The Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival officially begins on Friday July 28, and it runs for two weeks with its end date on Aug. 6.
The opening party starts at 8 p.m. at Sugarmont Plaza and ends at 11 p.m. Guests will be able to pick up festival schedules and meet with some of the artists. Fringe artists are also going to be showing short teasers of their works to help guests decide what they would like to see out of over 200 performances.
The Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival is a multi-day festival that takes place in Sugar House to celebrate and explore art in its many forms and to tell the stories behind every person. The festival was founded in 2015 by a group of students and faculty from Westminster College. It ran for four days, and it earned $16,000 for the nonprofit organization. It started with 27 theaters hosting 110 performances, expanding in 2016 to twice the number of theaters performances over the course of eight days. The Fringe Festival continues to gain interest. Now, over the course of 14 days, audiences will be exposed to over 200 performances with low ticket prices.
For additional fun, guests will be able to use ticket stubs and ballots to vote for the Best of Fringe contest, selecting the audiences’ and critics’ favorite performances from of every category. This year’s festival features everything from aerial art and dance, to theater and magic. Like the art and artists themselves, the festival will not be the same as it was previous years. Ninety-five percent of the performances shown during the festival will be original and never before seen works created by each artist.
The Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival is hoping to support art of every kind and enhance the arts through the spread of affordable and unrestricted artworks. In keeping with their goal of spreading artworks, the Fringe Festival also offers a free Kid Fringe. On Aug. 5, two shows will be performed at 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. One show will be performed on Aug. 6 at 1:30 p.m. and free face painting will begin after.
The Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival’s main goal follows the original goals of Fringe Festivals around the world; fringe festivals started in Europe after World War II when many countries were in need of cultural enrichment. Now, there are over 200 fringe festivals happening across six continents every year.
Although many of the performances over the course of the festival will charge an admission fee — ticket prices will be posted at the event and on the schedule available on opening night, the Opening Night Party is free for guests. Fringe tickets require the purchase of a Fringe Tattoo to get into the Festival and the tattoo is required for attendance to ticketed shows. Ticket prices start at $10 for one show, $25 for three or $70 for 10.