Submissions Open for Reconceived 2017 Cape Town Fringe

Organised by the same team that puts together the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown every year, the Cape Town Fringe will be back in the Mother City from 21 September to 8 October 2017 in a brand new format. Submissions for this year's Cape Town Fringe, which will not be based at the Cape Town City Hall as it has been in the past, are now open through the end of July.

Productions in all genres of performance are eligible for consideration for the Cape Town Fringe, with preference given to smaller and medium-sized works that can tour to venues on the planned Cape Town Fringe circuit. Work should be bold, compelling unconventional, socially aware and relevant.

Tony Lankester, the Festival's chief executive officer, explains the shift in the upcoming festival's format:

We are focusing on building a "Cape Town Fringe Circuit". We've been going for three years and the Cape Town Fringe has made its mark on the city's arts calendar. We're very proud of what we've achieved. Thousands of performers and tens of thousands of audience members have enjoyed what the Fringe has offered. However, across the city, there are venues, theatres, performers, and communities who are battling to find their way into the 'mainstream' and, often against enormous odds, are still managing to bring stages to life with great art. So this year we want to work with new theatre-makers and spaces to amplify their platforms and the work they are putting on them.

Ashraf Johaardien, the Festival's Cape Town-born executive producer, continues:

Part of the ethos of fringe festivals across the world has been the creation of platforms and opportunities for artists who have been relegated to the margins. We will have a hub elsewhere in the city centre but the focus of the 2017 festival will be on partnering with existing spaces across the peninsula as well as supporting and nurturing new spaces that have relevance and resonance in the communities where they have emerged. So this year both venues and artists are invited to apply.

The Cape Town Fringe team will programme successful productions into venues selected for participation, also working with successful venues to programme productions from their own networks or the open call for expressions of interest.

Cape Town venue owners, production companies, collectives and individual theatre-makers are invited to register expressions of interest online before 31 July 2017. The Cape Town Fringe will provide overall Festival marketing and produce the works selected.