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2023 Toronto Fringe Lottery

Apply to the Toronto Fringe main venue lottery

Applications are now closed. TO VIEW THE RESULTS OF THE 2023 MAIN VENUE LOTTERY, CLICK HERE. Winners will contacted soon! The Main Venue Lottery Draw took place on December 13, 2022 at The Tranzac Club. A video of the livestream is available on our Facebook page.

HOW DOES THE LOTTERY WORK

As a non-juried festival, the Toronto Fringe selects shows at random in a lottery draw to program the festival’s slots in main performance venues. For the 2023 Toronto Fringe Festival, this draw will take in person at the Tranzac Club on December 13th, 2022.  In line with all other Fringe Festivals in Canada, The Toronto Fringe does not evaluate the artistic merit of applicants, or the viability of the work – all applicants have the same chance of earning a show slot as the rest of their category.  

An individual can apply to the lottery only once, this is the Main Admin Contact. You must provide a company name at the time of application, and this name cannot be changed at any time thereafter. You must select one category to be drawn from, and select a max duration.

The Toronto Fringe offers multiple main categories to which to apply to, based on the permanent residence of the applicant, duration of show, age demographic of audience, or performance genre. Main Venue slots are programmed at conventional theatre spaces which range in size from solo spaces to theatres that seat over 200. You must also select which venue tier you require (does not apply to KidsFest or Teen category). Finally, our lottery is drawn in two phases, in order to ensure at least 50% of participants are Indigenous, Black, or People of Colour. You can indicate that you should be included in the first phase of the draw on the application form. 

Once applications close (December 8, 2022), unique lottery numbers are assigned to every applicant based on your category. These will be posted to your event application in Eventotron, and an email notification will be sent out. The full list of applicants will also be posted on fringetoronto.com

There are a set number of Main Venue slots available in the festival, and they are approximately allocated in the following amounts: 10% international participants, 10% national participants, 80% Ontario participants. 

All categories will be drawn on December 13, 2022. Each category will be drawn in three venue tiers, in two phases per tier. Shows will be assigned to a specific venue at a later date the discretion of the Festival.  All shows will be scheduled for up to 7 performances by the Festival, spread over the 12 days of the festival. Shows in small venues and in the KidsFest category will be scheduled for up to 8 performances.

Lottery Categories

ONTARIO 45-60min / 75-90min

  • Main Admin Contact has landed immigrant status, permanent residency, or Canadian citizenship
  • Main Admin Contact’s permanent address is in the province of Ontario, Canada.
  • The show slot offered has time constraints of either:
  • Show duration cannot exceed 60 minutes and is not less than 45 minutes or
  • Show duration cannot exceed 90 minutes and is not less than 75 minutes.
  • All single tickets are sold at general admission price.

NATIONAL 45-60min / 75-90min

  • Main Admin Contact has landed immigrant status, permanent residency, or Canadian citizenship
  • Main Admin Contact’s permanent address is in Canada (exclusive of Ontario).
  • The show slot offered has time constraints of either:
  • Show duration cannot exceed 60 minutes and is not less than 45 minutes or
  • Show duration cannot exceed 90 minutes and is not less than 75 minutes.
  • All single tickets are sold at general admission price. 

INTERNATIONAL 45-60min / 75-90min

  • Main Admin Contact’s citizenship is non-Canadian. This category does not include Canadians with dual citizenship.
  • The show slot offered has time constraints of either:
  • Show duration cannot exceed 60 minutes and is not less than 45 minutes or
  • Show duration cannot exceed 90 minutes and is not less than 75 minutes.
  • All single tickets are sold at general admission price. 

DANCE

  • Dance/physical movement must be the primary method of storytelling for the show.
  • The show duration cannot exceed 60 minutes and is not less than 45 minutes.
  • All single tickets are sold at general admission price. 

KIDSFEST

  • The show must feature work for children (ages 12 and under) and their families.
  • A brief show synopsis is required with application to this category.
  • The show duration cannot exceed 60 minutes and is not less than 30 minutes.
  • The venue is pre-allotted. The KidsFest slots will take place at St. Vladimir Theatre.
  • Single tickets may be sold at general admission price or child price ($6, ages 12 and under) 
  • The participant fee for this category is $700 CAD

TEEN

  • The show must feature work specifically for and/or by youth between ages 13-18 years.
  • Main Admin Contact has landed immigrant status, permanent residency, or Canadian citizenship
  • Main Admin Contact's permanent address is in the province of Ontario, Canada
  • A brief show synopsis is required with application to this category.
  • The show duration cannot exceed 60 minutes and is not less than 45 minutes.
  • The venue is pre-allotted. The Teen slots will take place at St. Vladimir Theatre.
  • All single tickets are sold at general admission price or youth price ($8 ages 13-18) 
  • The participant fee for this category is $740 CAD

