While our community is not able to meet in person right now, we have seen our community begin to explore online spaces to keep the performing arts alive.

From play readings to digital performances, we wanted to provide you with a marketing and ticketing platform that will help bring your event to the next level.

From now until the social distancing orders are lifted and performances can begin in person, you may use hollywoodfringe.org to register any online project free of charge that follows safety and social distancing protocols as laid out by the California state and Los Angeles city governments.

Benefits of registering a project include:

• 100% of proceeds go back to you and no hidden fees. Hollywood Fringe will only charge your audience a modest $1.75 service fee for tickets priced $15 or less. There will be zero fees for free performances.
• Increase your web presence. A dedicated, customizable home on our website and access to its promotional tools.
• Free advertisement through our website. Be featured in the “coming up next” on our home page.
• A dedicated support system. Access to our participant support team to help you through your Fringe experience.

To register, you will need to create a project on hollywoodfringe.org. To learn more about how to create a project, check out our registration blogpost here.  When registering, apply to the “On The Virtual Fringe” venue. On the registration screen, select the free virtual registration. Contact support@hollywoodfringe.org to take advantage of free online ads to help you promote your work.

We’re excited to help promote the virtual events our community is still producing. Visit our website for a complete schedule.

Hatchery Arts, parent organization of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, will identify a minimum of two staff, eight current or past festival participants, and one board member who will serve as the organization’s Access Committee. This committee will meet on a regular basis to conduct assessments of Hatchery Arts’ organizational practices and processes, document successful approaches to equity, and identify areas of inequity that need addressing by Hatchery Arts leadership and staff. 

This committee will also be responsible for making recommendations and setting equity goals for subsequent phases of Hatchery Arts’ CEI planning. This initial phase of work will commence in January of 2020 and conclude September 30, 2021; results of the audits and the recommended next steps will be shared publicly on the Hollywood Fringe Festival website and other publications as appropriate, as well as at regular meetings of the Hatchery Arts Board of Directors.

Hatchery Arts intends to preserve the dignity and professionalism of the workplace as well as protect the right of employees to be free from discrimination, unlawful harassment, retaliation and inappropriate conduct toward others. Hatchery Arts leadership and staff acknowledge that it is critical to include practices throughout the fabric of the organization to advance equity within its community and sphere of influence. This commitment is infused in all areas of the organization’s work as described below. Hatchery Arts will implement its commitment to cultural equity and inclusion through the following methods/methodologies:

Attendees and participants for the festival and year-round programming:

• Continue to develop and expand programs that provide financial and production assistance to producers and artists who might otherwise be excluded from participating in the festival due to economic challenges.
• Establish and promote new protocols that facilitate diverse participation in the festival in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability status, religion, class, and indigenous heritage.
• Expand our marketing efforts to reach Spanish-speaking audiences
• Further our outreach to festival stakeholders to encourage and broaden accessibility for our patrons across the event.
• Regularly review our code of conduct and other policies that define the bounds of acceptable behavior in our community. 

Staffing:

• Develop job description language and hiring practices to remove barriers that discourage application submissions from a diverse applicant pool in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability status, religion, class, and indigenous heritage.
• Regularly review employee practices through an employee handbook
• Establish frameworks for constructive discourse about identity, equity, diversity, inclusion, and access.

Board and Governance:

• Develop protocols that consider race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability status, religion, class, and indigenous heritage to inform board member recruitment.

Who will be represented on our committee:

• Two Hatchery Arts (Hollywood Fringe) staffers that will act as non-partisan liaisons between this committee and the Hatchery Arts organization.
• One board member that will act as a non-partisan liaison between this committee and the Hatchery Arts Board.
• Eight current or past Hollywood Fringe participants that contribute to the race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability status, religion, class, and indigenous heritage diversity  of the Fringe community.

Meeting dates of the ACCESS committee in 2020 (must be available for 3/4, all meetings will take place via zoom until further notice):

• May 19, 2020, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• July 21, 2020,  7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Sept 15, 2020, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• November 17, 2020, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

To apply to be on our committee, please fill out this form. Applications close May 13, 2020 at 10:00 pm PST.

With our current situation we are all safer at home, but the need to connect is stronger than ever! We hope you will join our community for these awesome online social events!

