Putting a Show into Bath Fringe

How do I get to be in the Fringe?

Most Bath Fringe shows are self-promoting under the Fringe banner, or promoted by Bath venues: we actually do only a very few core bookings ourselves (this is also the pattern at Edinburgh, Brighton, and other big Fringes). Although we are always interested in receiving details about new shows, theatre companies, unusual cabaret & street acts, music of all sorts, and anything else you see or don’t see in our programme, we probably won’t be able to book it ourselves, and though we sometimes talk about programming with some venues, all the important decisions are theirs alone. We are not programming a music venue this year, though there may be some Fringe promotions at other venues. Any programming is mostly done from December to February but it’s not impossible for there to be spaces nearer the festival time itself. NB: our office isn’t regularly staffed over the summer, we have other work to do then, and it’s always best to EMail rather than phone or post. Social Media messages, posts, tweets etc. aren’t ideal for that either.

If you want to promote yourselves, in the classic Fringe style (book your own venue, pay a fee for an entry in the programme and take the door money), Bath does have a number of excellent venues for hire, theatres, concert venues, pub back rooms, regular gig venues, though the most accessible of these tend to be on the small side (100-ish people or smaller). We do have a list which we can send you (it’s updated for the annual Open Meeting, so best to ask for it in January), or download the current version here. There is a timeline for important dates here, and some useful general guidance here. Some venues – Chapel Arts is one – book up very early every year, usually before we’ve started the submissions process!

If you’re interested in the Visual Arts Programme, we can pass enquiries on, but those events are run to a different timetable and by different people to the rest of the Fringe. You should find more about that on their website.
www.fringeartsbath.co.uk or via fringeartsbath[AT]ymail.com