Oldest and longest-running fringe festival in Scandinavia.

Stockholm Fringe Festival (STOFF) was launched in 2010 by Helena Bunker, Lina Karlmark and Adam J. K. Potrykus. The 13th edition takes place from the 13th  – 17th of September 2022.

We’re all from an artist background – we’d performed at Edinburgh Fringe, won awards at Melbourne Fringe and recognised that the fringe format needed to arrive in Scandinavia. Stockholm was the first and only. The first year it operated out of one venue with two stages to now being the biggest in the Nordics and inspiring other new fringe festivals throughout Scandinavia. STOFF started to coach and co-launch fringe additions in a bunch of other Nordic sister cities, which led to the launch of the Nordic Fringe Network (NFN). Comprising 13 festivals across 7 countries, NFN supports fringe festivals and opens one main artist call a year covering the whole region. While we’re united in the artist call, each festival is unique.

STOFF grew too much in its early years, and organisational stretch marks started to show. The team and crew didn’t grow at the same pace as the festival and administratively it was becoming too complex. It was decided to re-structure to be a boutique festival. In hindsight, we should have joined Eventotron five years ago as we’d have been able to grow and reduce the extra admin. Maybe we would have taken a different approach if we’d had the right tools from the start.

STOFF is a week-long festival – it’s a showcase of innovative work. It is also a networking platform programming lots of activities, workshops and panel events for artists. STOFF always has a huge headline act as a hook and to spread the limelight over the up-and-coming acts. This year (2022) we’re excited to be welcoming back Forced Entertainment with a brand new show.

At the core, we’re left of centre, feministic and punky. One could claim that STOFF’s profile over the years has been somewhat pretentious. Or, serious if you like. In the first fringe festival year, we had nearly no stand-up acts! We’re like a reverse birthday cake, we started with a few slices of performance styles,  and have added different genre slices over the years. It’s been an organic process.

Open-access or curated?

Curated but try to be democratic. Curated because it’s too expensive for artists to hire space in Stockholm. STOFF hires the venues and give that (with technicians etc) to the artists we programme. Artists take all ticket sales, apart from the booking fee and we don’t charge an application fee. STOFF has not-for-profit charity status and finances the festival through funding support from local, regional and national governments. We have partners whose support is in-kind; lending equipment, rehearsal space etc.

STOFF is democratically curated across genre, geography, and gender. We look to elevate specific topics which in turn diversifies festival audiences. An example of this was a collaboration with the National Black Theatre of Sweden. Putting people on stage who wouldn’t necessarily be the first to apply to STOFF meant changes across future applications from artists to audiences attending the festival.

We have several projects outside of the main fringe – recently setting up the first phase of a future digital performance culture house (Arena STOFF).

It’s a new project which received funding that helps to feed our all-year-round strategy with fringe offerings online and IRL. We know digital is here to stay, the benefits it provides in terms of access, being environmentally friendly, and global, are endless. It also comes with challenges. How do build and retain online audiences, making performance worth paying for – monetising it better? How do give space for existing gaming audiences in our sphere? How do we best help to keep new digital stages safe, inclusive and community-minded? If readers have an idea about what this future culture house should look like, please register and share your thoughts: https://www.arenastoff.com/

What is your artist callout process?

It starts with the Nordic Fringe Network open artist call in Dec/Jan/Feb, then each festival in the network chooses its own programme. The festivals close to each other discuss programming plans so that artists can build mini-tours. Eventotron has been great for this – you created a whole new way for artists to apply to the Nordic Fringe Network and the majority of the network is now using Eventotron.

“Prior to using Eventotron everything was done via email and google forms. We had monster spreadsheets that nobody could handle.”

This year we did less promotion of the open call than usual elsewhere and still got loads of applications via Eventotron. It saved us a lot of grief in explaining the fringe sector to artists. The more festivals use Eventotron the easier the job of explaining the fringe concept to applicants is!

“The artist call process alone is worth the Eventotron subscription fee. The managing of the show copy and visuals for program listings is the other major drawcard for us.”

How do you work with venues?

We have standard bookings with some spaces that we always work with. We hire venues. Everyone is chronically underfunded in the sector so we try to hire but are usually offered a special rate. The venues are invited into Eventotron to populate their profiles but SF does all the matching events with venues and scheduling. Artists and venues don’t really communicate much at all until the festival month.