SENIOR

  • The main admin contact must be 60+ years old, or the show must feature work specifically created by adults that are 60+ years old. At least 50% of the company (i.e. cast, creative team, key producing roles) must be 60+ years old. 
  • Main Admin Contact has landed immigrant status, permanent residency, or Canadian citizenship
  • Main Admin Contact's permanent address is in the province of Ontario, Canada
  • The show duration cannot exceed 60 minutes and is not less than 45 minutes.
  • All single tickets are sold at general admission price. 

 

Venue Tiers

New this year, main venue slots will be pre-allocated to one of three venue size tiers. This is to ensure our festival is the right size for the shows that are drawn, and each show will be placed in a venue that is the correct size it requires.  The total number of main venue slots in each venue tier are determined by the venues in the festival. There are three tiers. Where confirmed, we’ve listed venues in each tier below. A detailed Index is available in the 2023 Application Guide.

LARGE VENUES

  • Seating capacity of 150 or more
  • 30 to 40 slots will be in large venues
  • Shows will receive a max of 7 performances
  • Participant fee is $800 CAD
  • This tier includes: Tarragon Theatre Mainspace (capacity 205), Al Green Theatre (capacity 199), Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace (capacity 185), Factory Theatre Mainspace (capacity 200).

MEDIUM VENUES

  • Seating capacity of 80-149
  • 30 to 40 slots will be in medium venues
  • Shows will receive a max of 7 performances
  • Participant fee is $780 CAD
  • This tier includes: Tarragon Theatre Extraspace (capacity 108), Helen Phelan Gardiner Playhouse (capacity 90), Factory Theatre Studio (capacity 86), Native Earth’s Aki Studio (capacity 115).

SMALL VENUES

  • Seating capacity 79 or less
  • 20-24 slots will be in small venues
  • Shows will receive a max of 8 performances
  • Participant fee is $760 CAD
  • This tier includes: Tarragon Theatre Solo Room (capacity 55), Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace (capacity 51).

 

TWO-PHASE LOTTERY

Toronto Fringe commits to reserving at least 50% of available Fringe slots in the Main Lottery for participants who are Indigenous, Black or People of  Colour. The two-phase lottery draw is a measure we’ve implemented to deliberately strengthen equity at the Festival. 

When we hold the 2023 Lottery, each category's draw will have two phases: 

The Main Admin Contact is considered the individual applying who must identify as IBPOC for the application to be included in the first drawing phase. We strongly encourage that applicants who select this also commit to at least half or more of their creative and performance team identifying as IBPOC as well.  

Categories which have less than 2 available slots for the lottery will be pulled from a General draw. 

HOW TO APPLY TO THE LOTTERY

Applications must be submitted through Eventotron, the festival management portal. There is a $10 CAD fee to apply to the lottery. If you require an alternative method or support in submitting your application, contact Associate Producer Suzanne Wilkie at suzanne@fringetoronto.com or by phone at 416-966-1062 ext 228.

Your Event title is the title of your show. It can change later in the process if you are accepted into the Festival. Please note “TBD”, “TBC”, “Untitled” will not be accepted as an Event title. The application must be completely filled out before submitting.

NOTE: Your form should autosave as you fill it out. To be sure information is not lost, click out of the field you have edited and look for a blue SAVING icon turn to green and say SAVED in the top right corner. You can start filling out your application and submit it at a later time. When you click APPLY, select “My event is already in Eventotron” instead of a new one, and select your existing application from the drop down menu.

The Application Guide contains the questions that are on the application form.

HOW TO PAY THE APPLICATION FEE

Once you have filled out the entire application form, you are ready to submit it and pay the application fee. You can select to pay online with a credit card, by cheque, or in person with cash. The application fee is non-refundable. 

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU ARE DRAWN IN YOUR CATEGORY

HOW DOES THE WAITLIST WORK

A waitlist will be drawn for every category in the Main Venue lottery. These numbers will be drawn from a general draw, unconditional of phase or venue tier. If a company that was offered a slot in a category withdraws, the Festival will reach out to the first applicant on that waitlist. If that applicant is unable to accept it due to the venue size, they can remain on the list, and the Festival will move to the next applicant on the waitlist. You can withdraw from the waitlist at any time, and no fees are owed until you are offered and accept a slot. The Festival will cease offering slots to the waitlist after June 23, 2023.