Gothenburg Fringe Festival

  • Currently planning for our ninth edition, taking place on september 2024.

  • The city is our stage - be ready to discover art in unexpected places.

  • The artist call for 2024 will open up soon but we also have a year-round programme, so if you want to share your art with Gothenburg, get in touch.

 The Gothenburg Fringe is an explosion of creativity. Join us at unique and unexpected venues across the city for uncensored, cutting-edge performance art which stimulates, educates and entertains.

Heading into our eighth year, we are not making the festival bigger but it will be bolder with a 10-day event, providing the people of Gothenburg with a festival experience like no other. With over 150 performances of all shapes and sizes, there's a show out there for you - this is art for everyone!

Fringe Concept

The tale of Fringe, which began in 1947 in the margins of the Edinburgh International Festival and grew to a movement of over 250 festivals around the world, is a fascinating one.

Edinburgh Fringe is the largest festival in the world, a three-week festival of performing arts that takes place in Edinburgh every August. Its story dates back to 1947, when eight theatre groups turned up uninvited to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival.

The Edinburgh International Festival was an initiative created to celebrate and enrich European cultural life in the wake of the Second World War.

Not being part of the official programme of the International Festival didn’t stop these performers, they just went ahead and staged their shows on the fringe of the Festival anyway, coining the phrase and the name – the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Since the dawn of this spontaneous artistic movement, millions have flocked to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to produce and to enjoy art of every genre. 

Discover more about the history of Fringe on the World Fringe website.