Danny’s hot tip for Fringe is get in early! Too many times in the past he’s put off seeing a show he wants to see only to find out everyone else was too and it’s now sold out.

Danny Delahunty is an arts producer and theatre director who has been working broadly in the independent sector for the best part of the past ten years. He has presented over 50 seasons of 34 projects, working with established theatre companies, on independent projects and in touring works around Australia and overseas. Prior Fringe, Danny was working as the Festival Producer for Drama Victoria, an Events Producer for Melbourne Writers Festival, and the Tours Coordinator for Melbourne International Comedy Festival, as well as continuing his work as an indie project producer and his passion as a theatre director.

Tom’s hot tip for Fringe is…. Take a chance! Fringe is a great way to explore our city and have experiences you wouldn’t have at any other time.

Tom Browne is a theatre-maker, performer and producer, with a focus on new devised works. With his independent company Grit Theatre he has presented work in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, receiving a number of awards including two Green Room Awards, and Best Performance at Melbourne Fringe. Tom has spent recent years working in festivals and arts event management in Australia and the UK, and is currently a judge on the Green Room Awards Independent Theatre Panel. He is a passionate about nurturing and facilitating the work of emerging independent artists, and beer drinking.

Patrick’s hot tip for Fringe is be as flexible as you can, be open to new experiences and stay hydrated people.

Patrick Hayes is a young producer, mental health activist and emerging figure in the Brisbane arts and queer communities. His career began with programming FAST: Festival of Australian Student Theatre in 2014 and most recently, he played a large role in producing MELT: A Celebration of Queer Arts and Culture 2017 at Brisbane Powerhouse. Since 2015, he has juggled many roles while working for Brisbane Powerhouse including Programming Administrator, Program Coordinator, Associate Producer and most recently Project Coordinator for the Australian Performing Arts Market. Patrick is passionate about mental health activism, promoting opportunities for emerging artists and is excited to join the Melbourne Fringe team.

Carly’s hot tip for Fringe is the words and ideas sessions. She loves a good panel discussion and will probably be live tweeting what’s happening.

Carly Findlay, Melbourne Fringe’s Access and Inclusion Coordinator – focused on making the Festival and other Melbourne Fringe events accessible and inclusive for participants and audiences who identify as D/deaf and disabled. She’s worked in the Federal Government as an events planner, communicator and executive assistant, as well as in the disability community. Carly has a Master of Communication and Bachelor of eCommerce. She identifies as a proud disabled woman and wants the world to know that disability is not a bad thing.

Outside of working at Fringe, she is a writer, speaker, sometimes-performer and podcaster. Carly is writing her first book and was recently named as Tempest’s 40 women to watch in 2018. She’s rarely met a cheese she didn’t like.

Anna’s hot tip for Fringe is…explore the spectrum of art-forms. See something you normally wouldn’t. And go to the Fringe Club!

Anna Seymour is an independent performing artist, dance maker and emerging producer with a focus on contemporary dance and collaboration. Bi-lingual in Auslan and English, Anna is a proud Deaf woman with a passion for her community, culture and language. She is a co-founder and the artistic director of The Delta Project, a Melbourne-based dance company of Deaf and hearing performers. With Deafferent Theatre she performed in Black is the Colour (Melbourne Fringe 2016) earning her a Green Room Award nomination for Best Performer in Independent Theatre. Anna is the recipient of the Spirit of the Fringe Award in 2018 for her work SPIN.

Anna collaborates widely with visual artists, photographers, filmmakers, theatre makers and musicians. Her mural by Guido van Helten on the Melbourne Polytechnic building in Prahran explores people’s relationship to architecture and public spaces. She is the only Melbourne Fringe staff member with a 7 storey tall mural in Melbourne.

During the Festival, Miranda can be seen quaffing bliss balls, hanging off a ladder (that forgotten piece of signage) and waxing lyrical about the feminist show she saw last night.