Most useful marketing tools?

The website is the most useful tool for marketing the festival. It’s a Squarespace website and then the what’s on / ticketing section is all in an Eventotron microsite but users don’t know that – it all looks exactly the same stylistically.

We used to do a big printed programme but we’re not planning to this year. Press and the website are key. Posters and word of mouth. Branded social media banners for artists to use. Many little streams become a river. In the beginning, artists would arrive and expect the audience to just appear. Now we have more fringe circuit artists who understand that they have a responsibility to market their shows.

What does a successful STOFF look like?

A good year we reach an audience of around 10K. Lots of shows are unticketed, and there is lots of site-specific work, sometimes with tiny audiences (1 on 1 experiences). It’s not about volume but about the quality of the experience. Expect the unexpected – we aim to be a bit weird, bit different – performance you’re not going to get anywhere else in Stockholm.

“Success is when the artists feel they came and had a good meeting with the audience.”

We downsized to a boutique size so that there are enough fringe audiences for everyone. We went too big for several years, nowadays we welcome between 70 – 100 acts/companies performing in small spread-out venues across Stockholm, so reaching local communities in a way we couldn’t at the start because we presented everything in the big main cultural venue. We’ve grown in quality and audience. We’ve also been successful in welcoming more diverse audiences and artists.

How do you communicate with artists?

Eventotron is our one-stop shop for this purpose.

What is your Box Office setup?

One of the main benefits for us using Eventotron is the Super Simple Box Office. Being in charge of our own box office and not being forced into a huge fee-hungry mechanism has made a big impact.

“The support is amazing, if I had to rate your customer service and response time against other services I’m using you guys are in my top 3.”

We’ve tried four different box offices before and none have been nearly as good. We had one issue with a ticket buyer last year. Just one, and that was an issue with Stripe, not Eventotron. Eventotron is saving us hours and hours of labour.

Top Tip

We set up a closed Facebook group for our artists before the fringe starts so they can communicate with each other and get to know one another, share ideas and ways to market their shows etc.

Advice for a new fringe festival manager

1. Remember the artists make your festival. They are your client. Treat them right and invest in them.
2. Have good agreements and legal contractual documents. Being black and white and nearly patronising people is better than misinterpretations down the line.
3. Look after your mental health. Invest in tools to have more time for yourself. Investing in Eventotron has given me more time to look after my wellbeing.

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Toronto Fringe is a charitable not-for-profit in Ontario, Canada – it’s been running for 35 years and is the second oldest Fringe in Canada after Edmonton.

We produce Toronto Fringe Festival (TFF) in the summer which is a large, un-juried, accessible, indie platform for artists and audiences. We also produce the smaller, juried / curated Next Stage Festival (NSF).

The core year-round team is just 5 people, the team grows for the run up and duration of TFF and NSF.

TFF welcomed around 160 companies in 2019 across 15 main venues – this year (2022) it was about 90 companies across 11 main venues.

How did the pandemic change your way of working?

TFF happened this July (2022) in person for the first time since 2019. We cancelled 2020 and ran a digital version of the festival in 2021. Many team members hadn’t experienced a full in-person festival before this year so it was quite full on getting everyone up to speed. Plus there were covid protocols to manage. TFF maintained a vaccine policy for artists and staff. Masks were required for all audiences and staff as this was the message coming from the theatre-going community in terms of what would make them feel safe and able to enjoy the festival.

We deferred artists from 2020 and moved them forward the two years so they got their opportunity to perform live at TFF.

“Eventotron made transferring artists from one festival to the next easy – we were able to track all the information across to the next year.”

NSF was originally established in January when most theatres are dark in Toronto so we had easy access to spaces and little competition for audiences. In January 2022 theatres were closed last minute due to a lockdown which put a stop to the festival two weeks before launch. So NSF is now going to happen in October – in this new slot we’ll be competing with other theatre programs but hopefully it will be easier for the team and audiences will be keen to see performance at that time of year.

Covid meant we were constantly changing and pivoting. This year’s TFF was smaller and that felt more manageable for the staff and also audiences who have just not been coming back in the same way as before the pandemic.

“We are scaling back a bit to be able to gradually build capacity up again. We’re fitting the festivals to what the market / the community can handle and sustain.”

