Apply to perform in santa cruz Fringe 2025

🗓 Festival Date: TBD
📍 Venue: TBD

The Prompt: What is in you that must be seen?

We’re curating 10 bold, original acts to perform across 8 immersive spaces inside the historic Veterans Hall. Each space has a theme (see here). Artists may apply to multiple spaces, but will be selected for one based on fit and demand.

🎭 All performance disciplines are welcomed and desired — our goal is to showcase a wide range of forms and voices: theatre, dance, comedy, circus, music, film, spoken word, multimedia, and beyond.


🧑‍🎨 Artists must be 18 years or older
🎟 No application or participation fees
💸 $200 stipend per act + 90% profit share (10% donated to a local organization)
🎚️ Basic lighting/audio provided — advanced tech cues must be submitted in advance
⏱ Setup and strike must be possible within 15 minutes
📅 Selected artists must attend an in-person dress rehearsal
🎨 Curated by a diverse team of local artists and creative leaders

The Portals of Fringe

🌟 Epiphanies Stage

Auditorium with full lights and sound. What part of your essence demands to be seen by 200 strangers? Revelation. Revolution. We’re not watching — we’re leaping with you.

🍕Cafeteria Comedy

Fluorescent lights. Cringe brilliance. Chaos and confession. Comedy, sketch, weirdo dance, TED parodies — think 8th-grade lunchroom meets adulthood unfiltered. Seats 50 people.

🌀Dissolve the Frame

A room for dissolving boundaries. Pressure. Proximity. What shifts when we try something together? Theatrical presence. Stillness. Experiencing over watching.

🪞Break the Illusion

A mirror room of distortion and discovery. What do you see when the illusion breaks? Multiples, choreography, and truth reflected back to the body.

🌿 Courtyard Flirtations

Breathe. Flirt. Connect. An open-air zone for ambient sound, edible altars, rituals, and visual art. A sensory pulse point between performance spaces. Fits about ~30 people.

🪜STAIRWELL Stories

Glances and whispers in liminal space. Hang poems, haunt the walls, or catch us mid-step. Transition becomes theatre. Vertical. Quiet. Surprising.

🎻 Serenade ENTRYWAY

The first breath. The first sound. Acoustic loops, ambient tones, or instrumental surprise. Every guest passes through. Set the field. Open the portal.

🎪 Street Spectacles

Feral. Public. Fringe. Roving clowns, stilts, circus bursts, WTF moments. Flash mobs, surprise ritual, visual spectacle. This is the no-permission zone.

From the soul of the Santa Cruz Festival Fringe, we ask

What is in you that must be seen?

It’s not about what you’re good at, or what you think you want to share

It’s about what’s pulsing, asking, demanding, quietly, fiercely to be seen

It might be tender, chaotic, funny, feral, cringy, magical, whatever

It is not for validation but to stop hiding  from ourselves

Be the whole damn universe in one body

Because you, me, we are instruments of cosmic freedom

Welcome to a stage where anything is possible

The spatial framework & PromptS ARE inspired in part by Allison’s participation in Evolve Wellness’s Relational Living / Stop F*cking Around program. With gratitude to Dr. Peg, Dr. Joie, and the SFA community for sparking bold creative emergence.

 FAQs

  • Artists 18+ from anywhere are welcome. We're curating 10 performance-ready acts across theatre, dance, comedy, circus, music, film, spoken word, and more. We are especially excited about immersive pieces that invite the audience in and artists willing to perform at least twice during the event.

    • A virtual interview in June, tech rehearsal on Oct 10th (required), and full-day participation on Oct 11, including at least two performances. Occasional creative check-ins as needed.

    • The venue will be the Veterans Memorial Building and we are expecting ~300 people to attend.

    • Santa Cruz Fringe will provide basic lighting / tech design, but advanced tech cues must be communicated and approved by the organizers in advance.

    • Set up / Strike must be possible within 15 minutes.

    • Artists will be responsible for their own travel to/from the venue.

  • Each act receives a $200 stipend + a share of 90% of festival profits. 10% of profits donated to an organization aligned with the festival’s values.

  • We provide basic lighting and sound. Artists are responsible for their own set, props, and production elements as well as travel to/from the venue. Your piece should be simple enough to rotate in a shared, multi-stage setup and to set up / strike in under 15 minutes.

  • Yes. Artists keep full copyright. We just ask that the piece acknowledge its participation in Santa Cruz Fringe. Details will be included in the collaboration agreement.

  • Apply by June 8, 2025 by filling out this JotForm: https://forms.gle/tcZsYYrdJpHoKDPr7 Submit a short description, a 5-minute video (sample or pitch), basic tech info, and a few written responses.
    There are no application or participation fees, and we review submissions on a rolling basis—so apply early.

  • Acts are chosen by a local team of artists, producers, and creatives with diverse backgrounds, genres, and lived experiences. All applicants will be notified of their selection by June 30th.