Perform at Durham Fringe 2026
Applications to perform at Durham Fringe Festival 2026 will open Friday 17th December 2025 17:00 GMT
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How does Durham Fringe work?
Durham Fringe Festival takes place in the beautiful and historic City of Durham (a World Heritage site), in the North East of England. 2026 will be our 6th year of bringing the festival to life!
We are a curated festival, but our approach is designed to be open and inclusive. We eagerly welcome applications from anywhere and anybody - we love comedy, theatre, dance, musicals, children’s shows, spoken word, circus, magic, music, mime, and any other performing arts genre you can dream up!
We, the festival, take a central coordinating role. We both select and run the venues and set ticket prices. Performers take home 70% of the net ticket sales, after we’ve accounted for fees we pay on Box Office.
There’s no commitment to perform with us when you apply, and we don’t charge you any fees at any point in the process; not to apply, or to be in our programme, or for the use of our venues, including technical support. If you subsequently accept an offer from us then we will ask you to sign a contract, and pay a £100 deposit which is refunded in full provided you give the performances you have agreed to.
How to apply
Applications are open from Friday 17th December 2025 17:00 GMT and close Monday 16th February 2026 17:00 GMT.
We use Eventotron for all performer management systems, as well as box office. You will need to have an Eventotron account to apply for our festival. Head back here from Friday 17th December to find a direct link to the application.
Once you have an account, you can also head to “Festivals & Seasons” -> “All Festivals & Seasons” and search for us there.
Who Can Apply?
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, performers 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.
We encourage works created by those in marginalised and underrepresented communities. Durham Fringe Festival aims to ensure we are relevant and representative, particularly amplifying the voices of communities in and around County Durham.
APPLICATION ADVICE
- There are around 50 questions to complete for the application, but a significant portion of these are multiple choice.
- If you are selected to perform , there is some additional sections you must complete in Eventotron
- You can save your application and return to it later, but ensure you are finished by the deadline (16th February 2026)
- Answer questions with as much detail as possible. Details help our jury understand your work, and accuracy about availability and technical information ensures we send accurate offers, if you’re successful.
- You’ll be asked to select your preferred number of performances during the festival, so think about how much you can commit to doing. As we’re a fringe festival, most acts typically perform their show multiple times, although this isn’t a requirement. It’s also worth considering that we can’t always offer the number you request. If your application is successful, this decision is made by our scheduling team on a case-by-case basis.
- If you’re selected, your responses are used to generate your marketing materials. Check your spelling and grammar!
- We keep in touch with selected performers via email. We usually send bi-weekly updates and share online resources to help you prepare your show for the stage, boost marketing, and generally get the most out of your time in Durham. Be sure you regularly check your emails.
SELECTION PROCESS
Acts are chosen based on the average score awarded by the Jury, but there is no minimum score required to qualify for the programme. We accommodate as many acts as possible, starting with those who scored the highest. Each year the number of shows we’re able to host changes, but in 2025 we programmed 105 unique acts after receiving just under 200 applications. This means the application success rate was approximately 50%.
Our jury uses our Artistic Merit policy to evaluate applications. This helps keep the scoring fair and open-minded – you’re not just rewarded on your previous experience but also the promise, creativity and uniqueness you demonstrate in the application.
We believe all performing arts disciplines have artistic merit. To support our jury in their evaluation, we ask them to consider:
- Aesthetic Appeal
- Technical skill
- Inherent Meaning and Emotional Impact
- Creative Vision and Originality
- Cultural Relevance
That being said, we stress that artistic merit is subjective and jury members are encouraged to make their own judgements.
