2022 Information for Performers
Apply!
It is now just the Virtual Fringe like last year, and an in person variety show. Once you complete this you ARE part of the festival (unless you drop out). Hopefully, we can be back to a more normal festival by 2023 (but we've been saying that for a few years now haven't we!)
Applications are closed for our April 2022 Festival. See you next year!
Follow our social media for updates on future festivals! And during the year events.
Follow our social media for updates on future festivals! And during the year events.
Website Information Needed
We need exactly what you want for your website. Please fill out this form to get us the most current up to date website information.
Press and PR Information
Next, we need your press and PR information when you are ready. For 2022 we will not be printing a physical brochure.
Make sure you read everything below, and ask us if you have questions!
INFORMATION YOU NEED TO READ BEFORE APPLYING
WELCOME
Thanks for considering the 2022 Pittsburgh Fringe. We are an entirely volunteer run organization. We see this festival as a toe dip back into live in-person theatre, while still keeping our virtual festival happening. So we are essentially planning a small Pittsburgh Fringe Variety show on April 1st to keep our local presence, and dip our toe into live theatre, and then the next weekend continuing with the Virtual Fringe we've now run for two years.
2022 DATES FOR PERFORMERS TO REMEMBER:
February 2nd: APPLICATIONS OPENS
All shows interested in participating can apply at this time.
February 2nd: FRINGE REGISTRATION OPEN
Remember, mounting a show in the Pittsburgh Fringe is a two step process. Registration and paying your Fringe registration fee (if applicable) is your final step. Once this is done, YOU ARE IN the festival!
February 28: LAST DAY FOR REFUND
March 5th: REGISTRATION DEADLINE - March 12th - EXTENDED!
Because we are simplifying our festival, and trying to keep everything small and tight, we are having a cutoff date of March 5th this year. In past years, we have allowed registration past our program deadline, but this year we are going to have to have a cut off date.
March 12 - Now ALL applications due by this date!
ROLLING BASIS: WEBSITE PROOF APPROVED
We will send you a proof of the website page to approve as we get to it - so once you register - make sure our emails don't go to your junk account - and you are keeping an eye open for it. (We will work on these on a rolling basis as you register). You will have a few days to approve the proof once it is sent to you.
Pittsburgh Fringe's Yinzer Variety Show: APRIL 1st
Virtual Festival DATES: APRIL 8-10: VIRTUAL FRINGE FESTIVAL 2022
These are the big dates!
APRIL 10 (?): AWARD CEREMONY TBA
We present the sponsored and community awards for the Fringe at the end of the day on Sunday! We will be combining the In Person and Virtual shows together.
2022 COSTS FOR PITTSBURGH FRINGE:
APPLICATION FEE:
There is a $25 non-refundable fee for each performance to start the application process. (Virtual Fringe)
YOUR PRODUCTION COSTS:
Budgets for each production are different. Often to keep costs down, fringe shows tend to have minimal sets, costumes, props, and equipment. Fringe shows are often able to load-in or load-out in 5 or 10 minutes. The focus is often on the performers, artists, and the work.
PERCENTAGE TO THE FRINGE FESTIVAL:
The Fringe keeps 15% of ticket sales to help cover its costs (marketing, advertising, centralized box office, promotional events, publicity, etc.). This year we will only charge if we help you set up box office. We also have to cover credit card fees in some instances. This cost is automatically deducted. This is calculated from all online box office sales, and not in person cash sales.
MARKETING:
The Fringe will market as a whole, but you will want to market your show beyond what we do. Reserve some money in your budget for marketing your show. Ideas include:
There are plenty of low cost marketing options. We also highly suggest figuring out which niche audiences might be attracted to your show, and then find Facebook groups, or organizations, or publications that are part of that niche group and let them directly know about your show. We also know you are a highly creative group, so you will think of some amazing cool ideas for marketing.
There is a $25 non-refundable fee for each performance to start the application process. (Virtual Fringe)
YOUR PRODUCTION COSTS:
Budgets for each production are different. Often to keep costs down, fringe shows tend to have minimal sets, costumes, props, and equipment. Fringe shows are often able to load-in or load-out in 5 or 10 minutes. The focus is often on the performers, artists, and the work.
