Who We Are
Capital Fringe is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in the summer of 2005 with the purpose of infusing energy into performing arts in the Washington, DC region through our yearly Fringe Festival and year-round Fringe Training Factory. Our mission is to connect exploratory artists with adventurous audiences by creating outlets and spaces for creative, cutting-edge, and contemporary performance in the District. Capital Fringe’s vital programs ensure the growth and continued health of the local and regional performing arts community by helping artists become independent producers while stimulating the vibrant cultural landscape in our city.
FRINGE FESTIVAL
Capital Fringe Festival is the only major unjuried, self-producing, open-access Festival in the Washington, DC area and occurs in July each year. The Fringe Festival provides all artists, whether new or established, a venue to express and develop their talents and artistic visions in total freedom.
FRINGE TRAINING FACTORY
Twice each year, Capital Fringe produces a performance series focusing on contemporary works by local, national and international independent performing artists. In addition, we work with 30 underprivileged youth creating new works in the performing arts through the Fringe Training Factory Youth-Led Producers.
Capital Fringe received the 2007 Mayor’s Arts Award for Innovation in the Arts, the 2007 Momentum Award from the Downtown DC BID, and was awarded the 2011 Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in Service to the Arts.
CAPITAL FRINGE IS:
+ Focused on the performing arts: Theater, dance, puppetry, spoken word, but may include film and visual arts
+ Uncensored: All content is created and produced by the artist
+ Easy to participate in: Ticket prices are low for audiences and production fees are low for artists.
+ Original: Fringe features a huge array of original material
+ Rapid-fire: Tech is minimal (minor sets, nothing elaborate) and shows are often around 60 minutes in length
FRINGE FACTS
In 2010 alone, Fringe sold 28,000 tickets to 715 performances of 137 productions, featuring over 2,000 artists at 12 venues located around the Mt. Vernon, Chinatown, and Penn Quarter neighborhoods.
In FIVE years, Fringe has:
- Brought 80,000 fellow members of the DC community to see amazing, world-class performing arts
- Grown to be the second largest, unjuried Fringe Festival in the United States
- Generated over $1 million dollars in revenue for participating artists
- Premiered over 250 new works
- Worked with over 100 underserved DC youth
FRINGE AUDIENCE
Gender: Female 70% Male 30%
Age: 70% are 25-55 years of age
Annual Household Income: 74% make over $50,000 annually
Where do they live? DC-40% MD-30% VA-27%
A few years ago we made a short film about the philosophy of Fringe. Written & directed by Founding Member, Scot McKenzie. Take a few minutes to watch our film and discover the place... where everyone's story has value!
Featuring Fringe Staff & Friends: Bala, Suzanne Richard, Julianne Brienza, Dan Brick, Zoia Wiseman, and Denman C. Anderson