Miranda started her career as an independent artist and then discovered, much to her delight, that she enjoyed selling tickets to the show, more than actually making the show (capitalism, what can you do?!?). Hence, she found her way into marketing in the arts. Prior to Fringe, Miranda worked as a Marketing Consultant in several organisations including the Canberra International Music Festival and Ainslie and Gorman Arts Centres. With a firm belief that participation brings social, cultural and personal benefits, Miranda has returned to her indy arts roots at Fringe.

During the Festival, Pauline can be seen fleetingly, elusively, like a shadow, sneaking up on great art.

Pauline graduated from Rusden College in 1989 and is a founding member of Snuff Puppets, working with the company as writer, dramaturg, performer and co- Artistic Director with Andy Freer until 2003. She loved every minute of her stint as funding manager at Back to Back Theatre from 2003 until 2016 and joined Melbourne Fringe in that role in 2016.

Dan’s hot tip for Fringe is….meet weird with weird. See something wild to get your mind cogs going.

Dan Beacom is a musician, screenwriter and marketer who loves content creation and building brands. Originally from Radelaide, Dan has spent the past six years in Melbourne writing comedy, playing gigs, and producing viral memes. Over this period he’s also worked with digital agencies and helped shaped brands within the hospitality and entertainment industries. Being a Festival-lover, joining Melbourne Fringe in 2019 was an absolute no-brainer for the guy.

Will’s first Fringe experience also happens to be his very first Melbourne experience. When he moved to Melbourne in 2014 his friend picked him up at the airport, gave him a pair of denim overalls and took him straight to 1992-1-Oh! at the Fringe Club. He knew then and there that this was his one true home.

Will is an arts manager and festival director based in Melbourne whose work focuses on supporting and championing emerging artists and the independent sector. He has worked for a range of festivals in Australia and internationally, most recently as the Executive Director of the Emerging Writers’ Festival in Melbourne. In this role he has led the organisation through a period of significant growth, forging major new partnerships to provide platforms for the next generation of Australian storytellers. Will is also the co-director of Happenstance, an interactive community arts festival held along the Merri Creek in Melbourne, which had its second iteration in 2018. He brings a wealth of experience from across the arts sector, having worked for Melbourne Festival, Museums Victoria, 2high Festival and Assembly Festival at the Edinburgh Fringe, among others. He holds a Master of Arts (Arts Management) from RMIT University and a Bachelor of Creative Industries from the Queensland University of Technology.

Shirrah’s first Fringe experience was watching the parade with her brother and parents in the 90’s and (much to the disappointment of her parents) taking home giant papermache fries from one of the floats, which spent the next few months slowly disintegrating in their lounge-room.

Shirrah is an engineer and atmospheric scientist by training. She spent many years working for the Bureau of Meteorology as a Flood Forecaster, but never really gave up on working in the arts. Since saying goodbye to floods, Shirrah has lived and worked in the UK for Underbelly at the Edinburgh Fringe, Edinburgh’s Christmas and on Pride in London and West End Live and in Australia for Arts Centre Melbourne, Circus Oz and Sydney Festival amongst others. She joined Fringe in 2017.

Christa’s first Fringe experience was as Assistant Stage Manager for Union House Theatre’s 1938: An Opera, where she spent her first rehearsal chipping black paint off an old-as-heck phone.

Christa is a list-making Third Culture Kid with her fingers in many arts pies. She is a qualified graphic designer with a Master of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing who freelances as stage manager for socio-culturally challenging works of theatre. She was a recipient of Melbourne Theatre Company’s Robert McDonald Professional Development Award (Stage Management Secondment, MTC’s Jumpy) and The Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship. Christa speaks four languages and is currently completing her Diploma in Auslan. She likes cheese, confusing people with where she’s REALLY from, and cuddling other people’s dogs.

Fact: Christa’s apartment was a Fringe venue in 2016.