PERCENTAGE TO THE FRINGE FESTIVAL:
The Fringe keeps 15% of ticket sales to help cover its costs (marketing, advertising, centralized box office, promotional events, publicity, etc.). This year we will only charge if we help you set up box office. We also have to cover credit card fees in some instances. This cost is automatically deducted. This is calculated from all online box office sales, and not in person cash sales.
MARKETING:
The Fringe will market as a whole, but you will want to market your show beyond what we do. Reserve some money in your budget for marketing your show. Ideas include:
- Buy ads on social media
- Post adds in local event groups (often free)
There are plenty of low cost marketing options. We also highly suggest figuring out which niche audiences might be attracted to your show, and then find Facebook groups, or organizations, or publications that are part of that niche group and let them directly know about your show. We also know you are a highly creative group, so you will think of some amazing cool ideas for marketing.
OLD for informational purposes: 2020 (pre-covid info) How to Apply:
INDEPENDENT PRODUCERS
Fringe is open to anyone! To apply, you must be able to put together a fully fledged show. You’re not just writing a script or only coming up with a concept: you have to actually produce your show! As this is a fringe festival, the shows are NOT produced by the festival, and the venues themselves receive your “ready to go” shows that you’ve created. It offers you freedom and creative license to mold your own ideas into a fully realized performance as your own independent producer!
For those who are new to the process, or unsure how this new process is going to work, the Fringe is happy to meet with you, talk to you on the phone, or answer questions via email or social media. But this also might not be the right year to do this. With the pandemic and all the uncertainty, and our low ability to help new companies this year, we might not be the right year to start performing at our festival.
STEP ONE:
CREATE YOUR PROJECT AND APPLY:
Make sure, before you apply, you've read the plans and details for 2022. It is very different from past years, and hopefully we can be back to a more normal festival by 2023 (but we've been saying that for a few years now haven't we!)
STEP TWO:
APPLY TO AND COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR PREFERRED VENUE(S):
Ready to take the next step? Get ready to hunt for a venue. Please find a place to perform your show near the Bloomfield, Garfield, East Liberty area of Penn Ave. (Read the "Fringe Zone" information and look at the map above.) This year we do not have the capacity to help you find a venue, but we are also going to be more flexible with being in the zone.
Remember, Fringe venues can be anywhere: theatres, clubs, bars, restaurants, found spaces, outdoor spaces… anything you have rights/permission to control for the duration of your event/performances/exhibitions. All we ask is that ideally you keep it in the Fringe Zone, to make it easy for audiences to experience and walk to as many shows as possible. Fringe audiences like to pack in as many experiences as possible during the festival, and walkable venues help with this experience.
Remember, we will have very limited capacity to help you find a venue this year. If you don't have a good lead, you may not want to apply (remember applications are non-refundable.)
ONE SHOW / ONE VENUE
We have a one show / one venue rule. Once you confirm your show with a venue, you cannot perform that same, exact show at any other venue. On the Fringe website, your show will be listed as playing at one venue only. If you are an actor in a play or a musician in a band, you may perform at more than one venue. IF you are also in a totally different play or band. (For example, John Doe can perform in Romeo & Juliet at one venue, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at another venue, but the same exact production of Romeo & Juliet cannot be performed at more than one venue.) That said, any individual or group may submit multiple productions to the Fringe: simply start a new application. EXCEPTION FOR 2022 is that you can also be part of the VIRTUAL FESTIVAL and the IN-PERSON Festival with the same show. This can be one application, BUT it will require TWO Registration fees (don't worry Virtual Fringe is pretty affordable).
STEP THREE:
REGISTER WITH THE FRINGE
When you pay your registration you secure your spot as a festival participant.
Important note: It is you responsibility to ensure you book a venue (this will most likely include additional fees). We will also refund your registration if you struggle to find a venue and the request is made prior to the refund deadline. (See Dates above.) (Applications are never refundable.) (Ideally you secure your venue before you even register.)
CONTRACT
As part of this step, you will be asked to sign a Contract.
TERMS OF SERVICE AGREEMENT
As part of this step, you will be asked to sign the Terms of Service Agreement. If you want to read it in advance just follow this link: Terms of Service Agreement.
