St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival®
20th edition, June 10-20, 2010

Welcome to the Montreal Fringe! Please take a moment to read this before filling out the application form.

How the Fringe works. You pay us an application fee based on the length of your show. We select approximately 100 companies by lottery. You send us your technical information; we rent venues and hire technicians. We make you a schedule of 6-8 shows (depending on the size of your venue) and handle the box office service. You get a technical rehearsal of up to 3 hours with your tech, a general lighting plot with a couple of specials, and very limited storage space. You'll have 15 minutes to set up each performance, and 15 minutes to strike it. We publicize the festival as a whole through a program, flyers, advertising, website, special events, etc.; you publicize your show (we give workshops and media lists to help you). You set your own ticket prices (up to a maximum of $9.00) and you keep 100% of that (we add service charges). Sound fun? Read on!

THE LOTTERY. The Montreal Fringe reserves the following quotas: 30% Quebec anglophone; 30% Quebec francophone; 20% Canadian (outside Quebec); 20% international companies. There are four separate lotteries, one for each quota. Please check which one applies to you. If you're not sure, give us a call.

EARLY-BIRD SPECIAL! As of 9 AM THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1ST 2009, we will accept the first 5 applications in each quota that arrive in our hands, first-come, first-serve. Applications can be mailed, faxed, hand delivered, or emailed to MainLine Theatre. The application fee must be paid in full for your application to be accepted. If your application is not among the first 5, it will be placed in the lottery.

The remaining companies will be chosen by lottery at 8 PM, MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2009, at MainLine. Your application must be in our hands before 6 PM. The lottery will determine the participating companies and the order of the 4 waiting lists.

Waiting List. If you wind up on your quota's waiting list, don't despair. We immediately accept only the minimum number of groups we know we can program – once we start making the schedule, we can usually fit in a few more groups. As well, some groups inevitably drop out before the festival.

YOUR COMPANY. To ensure equitable access to the festival, the Montreal Fringe will only accept one show per company. If you send more than one application, only one will be accepted (beware, both cheques may be cashed). You may not change the name of your company after we receive the application form. It is strictly forbidden to sell or give away your slot to another company. That isn't fair to the groups who have gone through the application process and are on the waiting list. Please don't do it.

FEES AND RUNNING TIME. Fees are based on the length of your show (see Page 2 of the application form for breakdown). Please round your performance time up to the nearest fifteen minutes. If your show runs 50 minutes, you'll need a one-hour time slot. A cheque or money order in Canadian funds payable to MainLine Theatre, or a valid VISA or MasterCard number with expiry date must accompany your signed application form to be entered in the lottery. If the cheque bounces, you lose your place. Again, the fee is in Canadian dollars: please check with your bank to convert from your home currency.

The application fee will be deposited as soon as we receive your application.

Is the fee refundable?
- If you're accepted and withdraw before February 26th, you get your money back (less the admin fee).
- If you're accepted and withdraw after February 26th, the entire fee is non-refundable.
- If you're on the waiting list, you can withdraw at any time and get your money back (less the admin fee).

All fees include a non-refundable administration fee of $50.00 + $2.50 GST + $3.94 QST = $56.44.

It may be possibile to accomodate extended set-up time by booking a longer running time. Please call us before filling out the application form if you are considering this option.

We don't expect you to have this exact information this far in advance; however, estimate high rather than low.
You cannot add to your running time. You can, however, shorten it when you know what it actually is (we'll refund you the difference in the application fees). At the same time, try to be realistic; we've had groups tell us their shows were 30-60 minutes longer than they actually were, which meant one or two fewer groups were able to participate. It's also important that the running time that appears in the program be accurate. Audience members schedule their day pretty tightly, so if your show runs 5 minutes over, it may prevent someone from seeing their next show. You will have until February 26th, 2010 to change your running time.

"OFF" shows. Some shows are just too wild for our regular Fringe venues. Past OFF shows have taken place in an outdoor African village built on the McGill campus, or a classroom, or over a live game of pool, or in a backyard zoo. If you have a site-specific performance in mind, check the "OFF" box. There is a standard entry fee for "OFF" shows regardless of running time. As an "OFF" show, you will be responsible for renting your venue and hiring your technical and front-of-house staff yourself (we will still include you in the program and sell advance tickets for you). Send us a one-page proposal detailing your idea, and we will tell you if we can include it in the Fringe or not. Bear in mind that all of our venues are within walking distance of the outdoor site, and must be approved by the Fire Department. Several companies on the waiting list have used this option to be part of the festival.

A few things you should note:

Ottawa Fringe Festival. The end of the Montreal Fringe overlaps with the start of the Ottawa and London Fringes (June 17-27). Any company planning to attend Ottawa or London should contact us before submitting an application.

You can call us at 514.849.FEST at any time – we have a minimal staff, so if no one answers, leave a message on our voice mail and we'll call you back (even overseas) ASAP. You can also e-mail us at fringe@montrealfringe.ca, or fax us at 514.849.5529.

Finally, the thing to remember is that the Fringe is really a lot of fun and pretty laid back when it rolls around. We just want to make sure from the beginning that there are no misunderstandings. We don't have a lot of rules, but those we do have are there only to make things as fair as possible for everyone. 98 per cent of our participants tend to have a great time; the other 2 percent didn't read this letter. Please hang on to it: most of the questions you will have later on are probably answered here. Happy Fringing!

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Jeremy Hechtman
Producer

Amy Blackmore
Co-producer

Valérie Archain
Artist Liaison

David-Alexandre Chabot
Technical Director

Patrick Goddard
General Manager