World Fringe Day
London theatre news: Tuesday 11 July 2017
Festivals - Performance
2017 marks the 70th year of the world's first fringe in Edinburgh and 70 years of the fringe movement. To celebrate, 200+ fringes worldwide join together today - 11 July 2017 - for World Fringe Day.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe began back in 1947 when eight groups arrived in Scotland's capital hoping to perform at the newly formed Edinburgh International Festival but were refused entry to the programme.
Rather than going home without presenting to the gathered public, they went ahead and performed on the fringe of the Festival anyway - thus the Fringe was born.
In the following years, more performers flocked to Edinburgh to be part of the Fringe which became an open access festival where, in the spirit of the original eight, no one is denied entry and making it the largest platform in the world for creative freedom.
The initial act of defiance back in 1947 was also the spark that brought a blaze of other fringe festivals to far-flung corners of the globe.
And today the fringe model has become something akin to a revolution with festivals taking place around the world in places such as China and Brazil, and providing platforms for artists to present their work and make cultural connections that transcend national boundaries.
To celebtrate 70 years of the fringe movement and the 70th year of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 200 fringes from across the world will come together on 11 July 2017 for the first ever World Fringe Day.
You can support the day via social media (links below) using the tags #WorldFringeDay - #Fringe70.
And don't forget to check-out the special website for World Fringe Day where you can find links to some of the 200 fringes taking part.
This year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe takes place from 4 to 28 August - you can find full details of events here.
And for other upcoming theatre festivals, don't forget to visit our festivals page where you'll find listings for around 50 festivals which are focused on theatre, or have theatre as part of their offering.
If you are organising a theatre festival in the UK, you can get it listed on ActDrop by sending in details with this form.
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