Calgary Fringe Festival
Calgary Fringe Festival season is nearly upon us! Described as ‘anything goes theatre,’ this has become one of the most beloved annual events in Calgary. This year, Fringe runs from July 31 to August 8, 2026.
Ahead of Calgary Fringe, WHERE Calgary chatted with Michele Gallant, the executive director and producer of the festival.
Celebrating 20 Years
Calgary Fringe Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year! “Twenty years later and we’re still here; it’s pretty cool,” Gallant smiles. “Fringe is something that has always been near and dear to my heart, especially because it is about the independent self-producing artists and just that journey of being able to support them.” To celebrate this occasion, Calgary Fringe Festival has a special event planned. “Our artistic director, Tamara [Van Horne], is working on a project. She’s been working with different volunteers, past staff members, and some artists. It’s happening on the last day of our festival [August 8] and is like a private event. It takes a look back on the last 20 years, what people have been saying and have said about it, and what it means to them.”
Additionally, this year, the Calgary Fringe Festival is using what Gallant calls “satellite venues” to grow the festival and bring some shows to different parts of the city. “Theatre 1308 on Edmonton Trail is doing some shows. The Kinkonauts have a space in the Beltline area. They’re hosting some artists there to perform in their venue. There is the ATCO Performing Arts Centre [in Hastings]. We’re trying these out as outlier venues to have more presence in different areas of the city and not just in Inglewood. I’m looking forward to that and having more people exposed to Fringe.”
What To See (Pick Your Fringe Adventure)
Fringe Shows: This year, the Calgary Fringe Festival has an incredible, eclectic selection of shows. With shows ranging from a variety of genres, odds are you will find something right up your alley. “I just love the variety of shows, and I love the passion that the artists bring to the art they’re performing on stage,” Gallant says. “The exciting part for me is talking to artists like, ‘Tell me about your journey? How did you go about creating this? What’s the thought process behind it?’ I love having those conversations.”
As for shows that Gallant is looking forward to, she shares that she wishes she could “see all of them, but I know that’s never possible.” A few really stand out to her. Playwright Natalie Gifford’s truly unique and immersive dark comedy Ride or Die is one show that Gallant is excited to watch. This is not a traditional live theatre experience, as audience members (only four at a time) will watch the show in a van. Ride or Die will be playing at Spolumbo’s Parking Lot throughout the festival. “The big thing for Fringe for me is open access to the arts. Anyone can participate in any way. It doesn’t have to be in a theatre-type environment. Theatre can happen in a parking lot in a van. [It’s about] offering different opportunities for people to participate in Fringe in different ways.”
Another show that Gallant is really looking forward to seeing is Promise & Promiscuity: A New Musical by Jane Austen and Penny Ashton. Previously, Ashton performed this one-woman musical at the Calgary Fringe Festival in 2016 and is now bringing it back! Ashton will be performing her iconic musical throughout the festival at the ATCO Performing Arts Centre. “I’m excited to see her evolution journey with that show. It’s exciting to have her back!”
Kids Fringe / Theatre for Young Audiences: These events are mostly geared towards families with young children who are interested in experiencing theatre. From 11 am to 1 pm on Saturday, August 1, in the Festival Hall lobby, families can experience the Kid Fringe Family Fun Zone. This event is free! “We’ll have some face painting, colouring, mask painting, and storytellers roaming around,” Gallant comments.
At Festival Hall, there are also Fringe Lightning and Fringe Spark, theatre camps co-hosted by the Calgary Fringe Festival and the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society. “The shows are a toonie a ticket, which is really nice and really great for any families that want to introduce their kids to theatre,” Gallant states.
Fringe Lightning is a week-long theatre camp. “The kids write the show, workshop the show, the opening Saturday [August 1] they have a three-hour tech rehearsal just like any other adult Fringe artists, and then at 1 pm they do their show. It is quite exciting to see the kids, first of all, performing in that, and then, years later, coming back as Fringe artists, volunteers, or technicians on a show. For me, that’s pretty cool to see.”
On the closing Saturday, August 8, there is Fringe Spark. Doors open at 3 pm and the show starts at 3:15 pm. This theatre camp is described as ‘the fastest theatre camp in the world.’ “It is like a two-hour writing intensive. Kids are gonna come together and have two hours to figure out which show they are going to put on stage. It’s really fast. The kids get really excited. They have a half-hour break, and then they present their show. Sometimes it’s ten minutes. Sometimes it’s twenty minutes. But it’s really fun.”
