Chicago Fringe Festival Hosts United States Association of Fringe Festivals This Weekend

Chicago Fringe Festival and Executive Director Anne Cauley are proud to announce that Chicago is hosting more than 30 representatives from across the United States for the United States Association of Fringe Festivals annual conference, this weekend, October 23 - 25.

The conference incudes discussions, networking and sharing best practices within the Fringe Festival community. The Jefferson Playhouse, home of the Windy City Music Theatre, is the host site and the Hyatt Regency O'Hare is the official hotel sponsor for the conference. Additional sites in Jefferson Park to be utilized during the conference include Chicago Fringe Festival partners; Gift Theatre, Gale Street Inn, Fischman Liquors and Tavern and Teresa II.

"The Chicago Fringe Festival is thrilled to be hosting this event for the first time in Chicago. We look forward to sharing our experiences and ideas with other communities to help make the Fringe movement even stronger in the United States as well as showcasing Chicago's arts, culture and culinary scenes," said Cauley.

From the Association's site, "In the United States, no one organization or individual owns, controls or regulates the name "Fringe." There are no national rules for how each individual festivals operate; the festivals' content, finances and structure vary from city to city. Generally, however, all the festivals are committed to an open forum of expression that minimizes the financial risks for both artists and audiences. Fringes work hard to keep production fees and ticket prices low so that more people can participate in our festivals, and freedom from centralized control has led to a whole lot of festivals to participate in. The United States now hosts more Fringe Festivals than any other country."

Organizations attending the 2015 conference include representatives from the following Fringe cities:

• Atlanta, Georgia

• Baltimore, Maryland

• Boulder, Colorado

• Elgin, Illinois

• Fort Lauderdale, Florida

• Indianapolis, Indiana

• Kansas City, Missouri

• New York, New York (2 festivals)

• Orlando, Florida

• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Portland, Maine

• Rochester, New York

• Saint Louis, Missouri

• Salt Lake City, Utah

• San Diego, California

• San Francisco, California.

ABOUT CHICAGO FRINGE FESTIVAL

Since 2009, the Chicago Fringe Festival (CFF) unites daring theatregoers with emerging and boundary-pushing performing artists from around the world at its annual festival in Chicago. CFF also seeks to engage nontraditional audiences through a commitment to low ticket prices and outreach into artistically underserved communities. The Chicago Fringe Festival staff is entirely volunteer-based and 100% of all net ticket revenue is returned to the performing artists.

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Long-Running Broadway Show - Top 3

1. Hadestown

19.8% of votes

2. Hamilton

16.5% of votes

3. Wicked

12.5% of votes

Vote Now! View Live Stats