On the last day of the festival (June 24th) we host our Award Ceremony and Closing Night Party. We hand out two types of awards: the Community Awards (top shows by category and also the all-around “Top of the Fringe” award), which are determined by votes from Fringers; and Sponsored Awards, which are awarded by organizations outside of the Fringe. Check out last year’s award winners here. 

In order to sponsor an award, you must meet a number of requirements, including the following:

• Naming requirements (no fringe-specific superlatives)
• Requirement to provide a physical award to the winner at the Fringe Award Ceremony
• Details on eligibility and how the winner will be selected
• You may present ONE award (if presenting to multiple awardees, they must all be called to the stage at the same time).

And perhaps most importantly, Sponsored Award applications must be submitted by May 1st. Get more information on the requirements and application process here.  

The sponsored drinks program is back for its eighth year, allowing you to feature a drink crafted especially for you at the infamous Bryan’s Bar at Fringe Central. For $100, you provide the name, your base alcohol choice and other information about your show, business, etc and our bartenders will create a hand-crafted beverage to promote you, your business, and/or production! You will also receive an official #hff18 social media mention, a newsletter shout-out, and printed signage at the bar. All proceeds from sponsored drink sales go to the Fringe. 

The deadline for sponsored drink submissions is May 20th. If interested, please complete this form.

We are so excited to announce the schedule for one of our favorite programs: Office Hours!

Join Hollywood Fringe staff and participants for weekly casual meet-ups at different bars around Hollywood. If you’re wondering what the fuss is all about, check out this FringeTV video. 

Office Hours take place Wednesdays starting March 28th. We’ve included the times, locations and drink specials below. For updates, check the #drinkingaboutfringe hashtag on Twitter and Instagram (as well as #hff18, the official festival hashtag).

• March 28th, 7-10pm - St. Felix (1602 N. Cahuenga Blvd.) – happy hour drink & wine specials 7-10pm
• April 4th, 7-10pm - Lost Property (1704 Vine St.) – special happy hour drink menu 7-10pm
• April 11th, 7-10pm – Paloma (6327 Hollywood Blvd.) – happy hour specials 7-10pm
• April 18th, 7-10pm - Pig N’ Whistle (6714 Hollywood Blvd.) – happy hour specials 7-10pm
• April 25th, 7-10pm - The Well (6255 Sunset Blvd.) – back area reserved for Fringers, happy hour prices 7-10pm
• May 2nd, 7-11pm - BLACK (6202 Santa Monica Blvd.) – $1 off everything 7-11pm
• May 9th, 7-10pm – 33 Taps (6263 Hollywood Blvd.) – $5 beer specials & $6 Moscow Mules 7-10pm
• May 16th, 7-11pm - Three Clubs (1123 Vine St.) – happy hour prices 7-11pm
• May 23rd, 7-11pm - BLACK (6202 Santa Monica Blvd.) – $1 off everything 7-11pm
• May 30th, 7pm-Bar Close - Three Clubs (1123 Vine St.) – happy hour prices all night

Networking is an essential ingredient to your success at Fringe and we’re giving you a ton of opportunities to mix and mingle! Hope to see you #drinkingaboutfringe soon.

Every year we host a series of Twitter Chats in order for Fringers to meet and mingle online before the festival begins. It’s a great way to recruit audiences and make #fringeships long before June. You’ll get to tweet about how the process is going for you as well as the opportunity to chat with Fringe staff members.

This year we’ll be hosting the Twitter Chats at the following times:

• February 27th (Tues) – 7-8pm
• March 14th (Wed) – 2-3pm
• March 27th (Tues) – 7-8pm
• April 11th (Wed) – 2-3pm
• April 24th (Tues) – 7-8pm
• May 16th (Wed) – 2-3pm
• May 29th (Tues)- 7-8pm

All you have to do to join the discussion is use the hashtag #hff18. The chat will be moderated by the @HollywoodFringe account. Can’t make the time but still want to participate? All you have to do is schedule a tweet or two using one of the many available Twitter clients.

Twitter Tips:

• You can only use 140 characters (including spaces and punctuation) in every tweet so brevity is key.
• To say something publicly to someone, you can type their Twitter handle into your message (anything that has an “@” before it is someone’s Twitter handle/user name). Other Twitter users will be able to see these messages.
• To say something privately to someone, you can send them a Direct Message (they will have to be “following” you first).
• To take part in the Fringe conversation, include the hashtag #hff18 in your tweets. You can also search the same hashtag to see what other Fringers are saying.
• Don’t spam people on Twitter. Use it thoughtfully. Post pictures of your rehearsal process, links to your fundraising page, ask people questions about their own production, but DO NOT send the same message fifty times to every Twitter handle you can find. This will directly oppose any goals you may have to make friends.
• Posting a . before an @ helps tweets show up on your feed. For example, if you said “ @hollywoodfringe is super cool", only users that follow both you and @hollywoodfringe will see the tweet. If you instead write " . @hollywoodfringe is super cool " (note the period at the beginning), everyone will see.

We would like to invite our Fringe community to design the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival guide cover, which will be distributed throughout L.A. county. Submit your design ideas anytime between Wednesday, February 15th and Monday, February 20th by Noon, to be included in the qualifying round. To learn more, visit our contest link.

The winner will receive a $550 cash prize for their winning design. Additionally, the winner is eligible for a bonus cash prize of $500 to design the category headings for various disciplines and the official Fringe Button – the pin fringe-goers sport as they see shows around Hollywood. Participation is open to everyone. To get started, create a (free) account on 99Designs.com.

 Feel free to share the contest with friends!