Brighton Fringe

Brighton Fringe is an open-access arts festival held annually in Brighton, England. It is the largest annual arts festival in England and one of the largest fringe festivals in the world. The programme of 2018 included 1008 events at over 166 venues across 4 weeks, in May and June.

Brighton Fringe runs at a similar time to Brighton Festival, and in 2013 extended its run to four weeks.

One of the event's main objectives is to promote local talent and the arts. It also offers performers an opportunity for their event to be reviewed or picked up by promoters, as well as going on to Edinburgh. This is why anyone can put on a Brighton Fringe event. Open access means that Brighton Fringe does not curate works which are performed. Anyone can register as a performer and negotiate with a Fringe affiliated venue. In 2011 Brighton Fringe launched the Professional Development Programme, aimed at offering workshops to aspiring performers wanting to progress in the business. In 2012, Brighton Fringe opened its own on-street box office, which provided a physical base for the arts event, selling tickets as well as being a hub for promoters and performers. They also launched "Brighton in the Square", a showcase of Brighton Fringe performers at the Leicester Square Theatre in London.

As part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Brighton Fringe introduced the Dip Your Toe project in 2012, which featured performances in six custom-built Victorian bathing machines, which were located throughout Brighton and Hove during the month of May. In 2014, the organisation launched an Arts Council England supported scheme called "Window" which showcases productions suitable for touring.

Brighton Fringe is a registered charity but does not rely on public funding, in fact, less than 3% of its income is generated from public sources. The other sources of revenue include participants’ registration fees, advertising, sponsorship and Friends memberships.

Fringe activity has run alongside Brighton Festival since its creation in 1967. In 1972 Sussex University student Titus Alexander set up a society to stage fringe events, including a centenary play The Legend and True History of Aubrey Beardsley, with Christopher Pope as Beardsley, which went to the Edinburgh Fringe.

The Fringe established itself as a limited company and registered charity in October 2006, with its own board of directors and complete financial independence from the Festival. In 2012 it rebranded itself as Brighton Fringe. In this period of time the organisation more than doubled in size, increasing from 323 shows in 2007 to 719 in 2012, bringing visitors into the city and boosting tourism and local businesses. Julian Caddy was CEO of Brighton Fringe between October 2011 and June 2023. He helped establish the Famous Spiegel Garden in 2013, which in 2014 was renamed the Brighton Spiegeltent.

The programme of 2018 included two new seasons. The Freedom Season – a programme of events that are accessible to a range of audiences with access needs, including those with physical and invisible disabilities, and the Finnish Season. Furthermore, 2018 also saw the return of the Dutch Season and the return of late-night Fringe City.