BENEFITS OF REGISTRATION
We have tried to keep our registration costs as low as possible so all can participate. Most of the money raised through registration will be spent on marketing the festival itself, and festival insurance. Remember: We don’t guarantee you an audience, however we do everything we can to make sure people know about the Festival as a whole. Attracting festival-goers to see your show is a task you need to tackle yourself (we will help you along).
Once you have paid your registration fee, you are entitled to these benefits:
PROMOTION
Inclusion in the Fringe Website and all the festival-wide promotions.
TICKET SALES
Ticket Sales through Fringe box offices located on the web, and we hope at a local venue on Penn Ave during the In-Person festival. By registering your show with the fringe, you also agree to all the festival wide ticket and pass promotions including but not limited to Fringe Button Discount, Festival Passes, Volunteer Passes, VIP Passes, Industry Passes, Artist Passes, and Press and Media Passes. You also agree to selling your tickets through our box office system.
great benefits (and big discounts) for fringe participants.
FUN
Access to social events for fun and networking. Though honestly, we're not sure how much we can do in 2022. :(
2022 Ticketing and Pricing:
TICKETING
This section will introduce you to Fringe ticketing.
PERCENTAGE TO THE FRINGE FESTIVAL:
The Fringe keeps 15% of ticket sales to help cover its costs (marketing, advertising, centralized box office, promotional events, publicity, etc.). We also have to cover some of the credit card fees as part of this %. This costs is automatically deducted. Keep this in mind when deciding your ticket prices. A chart is at the bottom of this section discussing the ticket return for each ticket type. In 2022, we will not be deducting this % from cash sales at the door that you collect. (Though we would still love if you can tell us how many came for our own statistics!)
TICKET PRICES
This year we want to offer $5, $10, $15 or $20 tickets. The choice is yours. We highly suggest most shows select $15.
In the past our tickets were a standard $15. We recently added a lower ticket price for artists who had short shows, or were Teen or College Fringe shows. To stay consistent for audiences, we suggest most shows select the $15 ticket price. Remember if you think this is too high, that our audiences are used to paying this price, and for those price conscious audiences we offer multiple discounts to save money. While you may select any of these prices we have the following guidelines... If your show is under 50 minutes, we highly suggest you only charge $5 or $10. If you are a teen or college fringe production, regardless of length of show we suggest you charge $5 or $10 or make it free with a button. Before deciding your prices, make sure you read about the festival discounts and promotions, and make sure to take those into consideration when selecting your ticket price. Free Shows during the festivals that are not in a public location, will require audiences to present a festival button to attend or buy a festival button to attend. Buttons are $5, and offer $3 discounts to all shows, as well as, entrance to free shows and workshops.
TICKET DISCOUNTS
We plan to offer the following discounts. Keep this in mind when selecting your ticket pricing. Being part of the festival means you agree to the following:
Fringe Buttons:
To help support the festival, we sell festival buttons each year. While these buttons are optional (unlike some festivals that require them in order to attend a performance), we use them to create community. We think that audiences can recognize other festival goers by noticing those wearing buttons (or festival pass lanyards), and will know who to strike a conversation up with about what shows they have seen. When buying tickets, patrons can use the buttons to receive a $3 discount on a ticket, or use it to attend any of our free shows and special events. (This would make your tickets either $2, $7, $12 or $17.)
Fringe Day and Weekend Passes:
For 2022, we will not be doing the Fringe Day and Weekend Passes to keep it simple when you are running front of house at your venue. We will consider bringing it back in the future.
Volunteer Passes:
Volunteers who work a certain number of hours are able to earn passes to shows. These passes are only allowed to be used for a show on a standby basis, thus protecting artists from losing money from paying patrons.
VIP Passes:
We identify VIPs as people who either help the festival in a significant way, or help artists in significant ways. This allows us to keep our participant fees lower, and to help out of town artists find housing. If you have suggestions for someone who deserves one of these passes, please let us know.
Industry Passes:
While this is still a very small area at our festival, we try to attract organizations that are likely to be looking for shows to book in the future, booking agents, artists agencies, venue managers, those running other festivals, and other fringe directors. We hope by encouraging these folks to come to our festival, your show may get an amazing opportunity post fringe.
