Brighton Fringe Announces Open Call for Talent

This Monday, 21 October marks the start of a new year for Brighton Fringe, which is now in its 9th year as an independent festival and a registered charity. Everyone is warmly encouraged to take part in England's largest arts festival, which runs for 4 weeks from 3 May - 1 June 2014.

The window for online event registration is from noon on 21 October until 31 January, and anyone wanting to showcase their talent at any venue from a bath tub to a large auditorium is welcome to sign up.

Following the successful extension of Brighton Fringe in 2013, the open-access
festival will again include an extra week in 2014, incorporating May half-term and both bank holidays.

The first in a series of open Take Part 2014 workshops kicks off Brighton Fringe's new year and marks registration opening. It takes place at Thistle Brighton on 21 October, a larger venue than first suggested, owing to demand. Follow the event live @BrightonFringe #BFtakepart.

New for 2014, Brighton Fringe is pleased to announce a reduction in fees for around 80% of anticipated registrations, starting at £126 for a charity applicant, a saving of 16% on 2013. Additionally, there is a reduction in box office commission to 6.5% plus VAT.

To date, Brighton Fringe has secured four funding schemes (with more to be confirmed) to support qualifying participants, including new awards from partners such as The Pebble Trust, Zequs and renewed opportunities to receive Legal & General Bursaries and IdeasTap Funds. The Legal & General Bursaries scheme, now in its fifth year, will be supporting home-grown talent again in 'Music', 'Kids & Youth', 'Comedy' and 'Theatre' categories. Twelve individual Brighton & Hove-based participants will qualify and enjoy free event registration. The Pebble Trust's new awards will also support local talent across various programme categories.

During and after event registration, all participants benefit from professional advice, support and resources offered by Brighton Fringe, including free Take Part 2014 workshops with expert speakers, one-on-one advice, searchable venue directory, media contact list and networking with local, national and international producers to help get their show on the road, reach audiences and get noticed by both the industry and the media.

Other new developments include the pilot year of 'WINDOW', Brighton Fringe's showcase of exciting new shows available for touring, from 2-7 May, made possible by grant funding secured from Arts Council England. There will be a series of professional development and arts industry networking events taking place during the period to support both participating and visiting artists and arts professionals.

There will also be a new print publication dedicated to Brighton Fringe child-friendly events as their number has increased with the inclusion of half-term week within the festival dates.

Also in 2014, the official Brighton Fringe brochure hits the streets a week earlier, at the beginning of March, so audiences have a greater opportunity to book. The online version will be launched late February, as in previous years.

Julian Caddy, Managing Director of Brighton Fringe said: "It is essential that Brighton Fringe remains accessible for everyone and also that it offers participants the opportunities to develop and take quality work out beyond Brighton & Hove too. With this in mind we have both reduced fees and are also investing heavily in arts industry development, thanks to a recent Arts Council grant. We are also delighted to be working with so many great partners to deliver awards and bursaries to help participants with production overheads."

For more information or to register, visit www.brightonfringe.org or call 01273 764907.

To post a comment, you must register and login.