Melbourne Fringe Festival Artist Resources

Here are a handy bunch of resources for artists participating in the 2020 Melbourne Fringe Festival. We’ve got everything from a budget template to tips on writing a press release. Even if you aren’t a Festival artist there’s bound to be something here for you – go on, take a peek.

And because 2020 has been… different, to say the least, we’ve created two brand-new resources that tell you everything you need to know about putting on an event in this year of years. Make sure you check out our guide to Melbourne Fringe in 2020 and our Guide to Digital and Physically Distanced Art before you go any further. You can also have a browse through our Wellbeing Guide which has been designed specifically to help Fringe artists maintain good mental health and self-care during their Fringe journey. This guide has been created by psychologist Chris Cheers, in consultation with Melbourne Fringe staff.

2020 Melbourne Fringe Producer Packs

Our Producer Pack is your Fringe bible (or your non-religious guide to Fringe if you will). It’s the central resource for all Melbourne Fringe artists and producers and is a comprehensive guide to putting on an event in the Festival, addressing all aspects of production, venues, risk management, marketing, publicity, accessibility and more.

It comes in 2 parts:

How to Register
Preparing for the Festival

Download Producer Pack 1: How to Register

Download Producer Pack 1: How to Register (Plain Text version)

Download Producer Pack 2: Preparing for the Festival

Money and Contracts

Find out all about Budgets, Money and Grants

Download Budgets, Money and Grants (Plain Text version)

Download an editable Budget Template

Download MEAA’s Profit Share info Pack

Download our Artist Agreement Template

Download our Code of Conduct factsheet, including where to turn to for help

Download our Venue Agreement Template

Marketing and Publicity

Download our Marketing Pack for some guidance on getting the word out there

Download Marketing Pack (Plain Text version)

Download our Marketing plan template

Find out How to write a Media Release

Find out how and why to Advertise with Melbourne Fringe

As per your contract, you must include the Festival logo on all of your marketing collateral (posters, postcards, advertising, etc). Before you use the logos on any of your promotional material, make sure you read the Conditions of Use. Download Melbourne Fringe Logos and Assets here

Marketing and Publicity Discounts

Take advantage of these sweet discounts from our great mates, to help promote your show:

Thanks to our friends at Plakkit, 2020 Melbourne Fringe Festival artists can get a 20% discount on their printing and distribution needs. Get in touch with them at sayhello@plakkit.com and let them know you’re a 2020 Fringe artist.
JOY are offering a 15% discount to all 2020 Melbourne Fringe Festival artists to promote their show to over 600k monthly listeners. Better still, make it easy by taking up a special ‘MFF Artist Pack’ offer featuring 31 on-air 15-second Spots on JOY over a week. Contact sales@joy.org.au or 03 9286 6042 to find out more.
Want your show promoted on RRR? They’re offering discounted ‘Community Arts’ rates for Fringe artists, with packages from $350 +GST. Get in touch with the team to discuss your needs.
Finsbury Green offer a range of print and promotion services. Give ’em a buzz and they’ll tailor something to you.

Accessibility

Melbourne Fringe is for everyone and we are committed to being an accessible festival for all artists and audience members.

We passionately encourage Fringe artists to consider ways to make events more accessible for the broader community, including those living with disability or who are Deaf. Whether that’s through organising an Auslan interpreted evening, going all out and making a physical theatre work with a high visual rating or opening up a session as a relaxed performance option, there’s plenty you can do and we’re happy to help you get started (we mentioned we are passionate about this right?).

A great place to begin is our quick guide. If you have any questions or want to chat through your ideas, give the Participant Services team a call on 03 9660 9600.

Download our Producers Guide to Access.

Download our Producers Guide to Access (Plain Text version)

Our friends at Arts Access Victoria have created this amazing, detailed guide to creating accessible art work and engaging people living with disability Art for Everyone: an inclusive practice guide. The Arts Access Victoria website also contains great resources to assist you further.

Sustainability

Melbourne Fringe acknowledges that it has a positive role to play in addressing the environmental issues that jeopardise the planet’s ecosystems and the future of local communities.

We aim to ensure:

Our artists have access to information and resources to support sustainable artistic practice and production
Melbourne Fringe incorporates sustainability into strategic and operational decision making
Melbourne Fringe encourages and supports a community dialogue around issues of sustainability and climate change.

Download our Sustainability Checklist

Other Resources

ind out about Using Music in your Event

Download our How-to Guide for Registering on Eventotron

And if you’ve got to the bottom of the page and you still haven’t downloaded these guides, here they are again: