Vancouver Fringe Festival cuts programming by a third for 2024, launching fundraiser amid financial uncertainty
Organization that returns 100 percent of ticket profits to artists must raise $80,000 by May 31 to continue running in the future
Vancouver Fringe Festival (2019). Photo by John Roxas
THE VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL announced today that it is cutting back one-third of the programming that was planned for its 40th annual edition this September due to financial instability. It must raise a total of $80,000 by May 31 to continue operating in the years to come.
The donation campaign on the festival’s website, which is updated on Mondays and Thursdays, indicates that a total of $9,000 has been raised so far.
“Coming out of the pandemic our costs have increased, and donations and sponsorships haven’t returned since the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Duncan Watts-Grant, executive director of the Vancouver Fringe Theatre Society, in today’s announcement. “Since 2022, we’ve been drawing on our savings to produce the Festival, and this isn’t sustainable. We want to continue offering the Vancouver Fringe for another 40 years; to do that, we must raise funds. We’re asking our community to come forward if they care about the Fringe.”
One hundred percent of ticket profits from fringe festivals in Canada are returned to the artists whose shows are staged, which is a rarity in the theatre industry—last year, that amounted to $3.2 million across the country.
At the Vancouver Fringe Festival, $240,000 was returned to the 85 companies (250 individual artists) that held performances in 2023. Seventy-five percent of artists’ technical costs are also subsidized each year; that includes elements such as staging, lighting and sound equipment, ticketing services, and marketing. Participants for the festival are chosen by a lottery draw each spring, meaning that every artist gets an equal chance of staging a show regardless of status or experience.
The event has been a local hub for emerging talents in theatre, dance, storytelling, comedy, and drag since its inception in 1985, and garners some 12,000 attendees each year to its home base on Granville Island. It takes over 350 volunteers to produce the 11-day festival.
Long-time Vancouver Fringe Festival supporter Leonard Schein, who founded the Vancouver International Film Festival, is matching donations up to a total of $10,000. Folks can contribute a one-time or monthly donation by visiting the festival’s website. 
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