The Darwin Fringe Festival has spent the last six years developing its position as a platform for emerging artists and engaged audiences. An open access community arts festival held annually in July, the Darwin Fringe is eager to continue in a role of support for the local sector.
Held over 2 days in October, From the Fringes will present workshops covering everything from having difficult conversations in safe spaces to arts tax. Open to all Territory creatives (from every genre) funds raised will support 10 bursaries making it easier for regional Territory creatives to attend. The majority will fund a producer, facilitators, venue hire, production, admin and catering costs.
We’re currently in the fundraising and planning stage of this project. Darwin Fringe has been meeting with stakeholders from the local industry and surveying artists to help plan the weekend. After we complete fundraising (May) we will have finished programming and will be looking to advertise the opportunity across the Northern Territory .
From the Fringes will be an annual weekend, offering accessible development opportunities to creatives from across the Northern Territory. There are currently no arts specific courses hosted at our local university or tafe. This means that our artists often have to leave to up-skill and having a full time creative career becomes unsustainable without the right skills.
Creating further space to develop new voices and fresh ideas will hopefully see more provocative work being produced in the Northern Territory. Safe and supportive environments are vital to establishing an accessible arts community.
It’s time to plant seeds in our own backyard. Connecting with some of the NT’s most notorious art organisations, we will be able to assure that the workshops are designed specifically for the needs of our locality. The Top End is ripe with talent, stories and understanding. The Darwin Fringe is excited to work with these minds and hopes to provide them with further abilities to share their art.
Darwin Fringe will be so appreciative of every dollar as it’ll go towards covering facilitator fees to at least 20 local artists, covering the costs of a producer, hiring the established Brown’s Mart Theatre on sacred Larrakia land, paying for catering as well as general production costs.
Thanks to Creative Partnerships Australia’s MATCH Lab program, your donation to this campaign will be matched dollar for dollar. Access to MATCH Lab means that we can provide more workshops and keep it free of charge. It’ll also assure a higher quality event for the artists involved.
After the weekend Darwin Fringe hopes to have over 100 artists walk away with new skills to create rigorous works as well as holding a better understanding of industry professional standards. We’ll connect them with experienced artists who can help them to understand technique and their own capacity to share a message. Through the practise of basic business admin we hope to see creatives accessing even more professional opportunities in the Northern Territory and abroad.
You can find out more via our website: darwinfringe.org.au
