Brighton Fringe Ethos

Brighton Festival Fringe is one of the largest and fastest-growing open access arts festival in the world and the largest in England. It sets out to stimulate, educate and entertain a wide audience by providing a showcase for diverse art forms. No artistic judgment or selection criteria are imposed on participants, enabling the development of both new and established work to attract fresh audiences, press and promoters.

A brief history

Brighton and Hove has held Fringe activity since the Brighton Festivals’ creation in 1967. Over the years this has grown significantly and been presented in a number of different ways: ‘Fringe’, ‘Umbrella’, ‘The Open’ and was finally renamed ‘Brighton Festival Fringe’ in 2002. It became a company in its own right in 2006 and appointed an independent board of directors. This made the difference between the two festivals very clear: Brighton Festival is a series of curated and programmed events, the Fringe, however, provides open access to everyone who wants and registers to take part.

What the Fringe does

Brighton Festival Fringe is a service organisation that supports artists, producers and audiences. The Fringe office provides a range of marketing tools to promote participating events and a one-stop ticketing facility through an in-person, telephone and on-line box office.

The Fringe is a completely open access, which means anyone can put on an event and be included in the listings in the brochure and on the website on payment of a fee. By definition the Fringe can include any art form.

Brighton Fringe 2009 in numbers

3 weeks

702 events

240 venues

189 free events, Fringe City outdoor showcase events (about 40,000 people visited)

170,000 total audience attendances

101,091 tickets sold (up 25% from 2007) and about 70,000 visitors to free events

138,951 visitors to the website with almost a million page-views

2 full-time and 4 part-time staff

Almost 50 volunteers

Fringe revenue

Brighton Festival Fringe is a registered charity but only a small percentage of its income comes from public funding. Its other sources of revenue include participants’ registration fees, selling advertisement in the brochure and on the website, sponsorships and Friends memberships. The organisation has also built a portfolio of mutually beneficial partnerships with a range of local businesses.

Charity Number - 1116367

Company number - 5578256

VAT number - 892 5694 68

Company Documents

Memorandum of Association

Articles of Association

Annual Report