of the best in the world. In addition to our undying gratitude, Festival volunteers have the opportunity to earn a Fringe button and discount codes to see shows for free and get to sport an exclusive volunteer tee.

Whether you are a first-timer or a ten-year veteran, we can't wait to work with you! Check out our volunteer positions below for more detail on how volunteers make the festival go.

If you have a skill or a talent you'd like to put to use at Fringe, our Director of Audience & Volunteer Engagement would absolutely love to hear about it. You can reach us at volunteer@fringefestival.org.