We draw names randomly.

Applications for the 2023 Ottawa Fringe Festival opens Friday, October 14th.

OTTAWA FRINGE FESTIVAL, June 2023
APPLICATION GUIDELINES FOR LOTTERY COMPANIES

The 26th annual Ottawa Fringe Festival will run for 11 days, June 15th-25th, 2023. With 50 performing companies presenting upwards of 300 performances, the Fringe is Ottawa’s largest and longest-running theatre festival, returning over $118,000 to participating artists in 2019, our highest ever!

A proud member of The Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals, the Ottawa Fringe returns 100% of box office revenue into the pockets of its participants – and is committed to giving artists the opportunity to produce work in an uncensored, unjuried, and highly accessible environment.

The only constraints on material or content are the consideration of legality and the health and safety of all those involved, including artists, staff, volunteers and audiences. The Fringe reserves the right to enforce necessary safety measures.

CONTACT
Alain Richer, Executive Director
[email protected]
613.232.6162 x101
2 Daly Avenue, Suite 100
Ottawa ON, K1N 6E2

Participating in THE OTTAWA FRINGE FESTIVAL

ACCEPTANCE POLICY

Applications are entered into a lottery, and accepted according to the following geographically tiered quotas:

  • 50% of the spots are reserved for Local artists (applying from within Ottawa/Gatineau)
  • 30% are reserved for National artists (applying from outside Ottawa/Gatineau, but within Canada)
  • 20% are reserved for International artists (applying from outside Canada)

*To be eligible for the Youth category, the majority of your company must be age 18 and under.
**To be eligible for the Fringe Open Doors Mentorship, please click through here and read about the program.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applications can be completed online beginning at 11:00am EST on October 14, 2022.

Applications must be received no later than Friday, December 2nd, 2022 at 11:30pm EST.

All applicants must include a $25.00 Lottery Fee, which must be paid at the time of application. Applications that do not include a Lottery Fee will not be processed.

You may not submit more than one application to the Ottawa Fringe.

Each application must identify a Producer. Once submitted, neither the Producer name nor the Company name on your application can be changed.

One person cannot act as Producer for more than one application.

If accepted into the Festival, you cannot transfer/sell your spot to another company.

Please keep a copy of your application form. For safety.

LOTTERY

All complete applications received before the deadline will be entered into the lottery.

The public lottery will be held on Monday, December 5th, 2022 at Arts Court.

Unsuccessful applicants will be automatically placed on a waiting list.

All applicants will be notified via email of their acceptance or waiting list status no later than one week following the lottery.

Lottery results will also be posted on our website as soon as possible.

FEES, WAITLIST, AND WITHDRAWAL POLICY

LOTTERY AND REGISTRATION FEES

Each application must include a $25.00 Lottery Fee. This fee will be processed upon receipt of your application.

Successful applicants will be required to pay a Registration Fee. This fee will only be processed if you are accepted into the Festival.

  • 60 minute category: $660.00
  • Youth category: $225.00

All fees include HST.

Lottery and Registration Fees can be paid by credit card, cheque, or cold hard cash.

If you are paying via cheque, you must include two separate cheques: one for the Lottery Fee (cashable on the date of your submission), and one for the Registration Fee (cashable the day after the lottery).

Payment of Lottery Fees must be received by December 2nd or your application will not be entered into the lottery.

A deadline for payment of Registration Fees will be communicated to successful applicants after lottery.

For the 60 minute category show runtime cannot exceed 60 minutes.

For the Youth category show runtime cannot exceed 60 minutes.

For the Fringe Open Door Mentorships category show runtime cannot exceed 60 minutes.

Successful 60 minute shows will receive six performances during the Festival; Youth shows will receive two performances.

Make sure you apply to the correct time category. Once your application is drawn in the lottery, it isn’t possible to change categories. Refunds will not be issued for 90 minute shows that end up being 60 minutes or less, and 60 minute shows absolutely cannot exceed their allotted time.

WAITLIST POLICY

If the lottery is unkind to you, your company will be automatically added to the waitlist, with your spot on the list dependent on geography (local, national, international) and when you were drawn.