You know ’em, you love ’em! Office Hours are back… ONLINE! Join Hollywood Fringe staff and participants for weekly casual video chats from the comfort of your own home. Follow our social media for platform announcements the day before each event! Mark your calendars to join us from 7-9pm on the following dates in April:

• Wednesday, April 1
• Wednesday, April 22

Our bi-monthly chats will be continuing with the originally scheduled dates and times! All you have to do to join the discussion is use and follow the #HFF20 hashtag. These chats are moderated by the @HollywoodFringe account. Join us from 12-1pm on the following dates:

• Sunday, March 29th 
• Monday, April 13th 
• Sunday, April 26th
• Monday, May 11th
• Sunday, May 24th

Fringe From Home: Creative Prompts! 

We may not be able to gather but we can still inspire! Let’s feed our creative souls with some artistic challenges. Each week we will share a new writing or performance prompt with the fringe community. Take the challenge by sharing your work on socials using #FringeFromHome and #HFF20!

Virtual Fringe Cabaret is coming in May!

On May 1st, we will be launching our first ever online cabaret series hosted by your Fringe Cabaret Director, Bella Luna. Keep an eye on our socials for more information on how to participate!

With the directive to cancel or postpone in-person events and meetings, we are working to provide even more safe solutions to keep our community active and engaged. We know how necessary the arts and #Fringeships are in times like these.

We will continue to search for ways to provide creative scratching posts as we approach our August 1, 2020 confirmation date. To do so, we need your input! Let us know how the Hollywood Fringe Festival can marshal its resources to help right now.

Please fill out this survey to help us serve you.

We look forward to getting through this together, no matter how far apart we are! Remember to stay safe, stay inside, and FRINGE ON!

Dear 2020 Hollywood Fringe Participants,

We are sure many of you have lots of questions surrounding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Fringe.

Per our recent announcement, the 2020 Hollywood Fringe Festival is tentatively rescheduled to October 1 through October 25, 2020. We recognize that this is still a rapidly changing situation with frequent updates. To give our participants a clear decision-making deadline, these dates will be confirmed or cancelled by August 1, 2020 based on guidance from federal, state and local health authorities.

Though we will do everything in our power to ensure a fun, safe and meaningful festival this fall, please bear in mind that this is still a situation which is evolving daily with frequent updates. We are in the same position as you: trying to make the best timely decisions we can with the information available at any given moment.

We have actively considered our response over the past few weeks with the interests of the community at the forefront of every possible action plan. Though it was the toughest decision we ever hope to make, it is clear to us that this path is best for all involved: our organization, our community stakeholders and our participants.

As registered participants of the 2020 festival, you have the following options available to you:
 

• Roll over your Hollywood Fringe registration to the October Dates. If you have already booked venue slots for June 2020, please contact your venue as soon as possible to reschedule to the October dates.
  
  
• Receive a full Hollywood Fringe registration refund. If you need a refund we will provide it immediately, no questions asked. We understand these events are creating dire financial circumstances for many in our community.
  
  
• Donate your registration fee to the Hollywood Fringe Festival. For those participants that can afford such a generous gesture, your actions will help us maintain operations in this extremely vulnerable period. Note that any gifts to the Fringe are tax-deductible.

All Fringe registrations will be refundable up until September 1, 2020.

It is our sincerest hope that you continue with us for the 2020 festival currently scheduled for October. This option helps to maintain our community’s collective strength; we also understand if reimbursement is the right choice for you at this time. If you are unable to perform in October but plan to reschedule your shows outside the festival dates, we are developing a program to support your shows with the Fringe marketing/technology infrastructure. Please contact us if you would like to participate in this developing effort.

For those that have already booked a venue, the nature of your venue relationship is based on your contractual agreement with them. Please work with your venues for a best possible outcome considering the circumstances.

We are also actively seeking feedback on how the Fringe community can remain engaged during this time. Please complete our survey with your ideas on how we can help. This is critical for our planning, so please take a few minutes to share your thoughts.

If you’d like to read more about what led us to this decision and the efforts we are making to continue programming, please read our blog post. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us at support@hollywoodfringe.org.

We feel a great social and economic responsibility to our community that makes Fringe possible every year. Please know that we are here for you during this time of crisis.

With love and support,

The Hollywood Fringe Festival