BorderLight Theatre Festival Opens 2024 Call for Artists

Looking to build on the success from 2023, BorderLight Theatre Festival will return to Playhouse Square—the country’s largest performing arts center outside of New York—from July 24 to 27, 2024. Established and emerging companies in theatre, dance, circus, immersive experiences, puppetry, street theatre, spoken word, stand-up comedy and more are encouraged to visit borderlightcle.org/apply to apply for the fringe portion of the festival by Feb. 4, 2024. 

As one of the newest fringe festivals worldwide—the first festival was held in 2019— BorderLight is a platform for independent artists and companies to showcase their work and engage new audiences in a vibrant festival environment. “I want BorderLight to be an opportunity for exploration,” said Associate Producer Josy Jones. “Many times, artists are locked into the work of others and are not given the platform to experiment, be wrong, be right, and try something they've dreamed up. We want to be that opportunity for artists.”

BorderLight welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds, including age, race, ethnicity, religion and gender identification. Thanks to generous support from the Cleveland Foundation, BorderLight is amplifying those efforts by hiring a team of ambassadors from key Cleveland neighborhoods to encourage participation in the 2024 festival. The ambassadors are hosting a series of free clinics around town on Saturdays in January to answer questions about BorderLight and assist artists with the application process.

• Detroit Shoreway | Jan. 6, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• St. Clair-Superior | Jan. 6, 2 to 5 p.m.

• Buckeye-Woodhill | Jan. 13, 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.

• South Collinwood | Jan. 20, 1 to 4 p.m.

In addition, BorderLight staff are hosting an Artist Q & A Zoom on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 6 p.m.

Learn more about how to apply for the 2024 BorderLight Fringe Festival and the January application sessions.