Our Mission
Our Vision
About Fringe
The Darwin Fringe is an open-access festival that supports the development of the arts community, providing opportunities for all artists to emerge, experiment, and showcase new and diverse works in Darwin to local and national audiences.
Core team
Director: Hannah Illingworth
Co-Producers: Denique Stewart + Haneen Martin
Marketing Manager: TBA
Production Manager: TBA
Volunteer Coordinator: TBA
Additional team
Will be sound techs, stage managers and venue managers in the lead up to the festival.
Brief history
The Darwin Fringe has been a part of the Darwin creative eco system since the 80’s when it was a club space within the Bougainvillea Festival. Over the years it twisted to the needs of the community around it even having a life as the Fridge Festival in the early 2000’s. After speaking with the community in 2014, a group of emerging artists lead by CJ Fraser-Bell decided to reinvigorate the platform. They noticed a dire need for open access professional opportunities for creatives developing works and their career. The Territory climate, whilst rich in culture, had very little space available to minimise the leap between the first and final stages of an artistic career.
Enter Darwin Fringe, stage right. By 2014, they had a program, a crocodile, a team and just over 20 events. Things just kept getting better and better as the community came on board. 2016 saw 80 individual performances from 50+ shows, which by 2019 had grown to 180 performances from 100 shows. After 5 strong years of giving sweat, blood and glitter, Cj Fraser-Bell moved onto their next career journey leaving Hannah Illingworth and Tamara Howie to steer the ship.
Nowadays, the Darwin Fringe has become the biggest independent arts platform in the Top End offering audiences 10 days of unique low-cost experiences in July. In 2020, the Darwin Fringe offered a Professional Development program in October as well as a revised Festival in July.
Team
Jeremy Garnett
Living within the world of words, both professionally and creatively, Jeremy writes poetry in the moment of inspiration, usually inspired by a visual or auditory cue, rarely if ever going back to edit; and dances much the same.
Jeremy has had several events in the Darwin Fringe over the years, including Layers of Creation (2014), a self-published compilation of local artists’ layered inspiration (photos, writing, poetry), and Best Laid Paths (2016), a solo improv dance narrative, guided by poetic interludes. Currently working 10 poetic collections, for mass-launch in 2022, one of which may be created during the 2021 Fringe, Jeremy’s links, poetry, and the photos that often inspire are found @JPG_Poet
Amy Hetherington
Amy is a Darwin based comedian, communications consultant and facilitator. She loves her Top End community, her dog and making life more entertaining for other people. And she can only have one coffee a day (it’s a bit like feeding a mogwai after midnight).
Amy is currently the Chair of the headspace Darwin Consortium, a member of the Activate Darwin Board and the Regional Reconstruction Committee and a mentor of the City of Darwin LAUNCH Youth Program.