Preparations Begin For 10th Fundy FRINGE Festival

Planning has begun for the 10th annual Fundy FRINGE Festival coming up in August.

Organizers are planning for a combination of live and streaming performances, workshops, and after-hours activities.

Drew Murdock is marking his second year as director of the festival in uptown Saint John.

“We hope to have our usual 15 to 20 performers, three or four venues this year centered around Princess Street,” Murdock said in an interview.

Murdock said they are hoping to welcome back national and international artists after limiting submissions last year due to COVID-19.

“Just with the state we were in, we went with the safe option and only had New Brunswick performers. It was nice to showcase some local talent, but we’re hoping this year that we’ll get back to some national and international acts, as well,” he said.

Artists are encouraged to submit an application to be part of the 2022 festival by 11:59 p.m. on March 20.

The successful acts will be selected through a lottery on Monday, March 28.

“Because this is the FRINGE Festival, we don’t vet or jury any of the acts, they’re simply picked by lottery,” said Murdock.

Murdock said they do have plans in place in the event COVID-19 measures prevent them from having an in-person show.

“We’re very lucky that we work with the Saint John Theatre Company very closely and their facility is our home base during the summer. They’ve gotten very good at livestreaming and having that capacity to do so,” he said.

“Worst case scenario, if we can’t have anyone in the room in person, we definitely have that backup plan of being able to stream or host streams from other places in Canada.”

The Fundy FRINGE Festival is part of a growing community of Fringe Festivals throughout North America, according to its website.

The community is “dedicated to supporting independent performers and artists and creating affordable spaces through which diverse communities can experience boundary-pushing theatre and other performances.”