ROCHESTER, N.Y. — All of Rochester is the stage for 12 days in September for the 12th Rochester Fringe Festival. Any artistic project is invited to apply to be a Fringe show.

The Rochester Fringe Festival is a quirky, no holds barred and anything-goes multi-arts festival. Want to perform in this year’s Fringe? Online submissions begin Feb. 22.

What You Need To Know

  • Artists of all kinds all invited to apply to be in the 2023 Rochester Fringe Festival

  • There are more than 30 venues for performances Sept. 12-23

  • Online submissions are open Feb. 22-March 29

Erica Fee sure is busy because her Rochester Fringe Festival has grown to become one of the most attended Fringe festivals in the country.

“Our artists are from all over,” said Fee. “It’s very much an open-access process. Any sort of show—comedy, theater, dance music, multidisciplinary, children’s entertainment and shows that we can’t even classify. It’s really kind of a homecoming celebration of the performing arts.”

More than 30 venues are a part of the Rochester Fringe Festival including the Rochester School of the Arts. Venues choose the shows. Past ROC Fringe ticket proceeds at SOTA helped the school purchase a new soundboard, lighting and projector.

“It’s really the festival that was custom tailored for School of the Arts or SOTA was custom tailored for it. Who came first, the chicken or the egg,” laughed Alan Tirre, assistant principal at SOTA. "Because of our association with Fringe we are able to bring those opportunities and those professional artists into our building to work with our kids to showcase what they do. Fringe is really the only festival of its kind that brings all of those elements into one place, or under one umbrella of the Fringe Festival.”

Are you Fringe-worthy? There is No application fee to apply to be in ROC Fringe. The deadline to enter is March 29.