About the Capital Fringe Festival
Capital Fringe’s annual festival was the only unjuried, self-producing live performance festival in the Washington, DC area. Since its inception in 2006, we presented 17 festivals, showcasing over 52,700 artists to an audience of 368,564 ticket buyers. The festival generated more than $2.7 million in artist revenue.
At our final festival in July 2024, 57% of available tickets were sold, resulting in a total payout of $70,836 to participants. On average, each artist received a payout of $2,083.
Annual Fringe Festival Structure
- Participation Fee: $585 + $280 insurance fee
- Acceptance & Participation Agreements: February (productions accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until available venue space is filled)
- Venue Tech Specs & Show Schedules: April
- Marketing Images and Blurbs Due: May
- Tickets on Sale: June 21
- Tech Days: July 8–10
- Fringe Festival Dates: July 11–21
- Performances:
- Thursday & Friday: 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
- Saturday & Sunday: 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
- Performances:
- Box Office Payouts: August 9
How Capital Fringe Supported Participating Artists and Companies
- Provided consistent guidance, support, and communication to all primary participant contacts.
- Hosted a virtual “How to Fringe” session, accompanied by a self-producing manual for the Capital Fringe Festival.
- Scheduled one technical rehearsal (double the production’s run time plus 30 minutes) and allocated requested performance slots (2 to 5 shows) with run times of 50 to 75 minutes.
- Provided a venue with a minimum of 50 seats, basic lighting, and sound for live performances.
- Assigned a dedicated Venue Manager to oversee operations, including managing the venue’s box office staff, who handled ticketing from 30 minutes before the first performance until 15 minutes after the last show of the day.
- Supplied a media list and provided access to a Fringe publicist and press team to assist in pitching productions to the media.
- Marketed the Fringe Festival as a whole, including:
- Issuing festival press releases
- Advertising in the DMV area
- Partnering with organizations to expand audience reach
- Hosting events for participants to promote their productions
- Created a dedicated show page on capitalfringe.org, including a ticket-purchasing link.
- Granted participants access to box office and patron data.
- Allocated 70% of each production’s ticket revenue to its participants (tickets priced at $15).
Excited to announce the continuation of Down to Earth, our visual arts program for 2025, in partnership with Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. Supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, our goals with Down to Earth are twofold. First, we aim to provide earning opportunities for outstanding DC-based artists by offering them a funded period to create new work. Second, we seek to illuminate and engage in meaningful dialogue about the effects of the climate crisis and its interconnectedness with systemic racism in our community, using art and the creative process as vehicles for these conversations. This is particularly critical given the existential nature of our climate emergency and the limited resources available for the community to learn and adapt.
For Winter and Spring 2024–2025, selected artists Billy Friebele, Andrew Kastner, and the Fourth Floor Design Collective will produce work examining the rich ecosystem of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, both above and below the water’s surface.
Learn more about and stay tuned for updates and upcoming events!
Beginning in 2009, Fringe presented free live music, forging partnerships with a range of organizations and venues throughout the DC area. From the DC Library Foundation and Downtown DC BID to SW BID, Fort Fringe, and the Trinidad Theatre, we have collaborated with a variety of partners to create earned revenue for musicians/band and venues for showcasing local talent and celebrating the community through music.
From 2009 – 2024 individuals who have served as music curators are Denman Anderson, Jim Thomson, Matthew Perrone, Luke Stewart and Julianne Brienza.