Darwin Fringe Festival Dazzles With Massive Line-up
The Top End’s most eclectic and vibrant arts celebration, Darwin Fringe Festival, kicks off this Friday, 11 July on World Fringe Day, with another massive line-up.
Running until Sunday, 20 July and spanning 24 venues across Darwin, the festival features more than 400 artists and over 80 events.
Festival highlights include community cabarets, First Nations storytelling, immersive installations, youth showcases, experimental gigs, and thought-provoking new writing.
The festival also celebrates a decade of bold creativity showcasing the very best in emerging, experimental and independent arts from the Northern Territory and beyond.
With 70% of the program drawn from local talent, Darwin Fringe remains the NT’s biggest platform for homegrown creativity, championing new ideas in the artist-led format that is distinct to fringe festivals globally.
The 2025 program reflects the NT’s diverse creative voice. With performances ranging from theatre to music, cabaret to circus and visual arts to spoken word, audiences can expect the unexpected.
Whether it’s family-friendly fun, a late-night laugh, or something a little left-of-centre, the program caters to all tastes.
Average ticket prices are around $20 and more than 10% of events are free.
This grassroots, artist-first event is supported by the Northern Territory Government through the NT Major Events Funding Program.
For tickets and the full program visit here
Quotes from Northern Territory Major Events Company Executive Director Aimee Luxton:
“Darwin Fringe Festival continues to provide a platform for the amazing local talent we have here in the Territory and its ability to provoke, entertain and inspire makes it so compelling.
“Supporting festivals like Darwin Fringe plays a vital role in strengthening the local arts sector while stimulating the tourism and hospitality industries, as audiences engage with Territory talent across a diverse range of city venues.”
Quotes from Darwin Fringe Festival Director Hannah Illingworth:
“Darwin Fringe really allows you to be transformed, reflected and celebrated with something for everybody.
“There’s so much talent in the NT and such a rich tapestry of narratives, it feels special to bring so much of that together in a way that the community can connect with it.
“The local creative community is so – and I know we use this word a lot – vibrant! There’s so much going on, not only the art forms, but the things people are exploring, because the arts really are about storytelling. It’s about transforming your ideas or your understandings – sometimes cementing those ideas or understandings – and there’s a lot of this going on in Darwin.
“Fringe provides not only an entry point for the industry and people sharing their talents and their skills and their stories, but it’s also an opportunity to take that next step as well.
“I think scaffolding is a good phrase, because Fringe is a platform that, if people have an idea they want to take to the next level or at a point in their career when they want to lash out and try something new, they can… we work in and around all of those stages of development.”
https://nt.gov.au/