250+ Fringe Festivals happen world-wide each year: 21 of those happen in Canada, and the Island Fringe Festival is one of them!

Fringe Festivals are dedicated to supporting independent performers and artists while creating opportunities for diverse communities to experience boundary-pushing theatre and live performance at affordable rates.

Fringe Festivals operate in accordance with the five criteria established by the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF):

The Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals was formed to protect these five guiding principles:

1. Participants will be selected on a non-juried basis, through a first-come, first served process, a lottery, or other method approved by the Association.
2. The audience must have the option to pay a ticket price, 100% of which goes directly to the artists.
3. Fringe Festival producers have no control over the artistic content of each performance. The artistic freedom of the participants is unrestrained.
4. Festivals must provide an easily accessible opportunity for all audiences and all artists to participate in Fringe Festivals.
5. Festivals will promote and model inclusivity, diversity and multiculturalism, and will endeavor to incorporate them into all aspects of our organizations.

Artists tells us what their ‘ideal’ venue for their performance would be, and we try to make it as site-specific as possible. For example, if an artist requests an outdoor park with a swing set, we will make every attempt possible to acquire that space for their show– if we are unable to get exactly that, we will choose something as close as possible.

The Island Fringe Festival is one of the smallest Fringes in North America but we live large. We pride ourselves in assembling an amazing team of volunteers who help the shows run smoothly. We give one-on-one personal support to the artists who come to our Fringe. We work to accommodate all everyone who comes to our shows. We have fantastic Patrons… many of whom challenge themselves to see every performance at least once (and sometimes twice!) over the Island Fringe Festival. And because we’re on the East Coast, we sure do know how to party!!