With that began an interview of Sarah Curnoles, producer and director of the 2015 Charm City Fringe Fest Audience Choice Award winner, A Fool’s Paradise. In just a few days, Sarah and her company will be the second Festival award-winner to take their production to Scotland to perform in the largest arts festival in the world, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The Charm City Fringe team is proud to introduce the adjudication panel for our 2016 season! For the first time ever, we invited friends from across the Baltimore theatre community to help review all of our applications.
Read on for a bit of background on a few of our amazing 2016 panelists.
2016 marks five years of Fringe in Baltimore City, won't you join us in celebrating?
Nights on the Fringe, a vaudeville-style performing arts extravaganza opens next weekend!
Hey, guys! Do you know what 2016 is?
Oh my god, Charm City Fringe Festival is FIVE! That’s right - FIVE years old. If you’re thinking about birthday presents, we are really into My Little Ponys and Star Wars action figures. But, for real, in the past four years we have put on four festivals, two Nights on the Fringe, presented 65 artists, and served over 4,500 audience members. You were so much a part of that, that we couldn’t possibly celebrate five years without including you. Here are some ways to get involved!:
Applications are now open. Always wanted to produce a play? Have a brilliant idea that you want a safe place to play with? Got a bunch of friends that have only gotten to play in your dad’s garage? Apply to perform in CCFF Numero Cinco
We are also excited to announce that for our fifth year, we are revamping the Bring Your Own Venue (BYOV) program. This year, every BYOV venue will have their own venue manager and box office representative, to help facilitate ticket sales to your venue!
As a part of our year of celebration, Nights On the Fringe is returning bigger and better than ever. July 8th and 9th at the Baltimore Theatre Project, you will be totally immersed, Vaudeville-style, in music, puppetry, dance, comedy, the works. It’s gonna be hot and sexy, and so much better than staying home to “Netflix and chill.” We promise. I mean, just look at the poster:
Aside from our usual festival programming, we are dedicated to expanding our education program this year. The Fringe Academy has been actively engaged in working with students to find their voice through different forms of storytelling. This semester culminated in a presentation as a part of the ARTRISING on April 26th, to “envision a Baltimore where peace and unity reign.”
This past year has been a time of transition for Charm City. After spending a year working with NYU, I moved back to the city exactly one year ago. On the day of the uprising. I’ve got Old Bay in my blood, so it was important to me to find a way to make a difference here in the post-uprising time. But all I have to give is the ability to facilitate art, and what art does do is give us a space to be, and a safe opportunity for challenging conversation.
Charm City Fringe Festival is an opportunity for us all to come together, with artists near and far, to talk, commune, and experience being an artist in Baltimore in this very, possibly most, important time.
I hope that you will join us, as we celebrate five fantastic years in this most Charming of Cities.
-Kate Gibson, Production Chair
PS - Can’t join us, but want to contribute… we take donations too!
Did you guess "Want?"
We hope so. We want you because we are about to begin accepting applications for the fifth annual Charm City Fringe Fest, coming this November 3-13, 2016. Young and new companies, undergrad or grad school groups, out-of-towners and traveling bards, one-person shows, established veterans of the theatre scene -- all are welcome to apply!
One time only, new for 2016, Charm City Fringe is entering its fifth year! I mean really, this is hot stuff. But have you been able to catch one of our artist's shows yet?
Now's your chance. We are bringing back Nights on the Fringe this July 8th and 9th at Baltimore Theatre Project. If you missed this last year, it is an immersive vaudevillian showcase of the arts. We are again bringing out buskers, walkabout performers, curating gallery works, and surprise guests. And that's just what you'll see before you get inside! Onstage you'll witness comedy, music, theatre, acrobats, dance, film and more.
For this month's Benefits section, we're taking a gander at our Fringe Academy. Launched in 2015 with our Opening Act program, we are continuing our work in 2016, along with our wonderful partnership with the Choice Program. Inspired by the work of Baltimore's brilliant Stoop Storytelling series, students will explore the theatre and performing arts through the art of storytelling, utilizing a variety of performance and production tools to help them tell their story and find their voice. Since 2015, Fringe has worked with over 100 young adults, providing them volunteer opportunities, a chance to be a part of team-based projects, and empowerment through creative learning opportunities through the arts.
As part of a new initiative with other regional Fringe Festivals, we are beginning a collective of sorts to provide a more established and dependable system for hiring and providing work our seasonal staff. Keep a lookout on our jobs section for more information, as well as new positions being posted in the coming weeks. In the meantime, visit our festival friends to the south: Capital Fringe in DC is currently hiring for the summer.
As always, reach out with any questions at any time. Thanks for reading!
-Zach Michel, Co-founder
