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Fringe Fund
The Fringe Fund helps our very best emerging and independent artistic talent achieve incredible things, supporting artists to find the money they need to make ground-breaking, innovative and brilliant art. The Fringe Fund provides commissioning opportunities, concessions on fees, and even cold hard cash to ease financial pressure on artists so they can do what they do best.
If you are an artist, under Opportunities for Artists you’ll find a list of all the Fringe Fund opportunities that are currently open, and you can apply via the forms linked at each opportunity. Check back regularly – new callouts for commissions and grants are announced throughout the year, so don’t be a stranger!
If you are interested in supporting our work by giving to the Fringe Fund, read more about Supporting Artists to find out how.
If you have any questions about anything Fringe Fund-related you can email our Artist Services team at artists@melbournefringe.com.au or give us a call on 03 9660 9600.
Artist Opportunities
Club Fringe Commissions
We’re on the lookout for wildly original and avant-garde ideas as part of our Club Fringe program for 2025. Whether it’s a high-concept art party, or a slick dance-floor filling event, we want to hear about it! This is an opportunity to self produce and present a unique, one night only event as part of our Club Fringe program, for one night in Fringe Common Rooms. We can’t wait to see what $3k ideas you’ve got up your sleeves.
Applications close at 11.59pm on Sunday 18 May, 2025.
Club Fringe Commission Pack – PDF Version
Club Fringe Commission Pack – Word Version
Deadly Fringe – $3K Commission
Got a new idea? We have three 3K opportunities to present new work at the Festival in 2025. One of these opportunities is presented in partnership with Koorie Heritage Trust. If you’re an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person with a creative idea, we would love to hear from you!
The partnership with Koorie Heritage Trust offers an artist a small space at KHT to present their work, free from venue and overhead costs. KHT have a strong curatorial vision for the selected applicant, therefore applicants who have a weaving element to their work will be prioritised.
- ONE $3,000 commission for a weaving work displayed at the Koorie Heritage Trust
- TWO $3,000 commissions open to any artistic medium (these will not be presented at KHT)
Applications close at 11.59pm on Sunday 18 May, 2025.
Power Move Commission
We’re seeking artists to contribute to a ground-breaking project alongside programming for a unique premiere event at Melbourne Fringe. This project, which is still under wraps, promises to be a joyful, inclusive and interactive experience with a focus on community participation and active movement.
Without revealing too much, imagine a space where performance, culture, and community intersect. Attendees will engage in an interactive experience that explores movement. It’s an opportunity to create something truly memorable right in the heart of Melbourne CBD. Duration and timing of your event/performance idea is flexible, whether it be 30 minutes or a 4+ hour durational work, we are open to your ideas!
Applications close at 11.59pm on Sunday 18 May, 2025.
Power Move Commission Pack – PDF Version
Power Move Commission Pack – Word Version
Ralph Mclean Microgrants
Our Ralph Mclean Microgrants program is jam packed with small parcels of cash (a microgrant if you will) to support artists who are finding the rego fee or other upfront costs a barrier to participation. These small but mighty microgrants can cover a number of upfront costs and are designed for you to tell us how it would be most useful for you!
Our Ralph Mclean Microgrants program honours the amazing legacy of our former Chair of the Board and all-round legend, Ralph Mclean, a true champion of access and diversity in the arts.
Applications close at 11.59pm on Sunday 18 May, 2025.
How it Works
Cash to Create
Cash to Create opportunities all have one thing in common: they financially support artists so artists can get creating.
Throughout the year applications will be opened for commissioning opportunities including our Club Fringe Commissions, Fringe of the Hub Commissions, ShowSupport and Melbourne Civic Commission. Check back regularly to see how the Fringe Fund can support you to make great art.
Cash for Equity
Cash for Equity is our way of levelling the playing field and making sure that anyone with an amazing idea can have their voice heard at Melbourne Fringe.
Melbourne Fringe acknowledges that people facing financial hardship or structural disadvantage are met with barriers that prevent engagement with the arts and the amplification of their artistic voice. This includes First Nations peoples, Deaf and Disabled people and people who identify as people of colour or Culturally and Linguistically Diverse.
Cash for Equity aims to remove barriers to access. We provide concessions on registration fees, support for audience accessibility services, and bespoke support through Microgrants of $100-$500 that are allocated to alleviate pressures on artists from our communities of focus.
Supporting Artists
Joining us as a Fringe Fund donor will make an incredible impact on the lives and work of independent artists. You’ll be backing big bold ideas, supporting bright emerging talents and helping elevate vital voices as they make exciting and meaningful contributions to the cultural life of our city.
You can add your name to the family of supporters already generously donating directly to the Fringe Fund here – or if you’ve got your own big, bold idea about how to support the Fund, reach out! We’d love to chat.
Ralph Mclean Microgrants are supported by the quiet generosity of a Fringe Angel
Deadly Fringe is supported by The Beeton Family Fund, a sub-fund of the Australian Communities Foundation and Craig Semple
Deadly Fringe Commissions are supported by
Power Move is supported by
Fringe Fund is supported by