Fringe After Dark: These events take place nightly at 10:15 pm at Festival Hall and are intended for older teens and adults. “A lot of these Fringe After Dark Events are free that people can come to, have fun, and just do something a little bit different at the end of each Fringe night to be able to just come together and go, ‘This has been a wonderful Fringe day with everyone coming together in community,” Gallant explains.
On Friday, July 31, you can see Fraction of the Fringe. “Each artist comes on stage and has about thirty seconds to a minute to showcase really quickly their show, and what it is they're doing, so the patrons kind of get a little bit of a snapshot and feel for what [each] show is about.” Other Fringe After Dark Events include APT 33 (August 1 and 2), Trivia Night with Minion (August 4), Karaoke Night (August 5), a screening of the iconic musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show (August 6), and Mini-Poetry Slam (August 7).
Fringe On Demand: If you are unable to see the Calgary Fringe Festival in person or if you missed out on seeing a show you really wanted to watch, there is still a chance to see a lot of the shows with Fringe On Demand. “We do a recording of a lot of the shows on our opening weekend, and then we release them for on demand viewing mid-run [August 5] of our festival,” Gallant says. “People can buy tickets right up until the end of the festival day [August 8], but they have until the week after [August 15] to watch them.” Playwright Kat Arifin’s original sci-fi comedy stage play How to Save The World from a Bus to Thunder Bay (which was inspired by Roland Emmerich’s 1996 blockbuster film Independence Day) is just one of a handful of shows that are available on demand.
Supporting Self-Producing Indie Artists & Open Access to Arts: Anybody Can Participate
Open access to the arts and supporting self-producing indie artists are very important to the Calgary Fringe Festival. Below are just a couple of ways that the festival does this.
Artistic Expression and Supporting Their Art: Giving artists the creative freedom to perform their art on stage is very important to the Calgary Fringe Festival. “We don’t exercise any artistic control over the work being presented on stage,” Gallant states. “We basically have a structure that you have to be respectful, and it can’t be like a political platform. Part of the thing that we always try to do is [to make it] be a safe and creative space to be able to present your art. For Calgary Fringe, there’s two rules. Number One: You have to explain what your show is about so patrons can make an informed decision by themselves if they want to see it or not. Number Two: Don’t break the law. Those are my only two rules. Whatever you want to put on stage, you go right ahead.”
Additionally, artists receive 100% of the ticket and pass prices (excluding surcharges and government taxes). “It’s to help support them in developing their art so that they can then take those funds and go on in terms of development,” Gallant says.
Lottery Draw or First Come First Serve Basis (non-juried): This is how participants/artists are selected for the Calgary Fringe Festival. “It means we’re not gatekeeping,” Gallant says. “It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced theatre person or are somebody who has always wanted to do theatre, and this is your first foyer. It doesn’t matter to us. We literally put names into a hat and draw them. That is really important to us in terms of being able to level the playing field and to let anybody be able to come in and participate.”
Fringe U(Niversity): This program was designed to equip emerging artists, art workers, high school students, and university students with the tools to succeed in their careers. The programme also offers lots of ‘hands-on learning.’ “We have different opportunities for artists and arts workers to be able to hone their craft and to be able to know, ‘This is what it takes to be a self-producing artist – it’s really focused on: How do we support indie artists? How do we give them the tools they need to be able to be successful in what they do?’” Gallant says. “Giving opportunities to high school and university students so they have more exposure. You don’t have to be an artist on stage. You can be a marketer. You can be an arts administrative person. You can be a venue tech. You can be all these different things. It’s giving them opportunities to see how they can fit into the performing arts scene. Our junior tech mentorship program, we’ve had students come back from that program and become fully pledged venue tech, and they’re mentoring the next group. We have the associate producer role that high school students can shadow me and our other team leads so they get an understanding of what it takes to manage on the backend of things.”
Why You Should Go to Calgary Fringe Festival
If you have never been to the Calgary Fringe Festival, it is a great opportunity to see some cool shows while also supporting indie artists. “For a lot of people, it’s the fact that it's only an hour, the money goes to the artist, it's not a big time commitment, and they are able to try out different performances or genres that they may not have had exposure to before,” Gallant shares. “Ones that have never done theatre before usually get converted to being raving fans because of the community and feeling good that the money that they were paying is actually supporting the artist. They get to sample different things, invite friends, hang out, and have variety in their evening. The big selling feature for a lot of patrons, those who don’t even go to the theatre, or those who do go to the theatre, is the fact that we don’t exercise any artistic control over the work being presented on stage, and the money goes to the artist. They just love that.”
