Melbourne Fringe celebrates the fresh, the innovative and the ground-breaking in all aspects of the arts. It is the most exciting explosion of independent creativity that Melbourne sees each year. If you want to take the pulse of one of Australia’s most culturally engaged cities, this is the time and place to do it.
In 2009, over 4000 independent artists created over 300 shows that took over theatres, pubs, bars, galleries and public spaces across the city. The work produced is cutting-edge, professional, and always exciting, and ranges from circus to visual arts, cabaret to dance, theatre to comedy. Many of Australia’s finest talents, including Lano and Woodley, Barrie Kosky, Santo Cilauro, Rachel Berger, Rachel Griffiths, Tiddas, Julia Zemiro and Sammy J have experimented with new ideas in Melbourne Fringe.
The Festival Hub in North Melbourne presents a slice of all things Fringe within a close cluster of venues. Hub venues present work selected by the Melbourne Fringe team and is the best place to get a taster of Melbourne’s thriving independent arts culture. The North Melbourne Town Hall houses the Fringe Club with a bar, free entertainment and irrepressible energy.
In addition to managing the independent program, Melbourne Fringe unearths some of the most extraordinary ideas taking shape in the independent sector and develops them into the free Made by Melbourne Fringe program. In 2009, 25 years of ground-breaking design were celebrated with Fringe Furniture, the interactive artwork Circuit showcased Victoria’s community of independent galleries, Reverb(1) was a dance project inspired by memories and experiences of public places, and Take Off Your Skin, a large-scale collaborative dance performance, infected Melbourne with multiplying Japanese clones.
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