The Ottawa Fringe Festival’s mandate is to afford all artists the opportunity to produce their art—regardless of experience, content, form or style—and for the event to be affordable and accessible to the community. The result is a vibrant and exciting artistic environment in which countless artists have flourished.

The Ottawa Fringe Festival could well be the most inclusive in our national theatre ecology: any artist at any stage of their development can participate. Given the fact that a jury does not select Fringe performers, an artist’s success is based on the strength of their talents and ability to communicate their art. A certain sense of risk and adventure feels oh so right when lining up for a new show (with no ideas but those formed reading its program description). The first days of performances are especially exciting when word-of-mouth and reviews try quickly to establish the shows to see.