Durham Fringe 2025  |  23 – 27 July

ABOUT US

Durham Fringe Festival is a genuinely grassroots initiative. The festival was set up in 2021 by a group of friends, living and working in the North-East, who love Fringe Festivals and had a collective dream to grow a festival in their home city of Durham.

The Fringe is constituted as a community interest company (CIC) and we’ve had brilliant support from the business community and our local partners, who can see the potential of the festival in supporting the vibrancy of the city, and creating opportunities for artists and for the communities of County Durham and the wider North East.

The Fringe has experienced remarkable growth since its inception in 2021. The historic city of Durham provides the atmospheric backdrop for the festival, which takes place across a network of venues in the city centre in the last week of July.

Many will know that the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was “started” in 1947 by a group of enterprising performers who were excluded from the Edinburgh International Festival. They turned up, uninvited, and put on their own shows on the fringe of the main festival. And that really is what fringe festivals are all about. They’re not about mainstream, established artists, although they are welcome too. Fringe is about inclusion. Fringe is about providing an affordable platform so that anyone with talent, energy and an idea can perform.

More than 70 years later there are around 300 Fringe Festivals worldwide, about 65 in the UK. Each is unique from a range of perspectives and a definition is hard to pin down but something like the following gets close;

A grassroots, performing arts event that celebrates a variety of art forms and offers a platform for new and established artists.

Other key words may include: Alternative, Experimental, Accessible, Unconventional, Diverse

For a more comprehensive discussion – visit https://www.worldfringe.com/what-is-a-fringe/

Our Fringe festival is open to all to apply and does not charge to register, hire venues, tech or participate etc. We are curated by a jury of over 20 looking only for the expected quality of the show offered, across any genre, and not for their personal preference. 

Shows in general are around an hour long and most tickets are priced at a standard £10 (£7 concession) to enable maximum engagement. (View our Ticket offers page for more info – https://durhamfringe.co.uk/tickets/ )

The performer or company takes home 70% net of ticket income.

As well as managing the festival, we offer a unique curated festival experience for artists.  We aim to offer a range of sessions, before, during and after the Festival to help artists develop the skills they need to take their productions to the next level – including sessions on funding and finance, marketing and how to make the most of your fringe.

Our unique funding model means that it is free for your to apply to be part of the Durham Fringe Festival, and if you are accepted we ask you to pay a deposit that will be returned to you after the festival, rather than an application fee.

The festival is currently a CIC and we are in the process of becoming a charity, so no money is taken out in profits – making it the most artist-friendly fringe in the country.

We receive no regular public funding; we rely on grants and private donations to continue hosting the festival every year. You can donate to the Durham Fringe here.

We seek to have low overheads, with only one part-time member of paid staff, we rely heavily on local volunteers to develop and implement the festival.

Literally anyone. Whether you have a long history of performing or want to give performance a go for the first time we are keen to hear from you.  We have hosted international performers visiting the UK for the first time, local acts, regional acts on their way up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, student troupes, community groups, singers, poets, plays, musicals, dancers, acrobats, princes, pirates, and all in between.

Where appropriate, we are keen to source works outside of the traditional application process, created by those in marginalised communities; to ensure The Durham Fringe Festival is relevant to all, and to promote a diverse and inclusive festival of arts.

The Durham Fringe Festival seeks to promote diversity and inclusion and welcomes volunteers from all backgrounds and circumstances. Whilst we don’t pay any of our volunteers, in exceptional circumstances and upon request, the Directors of the Fringe may be able to cover certain volunteer expenses where appropriate.

OUR VENUES

This year, we have nine venues across Durham City Centre.

  1. Palace Green (Stretch Tent)
  2. The Department of Music, Palace Green
  3. Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre
  4. Cafedral
  5. Fabio’s Bar
  6. The City Theatre
  7. Gala Theatre’s Studio
  8. Vane Tempest at Durham SU
  9. Fonteyn Ballroom at Durham SU

We are also partnering with Beamish Museum and Durham Castle for an exclusive event on Saturday 26th July only.

Find information about venue accessibility here.

Venues can come in many shapes and sizes, from purpose built theatrical spaces to bars and cafes and outdoor spaces… anywhere that can accommodate live performance! The joy of a Fringe festival is to see a variety of contrasting performances in a single night, across multiple different venues around the city. This way you can experience the full breadth of the festival’s programme, whilst also visiting some of the city’s best bars and restaurants.

FAQ

A good place to start is This Is Durham (www.thisisdurham.com)

In the summer months the university colleges also offer reasonably priced accommodation. You could even get to stay in the historic Durham Castle!

University College (“Castle”) (https://www.durham.ac.uk/event-durham/our-venues/durham-castle/booking-form/)

St Chad’s (https://www.stchads.ac.uk/commercial/bed-breakfast/)



Please contact: [email protected] or drop us a line from our contact page enquiry form.

OUR POLICIES

BOX OFFICE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Please click here to read our full Box Office Terms and Conditions.

PRIVACY POLICIES FOR CUSTOMERS AND PERFORMERS
Please click here to read our Customer Privacy Policy and here to read our Performers Privacy Policy.

OUR ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENTS
We want to play our part in making the arts more accessible to all. Our venues are all unique. Please contact us for full information on accessibility in our venues.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT
Click Here to view our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement.

SAFEGUARDING POLICY
Please click here for DFF Safeguarding Policy

DFF LOST CHILD OR VULNERABLE ADULT PROCEDURE
Please click here Lost Child or Vulnerable Adult Procedure 2024

CONTACT US

You can get hold of us by email or submitting the below form. Don’t forget to follow us on Socials for all the latest!

Office

Office

Durham Fringe CIC
C/O Ribchesters
Belmont Business Park
Finchale House
Durham, DH1 1TW

Contact

Contact

You can also email us direct
[email protected]

Socials

Socials