Press and Media Passes:
We really work hard on having as much press and media attending your shows as possible. We also have organizations that are reviewing your shows, and those that are independently evaluating shows for our award ceremony that may be attending your show with these passes.
Artist Passes:
We think that building an artist community is important for a successful festival. Artist passes allow you to see other shows in the festival on a stand-by basis. This is a great way for artists to work together, to spread the word, to fill a house, and to learn by seeing what else is happening at the festival. These passes are only allowed to be used for a show on a standby basis, thus protecting artists from losing money from paying patrons.
This section will introduce you to Fringe ticketing.
PERCENTAGE TO THE FRINGE FESTIVAL:
The Fringe keeps 15% of ticket sales to help cover its costs (marketing, advertising, centralized box office, promotional events, publicity, etc.). We also have to cover some of the credit card fees as part of this %. This costs is automatically deducted. Keep this in mind when deciding your ticket prices. A chart is at the bottom of this section discussing the ticket return for each ticket type. In 2022, we will not be deducting this % from cash sales at the door that you collect. (Though we would still love if you can tell us how many came for our own statistics!)
TICKET PRICES
This year we want to offer $5, $10, $15 or $20 tickets. The choice is yours. We highly suggest most shows select $15.
In the past our tickets were a standard $15. We recently added a lower ticket price for artists who had short shows, or were Teen or College Fringe shows. To stay consistent for audiences, we suggest most shows select the $15 ticket price. Remember if you think this is too high, that our audiences are used to paying this price, and for those price conscious audiences we offer multiple discounts to save money. While you may select any of these prices we have the following guidelines... If your show is under 50 minutes, we highly suggest you only charge $5 or $10. If you are a teen or college fringe production, regardless of length of show we suggest you charge $5 or $10 or make it free with a button. Before deciding your prices, make sure you read about the festival discounts and promotions, and make sure to take those into consideration when selecting your ticket price. Free Shows during the festivals that are not in a public location, will require audiences to present a festival button to attend or buy a festival button to attend. Buttons are $5, and offer $3 discounts to all shows, as well as, entrance to free shows and workshops.
TICKET DISCOUNTS
We plan to offer the following discounts. Keep this in mind when selecting your ticket pricing. Being part of the festival means you agree to the following:
Fringe Buttons:
To help support the festival, we sell festival buttons each year. While these buttons are optional (unlike some festivals that require them in order to attend a performance), we use them to create community. We think that audiences can recognize other festival goers by noticing those wearing buttons (or festival pass lanyards), and will know who to strike a conversation up with about what shows they have seen. When buying tickets, patrons can use the buttons to receive a $3 discount on a ticket, or use it to attend any of our free shows and special events. (This would make your tickets either $2, $7, $12 or $17.)
Fringe Day and Weekend Passes:
For 2022, we will not be doing the Fringe Day and Weekend Passes to keep it simple when you are running front of house at your venue. We will consider bringing it back in the future.
Volunteer Passes:
Volunteers who work a certain number of hours are able to earn passes to shows. These passes are only allowed to be used for a show on a standby basis, thus protecting artists from losing money from paying patrons.
VIP Passes:
We identify VIPs as people who either help the festival in a significant way, or help artists in significant ways. This allows us to keep our participant fees lower, and to help out of town artists find housing. If you have suggestions for someone who deserves one of these passes, please let us know.
Industry Passes:
While this is still a very small area at our festival, we try to attract organizations that are likely to be looking for shows to book in the future, booking agents, artists agencies, venue managers, those running other festivals, and other fringe directors. We hope by encouraging these folks to come to our festival, your show may get an amazing opportunity post fringe.
Press and Media Passes:
We really work hard on having as much press and media attending your shows as possible. We also have organizations that are reviewing your shows, and those that are independently evaluating shows for our award ceremony that may be attending your show with these passes.
Artist Passes:
We think that building an artist community is important for a successful festival. Artist passes allow you to see other shows in the festival on a stand-by basis. This is a great way for artists to work together, to spread the word, to fill a house, and to learn by seeing what else is happening at the festival. These passes are only allowed to be used for a show on a standby basis, thus protecting artists from losing money from paying patrons.
