Young Fringe Producers Project

The Young Fringe Producers Project is a collaboration between Gothenburg Fringe, Reykjavík Fringe and Bergen Fringe festivals, created with the aim to provide a platform for the exchange of expertise, staff, content and to ensure a sustainable working model for young festival producers - which launched in 2021.

All three events are run mostly by young professionals in the arts industry, who are driven to provide a --both literal and metaphorical-- platform for local and international artists to perform at a variety of venues, learn from other artists and build an international network.

This model of Fringe is a sustainable one for the artists, thanks to the fact that the vast majority of funding for these events is spent on producing it and making it financially viable for the performers.

However, this is not a sustainable model for those producing the festivals. The majority of staff work on a voluntary basis, for the love of the concept and to gain experience in the field.
Although the producers have the necessary professional skills, the funding simply is not there to compensate for their work, leading to high turnover and a loss of expertise on a consistent basis.

Creating a pool of skillful people working with tech, media or producing and giving them the opportunity to travel to the different festivals will make things easier for all festival teams as they don’t have to spend time on finding committed people and instead can rely on the skills and experience from other young professionals.

The aim of this project is to make these festivals a viable choice for young professionals in the arts industry. and will focus on three actions.

The project received short-term support from Nordic Culture Point and took place in the summer of 2021 with a successful exchange between the three festivals - Reykjavik in July, followed by Bergen and Gothenburg in September.

A final online workshop will take place in October to conclude the project for 2021 and plan for an expanded edition in 2022.