A message from the directors
Joy, pleasure, laughter and outrage. Fringe doesn't whisper, it shouts. Fringe is a space for artists, technicians, producers — and us, the festival team — to play, provoke, excite, support and challenge.
As recent graduates from UCC, Cork Fringe gives us agency and empowerment as emerging art makers. Fringe represents our own early steps in the arts industry — a project that gives all of us space and support to figure it out.
Our first festival demonstrated the need for an outlet in Cork City with an authentic understanding of the very first steps of a creative's career. Fringe is a real, supported and honest platform for those who have never "played" before, and for ourselves as emerging creatives embracing Fringe as a playground.
Alongside the festival, we undertook research and development across the International Fringe Network to see what makes other festivals tick, and to weave that learning back into Cork.
As a team of emerging practitioners, we're grateful to be continually mentored by a network of established arts organisations who have nurtured and held space for us in the city.
We can't wait to bring Fringe back to Cork — to keep encouraging emerging artists to be brave, weird, and to play unabashedly, growing as creatives in a supportive playground for the arts.
Ineke Lavers & Daniel Cremin
Co-Founders & Directors, Cork Fringe
Daniel Cremin
Irish producer and magician from Cork who develops high-calibre theatre work through writing, producing and directing — from his solo magic plays It's All an Act! and Why Magic? to directing Grease and starring in Summer Revels at Cork Opera House.
Ineke Lavers
International arts producer based between Cork and Abu Dhabi, working across education, marketing, museum studies and festival development. She has represented Ireland at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the World Fringe Congress.