2022 Ticket Reimbursement Amounts:
The several price bands are as follows:
Regular Price Band - RECOMMENDED PRICE
Venue
If you've made a split arrangement with your venue, the above amounts may go to your venue first, and then be forwarded to you. Check with them about how exactly the ticket split will work. Is it Gross or Net? Are there any expenses they will take out first? Don't be shy to ask in advance, and be very clear about the math in a split deal.
Regular Price Band - RECOMMENDED PRICE
- Ticket prices are $15. (85% = $12.75)
- Fringe Button discount minus $3 = $12 (90% = $10.20)
- Artists or Venues receive 85% of actual paid price (Ticket price minus any discounts), or flat fee as indicated below for paying pass entries. Talk with your venue before signing with them about how they intend to handle ticket money.
- Comps: Include performer rush passes, VIP passes, Press passes, Industry passes, Volunteer passes or other comp tickets.
- Ticket prices $10. (85% = $8.50)
- Fringe Button discount minus $3 = $7 (85% = $5.95)
- Artists or Venues receive 85% of actual paid price (Ticket price minus any discounts), or flat fee as indicated below for paying pass entries. Talk with your venue before signing with them about how they intend to handle ticket money.
- Comps: Include performer rush passes, VIP passes, Press passes, Industry passes, Volunteer passes or other comp tickets.
- Ticket prices $5. (85% = $4.25)
- Fringe Button discount minus $3 = $2 (85% = $1.70)
- Artists or Venues receive 85% of actual paid price (Ticket price minus any discounts), or flat fee as indicated below for paying pass entries. Talk with your venue before signing with them about how they intend to handle ticket money.
- Day and weekend passses = $2 per paid pass entry. (Flat $2 per pass entry, no 15% will come from the pass amount. But talk with your venue about how they intend to handle this.)
- Comps: Include performer rush passes, VIP passes, Press passes, Industry passes, Volunteer passes or other comp tickets.
- Ticket prices $20. (85% = $17)
- Fringe Button discount minus $3 = $17 (85% = $14.45)
- Artists or Venues receive 85% of actual paid price (Ticket price minus any discounts), or flat fee as indicated below for paying pass entries. Talk with your venue before signing with them about how they intend to handle ticket money.
- This does not include performer rush passes, VIP passes, Press passes, Industry passes, Volunteer passes or other comp tickets.
Venue
If you've made a split arrangement with your venue, the above amounts may go to your venue first, and then be forwarded to you. Check with them about how exactly the ticket split will work. Is it Gross or Net? Are there any expenses they will take out first? Don't be shy to ask in advance, and be very clear about the math in a split deal.
PROMOTION AND PROGRAM INFORMATION
We want to help you market your show. While the marketing of the show is ultimately your responsibility, we do a number things festival wide to help you market your show. But we need you to help us. We need information for the website, brochure, and press releases about your show. We have detailed the information that we need below. If you have any questions, or need help creating an image - please let us know.
Image Policy:
For the Website:
We will do general PR for the festival, including a press release to local press. Please go through us to make sure we are not bombarding the large papers. Because of this we have had great coverage in the past. We covers the large papers (Trib, Post-Gazette, and City Paper), and some radio. But there are plenty of smaller neighborhood papers and university papers that we welcome you to reach out to!
We need the following for our PR efforts:
Image Policy:
- Even though we will not censor Fringe content (within laws), all published materials must be PG rated.
- Unless your image is just your logo, please avoid putting text on your images. Some social media outlets reject images with text, as they prefer the text in the posts so robots can read the text to the blind. So it is best to avoid text on your images.
For the Website:
- 3x3 in. 72 DPI image (or better)
- Cast/crew list (you can update this later)
- 40 word description of your company (you can add this later if you want)
- 40 word description of your show (ideally use brochure show description here to be consistent, but you can add reviews or other helpful information to sell your show).
We will do general PR for the festival, including a press release to local press. Please go through us to make sure we are not bombarding the large papers. Because of this we have had great coverage in the past. We covers the large papers (Trib, Post-Gazette, and City Paper), and some radio. But there are plenty of smaller neighborhood papers and university papers that we welcome you to reach out to!
We need the following for our PR efforts:
- 40 word description (use brochure show description here to be consistent).
- Photo Requirements: .jpg format files that are approximately 10mb file size when open. That’s roughly 200 dpi+ at 9 inches x 12 inches for the image dimensions. Often press want nice large format images.
