Registrations Open For 2022 Whangārei Fringe Festival

Artists and performers from Northland and around the country can now register to perform at the 2022 Whangārei Fringe Festival, an annual celebration of new, weird and wonderful creative work.

This year’s festival runs from September 30 to October 16, throughout the school holidays. It will be the second Whangārei Fringe Festival; the inaugural festival was held in 2020, and featured 91 events, approximately two-thirds of them by Te Taitokerau creatives. The 2021 festival was postponed and then cancelled due to Covid-19, though the 134-event programme was just over a week away from being launched.

This year’s theme, carried over from 2021, is “Let’s get weird”. It reflects that like Fringe festivals around the world, Whangārei Fringe Festival is open to quirky and experimental works from all disciplines: theatre, circus, art, comedy, digital technology, music, poetry, cabaret, fashion, drag and more. Professional and emerging creatives are all welcome to join in.

Laurel Devenie, festival co-founder and theatre-maker, says there will be four Fringe-run venues, and the team encourages people to stage events in unusual places too.

“One of the joys of a festival like this is the surprises. In 2020, we had events in disused shops, a church, community halls, a riverside warehouse, and a former nightclub. We particularly loved seeing what Northland artists came up with; some events were small and others were ambitious in scale.

“We’re really keen for people to enter if they’re creating new work or have been working on a show that has hit delays due to Covid-19. Fringe is all about taking a chance, developing and testing new ideas, and maybe taking the results on tour and to other festivals.”

Festival co-founder and visual artist Hayley Clark says it’s been a tough couple of years for creatives in New Zealand, and she hopes the festival will be a chance for them to get some momentum again.

“It was gutting to have to cancel Fringe last year, so we’re excited it’s on the horizon again. The festival team is made up of artists who understand the challenges of making work, and we do our best to support Fringe artists and help keep their festival costs low. The Fringe takes a small registration fee and will take no cut of the ticket sales,” she says.

“In 2020, many shows were free or koha, and the most expensive ticket was $30. This means local audiences can take risks on shows they wouldn’t normally consider, because it doesn’t cost too much.”

Northland has a wealth of creative talent, says festival co-founder and actor Georgia-May Russ, and Fringe is a vital platform for Te Taitokerau’s arts community to present topical, original work.

“Professional and community artists from Whangārei and Northland enhance the vibrancy and culture of our region, and reflect our community. We want to help build the profile of artists within our community, and provide a way for them to take their work further afield – so we’re building relationships with other festivals such as Auckland Fringe.

“In fact, we’ve collaborated with Auckland Fringe to align our dates. Their festival is now happening just before Whangārei Fringe, so performers can roll from one festival to the next.

“Also, anyone who was part of Fringe 2020 knows it was a heap of fun, and a massive party. Why wouldn’t you want to be part of that this year?!”

Registrations for the open-access festival close on Sunday 1 August; visit www.whangareifringe.co.nz for information. A drop-in hui will be held on Tuesday 21 June, 5-6.30pm at ONEONESIX (116 Bank St), where people can brainstorm ideas with potential collaborators and talk to festival staff about applying for funding support.

Whangārei Fringe Festival received core funding this year from Creative New Zealand (which was also a key sponsor of the 2020 festival), and has also received support from the Northland Event Fund.

Key Whangārei Fringe 2022 dates:

June 16: Registrations open
June 21: Drop-in hui

August 1: Registrations close

September 2: Programme launch, box office opens

September 30: Festival starts

October 2: Hatea Me Hearties buskers festival

October 16: Festival ends, award ceremony

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