The Capital Fringe Festival had its final run last year, ending after two decades. Now, the District Fringe Festival is taking over.
“The idea is to make low barrier to entry art so that younger artists, new artists, people who might not have like big institutional resources, can still make their art,” said Tracey Erbacher, colead producer of the District Fringe Festival.
This is the inaugural year for District Fringe. They partnered with Van Ness Main Street and the University of the District of Columbia to put on the series of shows.
“I think that anytime art gets harder to make, the voices that we lose first are the voices that we can least afford to lose,” she said.
When the Capital Fringe Festival announced that 2024 was their last year, she said they felt that had to step in.
“We were like, “We can’t, we can’t let it go.’ D.C. needs a Fringe Festival,” she said.
The 15 shows that are a part of this year’s District Fringe Festival have a wide range, including cabaret, clowns, Irish mythology, poetry, improv comedy and more.
“We really wanted it to be by the artists, for the artists of the area,” she said.
The festival started on July 11 and runs through July 27.
“Arts are so important for a culture, for people, I think that they foster empathy, and that can only be a good thing in your community to have those experiences theatrically, that make you go, ‘Oh, other people, they are just like me.'”
Tickets are $15 with options to buy festival passes as well. You can find the complete schedule and purchase tickets on the District Fringe Festival website.
WTOP’s Heather Gustafson contributed to this report.
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