We are so excited to announce a slate of community events that will take place during the 9th Annual Hollywood Fringe Festival.

• Fringe Cabaret hosted at The Eastside Commons at Thymele Arts (June 2, 5, 10, 12, 19; varying times) 
• Fringe Opening Night Party hosted at LGBT Center (June 6; 6:30pm) 
• Fringe Runway hosted at The Eastside Commons at Thymele Arts (June 12; 7:00pm)
• Fringe Masquerade hosted at LA Lofts (June 16; 7:00pm)
• Fringe Pride hosted at LGBT Center (June 20; 5:00pm)
• Fringe Prom hosted at LA Lofts (June 22; 7:00pm)
• Fringe Awards hosted at the Montalbán (June 24; 6:00pm)
• Fringe Closing Night Party hosted at Three Clubs (June 24; 8:00pm)

Full details about all these events can be found on their individual event pages. The festival proper will kick off with the Opening Night Party on June 6th at the LGBT Center, historically the festival’s biggest social event. Details about exclusive VIP tickets will be released in the coming days. 

There will also be a number of services and opportunities available for festival attendees:

• Fringe Social Hubs: A group of bars and restaurants deeply invested in Fringe to serve as a rallying point, a break room between shows, or a place to meet other Fringers and talk about all that you’ve seen. These spots all offer button discounts and Three Clubs will offer drinks sponsored by Fringe productions.
  
  
  
  • BLACK, 6202 Santa Monica Blvd. (drinks, 21+)
  • Eastside Commons @Thymele Arts, 5481 Santa Monica Blvd. (drinks and snacks, all ages)
  • Eat This Cafe, 6547 Santa Monica Blvd. (food/drinks, all ages)
  • Hunter & Charlie’s, 1050 Vine St. (food/drinks, all ages)
  • Plunge at The Broadwater, 1078 Lillian Way (drinks, 21+)
  • Three Clubs, 1123 Vine St. (drinks, 21+)
• Fringe Hot Spot Program: Festival-wide community discounts are available for Fringe-goers with a Fringe Button from May 31st to June 24th. The perks of a button include $1 off all show tickets, deals around town and access to Fringe-run events. The button can be purchased for $5 (or $3 for Festival participants) online at www.hollywoodfringe.org/market.
• Fringe Concierge: Festival staff will run a formal home base for the Fringe in a storefront adjacent to Three Clubs at 1123 N. Vine St. Unit 6. This place will be home for participant flyers/posters, HFF information, festival merchandise and snacks. Concierge will open at 5pm on weekdays and 2pm on weekends. It will close nightly at 10pm.
• Street Teams: Uniformed HFF volunteers will take to the streets near fringe venues and hot spots fielding questions about the festival and helping patrons where needed. Interested in joining the effort? Volunteer!
• Participant/Venue-Hosted Parties: Fringe has created a new (free) registration type for fringe venues and participants to host their own social gatherings and promote them through the fringe website. To take advantage of this new promotion, create a project and register as your normally would. Select “Social Event” as your registration type. Note that you musty have a fully insured venue in the Fringe zone to participate in this program.

Many of you familiar with the festival will notice that there is no Fringe Central this year. Fringe Central has evolved over the years – from theater to storefront to tent to club. As the festival has grown, we’ve opted to partner with community bars and restaurants to provide a sense of place. We believe this evolution is reflective of the expanding social opportunities within the community.

UPDATE: Voting has been extended to 11:59PM on Monday, May 28th. The winner will be announced on May 29th! 

Ever dreamt about re-doing your prom, but with a way better theme and adults instead of teenagers? It’s time for you to make that dream come to life! This year’s Fringe prom theme is going to be picked by YOU! Now through May 16 you can nominate anything off the top of your head to become a real live prom theme!

Hit us with your best: Under the Sea? Happily Ever After? Apocalypse Now? Bring it on!

Here’s the how to nominate your theme: Tweet @hollywoodfringe with these two hashtags #hff18 #hffprom

Get your friends to like your post! The themes with the most engagement (plus a staff favorite) will be compiled as a survey to be voted on starting May 18. Happy voting!

We’re excited to announce two very special additional Office Hours events! The #diningaboutfringe series is an opportunity to get together with other Fringers in a quieter, conversational environment at one of our favorite Hot Spots: Eat This Cafe (6547 Santa Monica Blvd.)! 

• Thursday, May 10th from 6-8pm
• Thursday, May 24th from 6-8pm

There will be extended happy hour prices on appetizers ($6-8) and house beer & wine ($4). 

And of course you can join us for our last installments of #drinkingaboutfringe. Check out the rest of the Office Hours schedule here. 

We are excited to announce this year’s lineup of Sponsored Awardsto be presented at the Fringe Awards Ceremony at The Ricardo Montalbán Theater on the final day of the festival. Thanks to all the organizations partnering with us to present these special awards! 

Sponsored Awards are presented by outside organizations to commend like-minded artists. You can see this year’s list here. Make sure you check each award’s submission requirements before contacting the award sponsor for consideration.

The other awards we hand out at the Award Ceremony are the Community Awards (lovingly known as “The Freaks”). These awards are given out to the best shows in each category (“Best in Ensemble Theatre”, “Best in Comedy”, etc.) as voted by the Fringe community. Additionally, “Freaks” are presented for top International show, best world premiere (the “Fringe First” award) and the highest award: an overall winner crowned “Top of the Fringe”. Fringe community members, including participants, who see shows & leave reviews on hollywoodfringe.org will receive ballots during the last days of the festival via email. 

On the last day of the festival (June 24th) we host our Award Ceremony and Closing Night Party. We hand out two types of awards: the Community Awards (top shows by category and also the all-around “Top of the Fringe” award), which are determined by votes from Fringers; and Sponsored Awards, which are awarded by organizations outside of the Fringe. Check out last year’s award winners here. 

In order to sponsor an award, you must meet a number of requirements, including the following:

• Naming requirements (no fringe-specific superlatives)
• Requirement to provide a physical award to the winner at the Fringe Award Ceremony
• Details on eligibility and how the winner will be selected
• You may present ONE award (if presenting to multiple awardees, they must all be called to the stage at the same time).

And perhaps most importantly, Sponsored Award applications must be submitted by May 1st. Get more information on the requirements and application process here.