How does the lottery system work?

Slots in main theatre venues are filled by a lottery draw. Artists/collectives apply to a specific category and receive a number for the lottery draw. The lottery system is designed to be fair, and strives to remove systemic gatekeepers.

The Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF) runs a touring lottery that opens for applications prior to TFF. TFF holds touring lottery slots along with Edmonton Fringe, Orlando Fringe, Winnipeg Fringe and others. Artists who get tour slots through CAFF are then responsible for paying each festival’s registration fees and TFF fold those CAFF artists into all our communications and scheduling.

TFF’s own lottery slots are made available for International (10% of slots), National (10% – 15% of slots) and local / Ontario companies.

We use the Lottery Tools in Eventotron to assign every application a number within their slot category. We hold a lottery draw (and party) in December to determine the companies in each category. Numbers are drawn at random, and then we approve those successful applications and they move into the registration phase and into the festival, to complete the rest of our forms.

In 2020 we introduced a 2-phase lottery draw in order to ensure at least 50% of all slots available are filled by IBPOC artists. The first 50% of slots in each category are drawn from IBPOC applicants only, until the slots are filled or no more IBPOC applicants remain, before drawing the remainder of slots with the rest of the general applicants in the pool.

Artists pay an application fee to apply to the lottery, and a participant fee to accept an offer via Eventotron. TFF covers all the costs of the venue and tech team, handles ticketing, venue insurance, patron services and festival marketing.

TFF offer slots for two max show time lengths – 60 minutes and 90 minutes. We’re working to phase out 90 minute length shows in the Fringe – they are expensive to produce, expensive to rehearse and Fringe audiences trying to pack as many shows into their day as they can are likely to choose a shorter run time over a longer. We are trying to help the artists help themselves with guidance like this, we gain a lot of insight into what works and how our audiences behave.

“We’re not here to tell the artist what to do or produce their shows for them but we are here to support and give artists the best opportunity to have a successful experience at the Fringe.”

Within the Ontario / local slots we have categories to incentivise artists from communities or areas who might not usually consider applying to this type of festival. We want to get the message out there that the Fringe is for them, that it is their platform. We’re aware that the history of the Fringe movement is rooted in a Canadian arts ecology that systematically prioritized white voices, and audiences. We’re actively working to challenge the “white-washed”, “cliquey” perception that was a part of our past, which can still make newcomers feel unwelcome. We have to demonstrate this is a safe and welcoming space for them.

What is your application process?

“Artists and companies applying to TFF lottery do so through Eventotron. The lottery tools in Eventotron mean we can manage to whole process within the system.”

We’ve split the application form, so artists either apply to be in the main venue category lottery, or for a slot in the unconventional venue category, which is processed on a first-come, first-served basis. This was formerly known as our Site Specific Category. The ‘display if’ logic in Eventotron allows us to send artists on different routes through the application process.

How do you work with venues?

TFF manages the main performance venues, and companies/artists perform in rep. We do all the venue allocation, coordinate the rental agreements and our production team act as liaison between artists and venues. In the site specific category companies apply with a venue, it is our version of BYOV (bring your own venue) – the show has to be tied to the site and have been created just for the space. We’ve found this opens up new parts of the city and creates a whole different aspect to the Fringe experience.

At the moment we don’t take applications in Eventotron for venues to become part of the festival. Our negotiations with our venue partners happen directly. If an artist doesn’t get in on the CAFF tour lottery or our own lottery, the final option to be part of the festival is to pitch a site specific BYOV piece. We have made a commitment to offer a level of accessibility to patrons, which we uphold across all participating venues, so there is a thorough application form to demonstrate accessibility at BYOVs.

We’re constantly examining the size and fit of the main venues with the festival, and asking if they are serving the artists’ needs, as well as being accessible to the audiences we want to reach. And they are our partners; the Festival has been held in some of our venues for over 30 years, so we want to be thoughtful and considerate when determining the stages we bring the Fringe artists to.

What are your most useful marketing tools?

Toronto Fringe is fighting for the dedicated Toronto theatre audience – people don’t flock to our city for our Fringe in the way they do in Edinburgh or Edmonton. Social media is key but really the best form of marketing is word of mouth. Print media is falling lower and lower on the priority list. We also find through analysing audience data that a lot of it is artists supporting other artists and seeing their work.

