Big Sky Fringe Festival Launches In May With A Digitally Driven Festival

Big Sky Fringe Festival announces a small, digitally driven festival May 20th-23rd 2021! Intended to launch in May 2020, but stalled by COVID, Big Sky Fringe follows in the long proud tradition of openly sourced performing arts festivals that began in Edinburgh in 1947, when certain artists who weren't accepted by the more mainstream Edinburgh Arts Festival created their own event "on the fringes" of the existing festival. The purpose of Fringe is to provide an open-access, community-derived event celebrating freedom of expression and collaboration in the performing arts community. Participation in the Fringe is completely open and uncensored.

This free-for-all approach underlines the festival's mission to be a platform for artists without the barrier of a curative body. By opening the gates to all with a vision, the festival is able to exhibit the most diverse and cutting-edge points-of-view the world has to offer. Additionally, by creating an environment where artists must self-produce their work, the Fringe motivates its participants to cultivate a spirit of entrepreneurialism in the arts.

The goal of Big Sky Fringe is to up the stakes for performing arts in the region. We have chosen to call ourselves Big Sky Fringe, in order to make it clear that we want to encourage all Montana artists as well as artists from wherever to participate under our one "big sky." For 2021, we are planning a combination of socially distanced indoor and outdoor performances as well as digital content, to make sure to accommodate the safety needs of both artists and patrons.

Big Sky Fringe is helmed by veteran producer and festival director, Victoria Watson Winkler. After years consulting and building festivals for other people, she has decided to build one for her newly adopted town of Missoula. Having traveled the world one festival at a time, she has also run theatrical production arms for Pasadena Playhouse, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Nederlander Touring Group. She is an originator of the Hollywood Fringe, now one of the largest in the world.

Tickets to all festival events will go on sale May 5th. Registration is currently open for all artists.

Who should participate... Theatre, Dance, Performance Art, Comedy, Cabaret, Music, two actors in a horse costume...however you want to express yourself!

More info on the festival and how to register a show can be found at www.BigSkyFringeFestival.org.

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