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Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals

Visit the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals' website

"It's one of the best things to do in the city in the summer." (Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star, May 16th, 2009)

The Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF) is the national association of 23 theatre festivals held across Canada and the US . CAFF members share the vision of creating the opportunity for both emerging and established artists to produce their work with artistic freedom, and of engaging members of the community by making productions as affordable and accessible as possible.

CAFF members abide by four guiding principles:

* Participation in the Festival is determined by a non-juried process;
* Participants receive 100% of the ticketed box office receipts for their performances;
* Fringe Festival producers have no control over the artistic content of performances;
* Fringes should provide accessible opportunities for audiences and artists to participate

How was CAFF formed and why are there American members?

The first Fringe in Canada was the Edmonton Fringe Festival which was established in 1982. Hoping to provide a direct link between theatre artists and their audiences the festival adapted a simple formula that was created by the Edinburgh Fringe Festival over 50 years ago. The main principles were to provide all artists, emerging and established, with the opportunity to produce their play no matter the content, form or style, and to make the event as affordable and accessible as possible for the members of the community. The Edmonton Fringe aimed to have a wide variety of artists participate while empowering audiences with the ability to decide for themselves the truly great productions from the good, the bad and the gloriously disastrous. With this artistic freedom, the Edmonton Fringe became an explosive and colorful collection of theatre artists and patrons. Performances ranged from the classics to new works and sketch comedies to dance. Audiences embraced this eclectic mix of theatre productions and attendance grew wildly. The tremendous success and growth of The Edmonton Fringe Festival soon led to the creation of Fringe Festivals right across Canada and the United States with each festival having their own unique and distinctive flavor yet all dedicated to the Fringe philosophy of accessible, inexpensive and fun theatre-going.

In 1990 numerous Fringe producers began to meet annually with their national counterparts to talk about their respective Fringe festivals, swap ideas and to share resources.

As the years went by and the popularity of Fringe Festivals spread across Canada there was growing concern among the initial Fringe Producers that the ideals and principles of the Canadian Fringe Festival Model (accessibility to all, 100% of the box office proceeds returned to the artists, selection of participants in a unjuried manner) could become muddled without a unifying mandate for the movement.

In order to ensure that these “Fringe” ideals and principles would be maintained at all Fringe Festivals across Canada thus ensuring affordable and accessible performance opportunities to emerging and established theatre artists for years to come, these producers came together to form the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals.

On September 26, 1994 the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals was officially registered as a Canadian based non-profit organization with the following mandate:

* To safeguard the integrity of Fringe Festivals as outlined in the four minimum criteria
* To recognize that the health of all member Festivals is important to the Circuit and therefore the artists' health as a whole
* To encourage communication and cooperation between member Festivals thereby fostering the continuity of our guiding principles.

The Canadian Fringe Model not only spread across Canada but also inspired artists in many cities in The United States. CAFF has welcomed these American Fringe Festivals that believe and support the four guiding principles of the association and C.A.F.F continues to welcome new members from the US and across Canada . All CAFF members support each other and share valuable networking opportunities that strengthens the individual members and the association.

In 1998 CAFF successfully applied to have the terms “Fringe” and “Fringe Festival” trademarked in Canada to ensure that any theatre festival in Canada who wishes to call themselves a “Fringe” would obtain membership in the association and agree to abide by both the CAFF mandate and the four guiding principles.

The Canadian Fringe Model

A quick internet search will yield hundreds of “Fringe Festivals” that are based in counties across the globe such as Scotland, Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Thailand and England. So why is the Fringe phenomena so popular in Canada?

Canada currently produces more Fringe Festivals than any other country in the world so what is it that is unique about Canadian Fringes and why do artists from around the world return year after year to partake in the festivities?

Unlike other Fringe festivals around the world, Canadian Fringes consistently follow a simple formula that is unmatched in terms of supporting artists and the work that they do. Known informally as the “Canadian Fringe Model”, this model has been the foundation for many performance festivals around the world and has been hailed by some artists as:
“..the best thing of its kind I have heard of anywhere in the English-speaking world.” Jem Rolls, performance poet

For a small application fee Canadian Fringe festival producers ensure that the artist/company receives:

* a venue equipped with basic lights and sound along with a technician to help run the artists' show
* a variety of show times to provide exposure for the artist. Divided equally amongst all participating companies.
* festival associated publicity to help artists publicize their work along with a listing the in main festival program
* professional house management and box office services
* specialized application categories such as a “KidsVenue” or “Bring Your Own Venue” to help support the work of artists who specialize in children's and/or site-specific theatre
* and most importantly…100% of the ticket revenue. After all its not the Fringe's to benefit from.

The mandate of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals remains a strong unifying factor that all Canadian Fringes abide by and the annual CAFF conference held annually in November is an opportunity for Fringe producers nation-wide to share their ideas, to network and plan for the future. Finally, the tradmarking of the term Fringe and Fringe Festivals in Canada has been instrumental in helping Canadian Fringe Festivals to protect their collective philosophy and retain their unique identity. Artists from across the country and around the world know that when they perform at a Canadian Fringe festival there are guidelines that are abided by, a level of integrity that the producers adhere to and an unbelievable amount of support that is offered to them.

Fringe Movement in North America

The first Fringe in Canada was established in Edmonton in 1982. The festival adapted the formula created by the Edinburgh Fringe Festival over 50 years ago, embracing the mandate to provide all artists, emerging and established, with the opportunity to produce their play no matter the content, form or style, and to make the event as affordable and accessible as possible for the members of the community.

The Edmonton Fringe aimed to have a wide variety of artists participate while empowering audiences with the ability to decide for themselves the truly great productions from the good, the bad and the gloriously disastrous. Performances ranged from the classics to new works and sketch comedies to dance. Audiences embraced this eclectic mix of theatre productions and attendance grew wildly. The tremendous success and growth of The Edmonton Fringe Festival soon led to the creation of Fringe Festivals right across Canada and the United States . Each festival has its own unique and distinctive flavor yet all are dedicated to the Fringe philosophy of accessible, inexpensive and fun theatre-going.

There are now twenty-three members of The Canadian Association of Fringe® Festivals (CAFF). Canada now enjoys more Fringe Festivals than any other country in the world and each Festival is a leader in the development of theatre artists and audiences in their community.

The first Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival took place in 1989 with 4 venues and 40 productions. The festival has grown to become Toronto 's largest theatre festival, and the third largest Fringe in Canada . In 2005, the Toronto Fringe featured eleven venues and more than 130 theatre companies from Ontario , across Canada and around the world. Ticketed attendance surpasses 46,000. Over the years, many Fringe artists have gone on to become senior members of the Toronto and national theatre communities. Many of these artists continue to return from year to year to participate in the Fringe.

CAFF Festivals

FRIGID New York

New York, NY

February 25 - March 8, 2009

www.frigidnewyork.info

Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival

Orlando, Florida

May 14-25, 2009

www.orlandofringe.org

Festival St. Ambroise Fringe de Montreal

Montreal, Quebec

June 11-21, 2009