Dunedin Fringe Festival

The Dunedin Fringe Festival is the only Fringe Festival in the South Island of New Zealand. Initiated in 2000, the Dunedin Fringe aims to bring experimental contemporary art to a wider audience and to support the work of emerging artists. The Dunedin Fringe Fetsival is an annual event which happens every March timed to coincide with the Wellington, Auckland and Adelaide Fringe Festivals.

The Dunedin Fringe Festival attracts artists from throughout New Zealand and overseas with a mix of established and emerging artists. Dunedin embraced the 2014 Dunedin Fringe Festival with over 9,000 people attending artist and Festival produced events. The Festival programme primarily features independently produced events by artists plus a handful of high profile special events run by the Festival. 

Independent artist events form the backbone of Dunedin Fringe Festival and are facilitated through an open-access registration process. This takes place in September and October each year with New Zealand artists able to apply to the Festival for funding grants to develop new work or to tour a work to Dunedin. This represents a massive injection of creativity into Dunedin and a grand opportunity for audiences.