In terms of artists finding out about the opportunity to be part of TFF, the call-out goes to CAFF lists and our own networks.

“We definitely see new applicants finding us via the Eventotron Festival Finder. During our digital festival call-out in 2021 we were receiving applications from Trinidad, Denmark – all around the world.”

How do you communicate with artists?

We collect all the data in Eventotron and then use the database platform Mailchimp to send festival-wide e-blasts with key information. We use Eventotron as a resource library for artists so all the documents we share are posted there.

Top Tip

We use the event welcome page in Eventotron like a bulletin board. We keep that updated so every time artists are back looking at their forms, they’re getting info, links to resources, and reminders.

Advice for a new Fringe Festival manager

Keep perspective – who are you serving? Remember why you are here, and that you are just making a festival. We’re not trying to send anyone to the moon – it’s theatre. Ultimately the goal is to have a great time doing theatre, and create a positive experience for artists and patrons. It’s developing new exciting work, it’s for the artists, and it’s for the audience to enjoy experiencing it. Perspective.

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Brighton Fringe is England’s largest arts festival, in 2022 Brighton Fringe consisted of over 750 events in more than 120 venues across Brighton, Hove, and beyond, and attracted over 370,000 attendees. We also run a year-round programme of artist support and development via our Fringe Academy workshops and work closely with local and national organisations to deliver bursaries and financial support to those who need it most.

What does being an open-access festival mean?

We are an open-access festival meaning anyone and everyone can put on an event, there are no criteria events must meet and no selection process, participants must just find a venue to host their event and pay the registration fee to take part.

How do you ensure participants and venues uphold BF’s ethos and values?

All participants must agree to our terms and conditions before registering their event with Brighton Fringe, we are a diverse and open festival and ask our participants to adhere to our values. Venues must also agree to our venue’s agreement, outlining similar requirements of the venues.

How do you run your artist call-out process?

Brighton Fringe visits other Fringe festivals around the world to network with other organisations and participants, this year we have visited Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Amsterdam Fringe and Abuja Fringe. We run online campaigns notifying our databases that registration is open, including emails, social media and advertising as well as working closely with partners to access their network of artists.

How do venues become part of the festival?

“Venues can register via Eventotron for free at any time during the season. They can then begin to receive enquiries from participants who are interested in performing at their venue.”

Do artists apply to venues directly as part of the registration process or do BF match events to venues?

Artists apply directly to venues through Eventotron to discuss hire arrangements and confirm contracts. If participants are struggling to find an appropriate venue for their event our participant services team are always on hand to advise and support.

What is your most useful tool when marketing your festival to audiences?

Word of mouth! Anything you can do to generate positive word of mouth about your event is the best way to sell tickets at Brighton Fringe. This means sharing audience reviews online, asking your audience to tell their friends, opting into ticket deals to get more bums on seats (such as our participant discount or Friends of Fringe 2-for1’s), flyering and talking to people, the list goes on and on.

Top Tip

We created a great guide for artists to help them sell their fringe show, it’s available on our website and in the documents section in Eventotron: How to Market Your Event at Brighton Fringe.

What is your box office setup?

“We are currently in the process of transitioning to Eventotron’s Super Simple Box Office. We made this decision because we felt SSBO would improve the experience of not only participants and venues taking part in Brighton Fringe, but also improve things for our team internally and ticket buyers.”

What does a successful Brighton Fringe look like?

For the team at Brighton Fringe, a successful Brighton Fringe means improving the results from our participant and venue manager surveys year after year and consistently delivering a better service for those who take part.

How do you communicate with your artists in the lead-up, during and after the festival?

“We send direct messages via Eventotron with key information and dates”

We also add participants to our participants’ mailing list through which we send more in-depth information about what’s going on at the festival. We host regular meetings for our venue managers and participants via our Fringe Academy programme such as ‘The Future of Fringe’ and ‘Brighton Fringe: Have Your Say’ where we can communicate with participants about their hopes for the future.

If you could share just one piece of advice about running a fringe festival what would it be?

A Fringe needs to be useful, so everything that we do should serve that core premise. A Fringe is a platform to help people put on and showcase creative work. Therefore is it is crucial from the outset to put the arts community front and centre of the process. We as organisers are not the Fringe, they are.

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