If you are on the waitlist we will only process your Registration Fee if/when you get a spot in the Festival.

Companies can remove themselves from the waitlist at any time by contacting the Executive Director.

WITHDRAWING FROM THE FESTIVAL

Companies selected in the lottery who must withdraw from the festival may do so by contacting the Executive Director in writing (email preferred, but send a postcard if you’d like).

Depending on your date of withdrawal, companies may receive a full or partial refund of their Registration Fee. Companies withdrawing…

  • on or before January 11 will receive a 100% refund of their Registration Fee (minus a $30 processing fee)
  • on or after January 12 and before/on February 19 will receive a 50% refund of their Registration Fee (minus a $30 processing fee)
  • on or after February 20 will forfeit 100% of their Registration Fee

Non-Sufficient Funds: if your payment is returned NSF, you will have seven days to submit new payment PLUS a $30 processing fee per failed payment.  After seven days, the applicant will be removed from the lottery or from participation in the Festival.

GENERAL FESTIVAL INFORMATION

VENUE ASSIGNMENTS AND SCHEDULING

If your application is successful, your show will be assigned a venue to be shared with seven to nine other shows over the length of the Festival. Venues will be assigned with consideration to your technical requirements, but we cannot make any guarantees based on your requests.  We promise, however, to do our best to assign you a venue suitable for your show.

Festival scheduling:

  • You must plan to be available for all 11 days of the festival and three days prior as we cannot pre-determine when your first performance will take place. Availability up to three days before is for a technical rehearsal.
  • Performance times will vary from day to day and venue to venue, but generally we schedule shows between 5:30 – 11:00 pm Monday to Friday, and noon – 11:00 pm on weekends.
  • Each company will receive a mix of matinee, early evening, “prime time”, and late-night show times.
  • Time slots will be assigned to best accommodate each group, with the final decision at the discretion of the Executive Director.

Please note: Artists participating in multiple shows assume the risk that schedules may overlap. The Fringe makes NO guarantees it will be able to accommodate conflicts.

FESTIVAL / PARTICIPANT COMMUNICATION

Festival applicants will be informed via email no later than one week following the lottery as to whether their application was successful or if they are on the waitlist. We’ll also post results on ottawafringe.com as soon as we can.

Email is the primary way the Fringe communicates with our participating companies. Producers will receive regular email updates from the Festival, containing important info about Festival policies, deadlines, events, opportunities, and the like. Please read them.

BOX OFFICE AND TICKETING

Tickets for all performances at the 2023 Ottawa Fringe Festival will be priced at $12; with a $2 surcharge for advance tickets, which is subject to change.

Artists participating in the Ottawa Fringe Festival receive 100% of their listed ticket price with the exception of a limited number of discounted 5 and 10-show passes, for which they will receive a percentage of the pass price.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Tech requirements should be kept simple, as Festival venues may be equipped with only basic lights and sound.

Each company will receive one three-hour technical rehearsal in their assigned venue. Technical rehearsals will begin three days prior to the festival.

Be aware that daytime technical rehearsals will be necessary for most companies. If you know you have daytime conflicts during the tech rehearsal dates, please notify the Fringe as soon as possible.

BYOVs – BRING YOUR OWN VENUES

Disappointed you didn’t get into the Fringe, and too far down the waitlist to have a hope of getting into the Festival? You can submit a Bring Your Own Venue (BYOV) application.

BYOV applications will be available in January 2022 on ottawafringe.com/byov.

Feel free to contact the Executive Director if you have any questions about BYOVs.

Access note

Please read our access note before applying to the lottery. You can read it by clicking here.

 

READY TO APPLY?

That’s all! Now you have all the information you need to know before submitting your application, which takes less than five minutes to complete.

You’ll receive a confirmation email shortly after your application has been submitted. If you don’t receive this email within 24 hours of applying, check your Junk/Spam folder. If it’s not there, contact us and we’ll sort things out.

Best of luck in the lottery!

The 2023 lottery has now closed.