- URL and any social media tags or addresses
- NOTE: The media selects the images they want to use. If you give us amazing images, you are much more likely to see your image in a paper. (Research to see what pictures the media has selected in the past.)
2022 Site Specific Shows
Since anyone can be a venue manager, you can also be the venue manager for just your own show. It is like BYOV at many other fringes. We are hoping to encourage you to interesting found space venues, as one of our best shows have used cool found venues. Or think of a portable venue, that you can drive or park in our footprint. We have places for something like this! Fringe’s are known for their weird quirky show locations, and we would love to have more of this. Some ideas from past years include:
1. A beautiful Victorian bed and breakfast lobby area
2. A swimming pool
3. A smokey dingy basement room
4. A small brewery pub
5. An old stone basement of the bed and breakfast
6. Possibly an apartment, but it might be difficult to get until the last minute when they are sure no one will rent it
7. A hospital is close by…. So maybe something interesting could happen there.
8. Bowling Alley - The Presbyterian Church has a little proper bowling alley with raked seating. That could be a cool show.
9. A Cemetery - This could be great!
10. A hotel room or conference room.
FYI: these are not confirmed found spaces. Some are from our past locations. But we want you to think outside the box. These shows often get more press attention, which hopefully translates into audience attendance.
FYI: Also, remember that we can be more flexible this year on the festival zone.
Other things...
Rehearsal Schedule
Work this out with your venue when you apply, or closer to the time. At least get a commitment about how long your rehearsal time will be. Most fringe venues can only give you 1 1/2 hours total for get in, get out, and rehearsal. Usually fringe shows just get used to the space, and do a cue to cue. If you need true rehearsal space, talk to us. We might have some ideas. (Though it might include an additional rental fee.)
Tech Questions
Work out your tech questions with your venue before you accept. You may even want specifics in your venue deal. As your show may change closer to the festival, make sure to revisit this information with your venue also closer to the time.
Brochure Proof Link
We will be doing rolling proofs of your website page. Even after it is approved, if you find corrections, please let us know. There will be a special form for making corrections.
Logos for your publicity
Feel free to use our logo in your publicity. Keep the colors and dimensions as close as you can. Below are a few different types of files of the logo. If you need something else, or have a question, please email us.
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Social Media and other Publicity
While you are ultimately responsible for marketing your show, we do as much total festival publicity as we can. The better the material you give us, the more coverage you will get. Great pictures we can use on Instagram? We will be more likely to post. A great high resolution picture can also get you print and online media in major news channels. Don't scrimp on great photographs!
Make sure to tell us any weird or awesome things about your show. You can also give us links for us to put on our website, or anything else that could be useful for us to use for publicity. It may be an interesting tidbit that we can use for a tweet, or a link to a video marketing your show. Or you just made a new Instagram account, and you now want us to link to it. Feel free to give us as much information as possible so we can do our best to publicise the whole festival (and maybe with your show's image!).
Subgroups - Are there certain groups or organizations that are likely to enjoy your show? Tell us your ideas. We can work together to try to market to corresponding groups.
Idea: Is your show about surviving cancer? Then you might want to contact a cancer survivor network. There are a lot of different social groups organized locally for all sorts of different things. Show about knitting? Let's find knitting organizations to tell about your show. Look on Meetup.com or facebook for these corresponding groups. But let us know too, in case we know of something specific!
Make sure to tell us any weird or awesome things about your show. You can also give us links for us to put on our website, or anything else that could be useful for us to use for publicity. It may be an interesting tidbit that we can use for a tweet, or a link to a video marketing your show. Or you just made a new Instagram account, and you now want us to link to it. Feel free to give us as much information as possible so we can do our best to publicise the whole festival (and maybe with your show's image!).
Subgroups - Are there certain groups or organizations that are likely to enjoy your show? Tell us your ideas. We can work together to try to market to corresponding groups.
Idea: Is your show about surviving cancer? Then you might want to contact a cancer survivor network. There are a lot of different social groups organized locally for all sorts of different things. Show about knitting? Let's find knitting organizations to tell about your show. Look on Meetup.com or facebook for these corresponding groups. But let us know too, in case we know of something specific!
