Pittsburgh Fringe
What is PGH Fringe?
The Pittsburgh Fringe is an all-out, no-holds-barred, inclusive multi-disciplinary performing arts festival featuring international, national and local artists. The annual festival will be in multiple venues in Pittsburgh's East End from Bloomfield and Friendship to Garfield and East Liberty along Penn Avenue. The festival will showcase theater (physical, street, musical), comedy, visual arts, puppetry, family entertainment, music, dance, spoken word, opera, poetry, literature and shows we haven't even thought of yet!
Pittsburgh Fringe strives to keep the festival accessible and affordable to artists (low application and participation fees) and audiences with affordable tickets, special free programming, "see-as-much-as-you-want" passes, and other discounts like our button discount).
FRINGE FESTIVAL HISTORY
In 1947, eight theatre groups crashed the newly established and curated Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland. Uninvited and refused entry, the groups performed anyway on “the fringe” of the Festival, and the Fringe was born. The Edinburgh Fringe is now aptly nicknamed “the largest show on earth.” The 2017 festival saw 3,398 shows in 300 venues and lasted the entire month of August, and on its own brings over $350 million to the local economy. Fringe venues run the gamut from proper theatres to a public restroom. Today, there are over 200 fringe festivals worldwide, with 50 in the U.S. and growing.
Our own Pittsburgh Fringe just had a birthday! We are presenting our 10TH festival in 2023.. Since our first year we have been presenting 50-100 performances of 20-50 different shows each year during our 3 day, and now 4 day festival. And we consider ourselves small. We attract performs from all over the US and world, and even tourists to see the shows. We are members of USAFF - The US Association of Fringe Festivals and members of World Fringe. We regularly meet with directors from these festivals around the globe to make sure our Pittsburgh Fringe grows and improves, allowing locals the chance to experience this world wide movement in their own backyard. We also host workshops and offer assistance to local shows wanting to tour to other fringe's around the US and the world. In addition, our festival is a great networking opportunity for local artists who want to expand beyond the local market and take their show on the road, as about half our shows come from all over the US and world, and many of these artists are willing to share their experiences with our local artists.
OUR MISSION
The mission of the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival is to support adventurous and exploratory performing artists by showcasing their artistic expression in an inclusive environment to equally adventurous audiences.
We seek to enhance this connection through performances, continuing education, workshops, discussions, and forums. Pittsburgh Fringe Festival is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.
We are proud members of USAFF (US Association of Fringe Festivals), and World Festival Network, and World Fringe, and we regularly meet up with directors of other fringes around the US and the World.
We are also proud members of the East Liberty Chamber of Commerce.
Since 2019 we are in the East Liberty, Garfield, and Bloomfield area mostly along Penn Avenue. With multiple venues along Penn Avenue, as well as, lots of restaurants and art galleries, we hope you will have an amazing experience!
The physical location of this year's Fringe Central:
|
|
