Whangārei Fringe Festival

We wanted to create a festival for Whangārei. A festival that everyone could be part of. We wanted to celebrate local artists, paint the town, sing from the tops of buildings and run through the streets yelling, “This is our city and we love it!” We love its rough edges, its raw energy, its maunga, its awa, its buildings, its heart. We love the alleyways, the artists, the people who say yes. We wanted to fill the nooks and crannies, the empty shops and dusty corners. 

So we invited people from near and far to bring their work, their ideas, their voices, to help us fill two weeks from top to bottom because we knew Whangārei was ready for this. A festival of theatre, music, comedy, art, whānau-friendly events, outdoor escapades, storytelling and some things you’ll just have to see to believe. Everyone can join in because the tickets are affordable, free or koha. Welcome to the very first Whangārei Fringe Festival.

Initiated by Hayley Clark in late 2019, this wero has been taken up by an incredible collective of creatives and supporters, and grown into the vibrant programme of work you now hold in your hands. We’re ready to get together and celebrate...to laugh, cry, dance, listen, watch and play. 

All we need is the audience!

We hope you'll dive in and participate in this spring-time riot. Light up the spaces, fill the seats. Keep the programme with you at all times – write on it, plan with it, go see three shows in a night, gallery-hop, see more shows than all your friends put together. We want you to fall in a heap with us at the end of these 17 days, fatigued and fizzing, sated and moved, and whisper, “We did it... Whangārei Fringe Festival 2020..we did it… and we'll do it again.”

Whangārei Fringe Festival team

Hayley Clark, Georgia-May Russ, Laurel Devenie, Oliver Scripps, Shannon Winn, Kaitlin Scott, Mary de Ruyter