Dunedin Fringe Festival

16/09/2026

Want to come and work with us and help to shape our future?

The Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust are currently recruiting for an Organisational Lead. Learn more about the role at https://jobs.dogoodjobs.co.nz/job/22137/organisational-lead/

📸 Image 1, Fringe 2025: Delightful by Blake Armstrong
📸 Image 2, NZYWF 2025: Rock, Paper, Scissors by Craig
📸 Image 3, Amped 2026 by Craig
📸 Image 4, Te Whare o Rukutia by Craig

12/09/2026

Are you thinking about presenting a show in Dunedin Fringe Festival 2027?

We all know having a little extra pūtea goes a long way to success so please do consider applying for a Fringe grant to support your project.

There are three categories:
- Moana Fringe Grant
- Māori Fringe Grant
- General Fringe Grant

Our panel will consider:
Programme diversity – The work will add to a broad and diverse festival programme. Applications from under-represented artforms (such as dance) or from historically excluded or marginalised groups are the priority.

Access - The work enables members of disabled, neurodiverse or D/deaf communities to participate in the arts as practitioners and/or audience.

Key dates to note:
- Grant applications close: Mon 12 October
- Fringe registrations are open: Wed 7 October - Wed 25 November
- Dunedin Fringe Festival 2027: Thu 4 - Sun 14 March 🎉

Learn more at https://www.dunedinfringe.nz/for-artists?utm_source=Dunedin+Fringe+Arts+Trust (link available in our bio)

📸 Dunedin Fringe Festival 2026 Opening Night - Beat of the Pacific: By Rosie Roaché Rosie Kionasina Roaché

02/09/2026

Our current exhibition in the White Box at Fringe HQ ‘Ravelled’: Joan Hodge (Curated by Vanessa Beck) recently featured in The Star! Have a read through to learn more about the story that brought this special piece together, and come by 19 George street to check it out until September 8.

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/the-star/knitting-showcase-sparks-conversations-bvr8rrf9

Knitting passion rekindled in Dunedin woman living with dementia

07/08/2026

Latest in the White Box at Fringe HQ! Joan Hodge: Ravelled (curated by Vanessa Beck)

Joanie-Pops is 84 now and in the early stages of dementia. After finally picking up knitting needles again, after claiming she didn’t know how to knit anymore, she was asked by her daughter to knit peggy squares so they could be joined together to make a blanket.

Instead, Joanie-Pops, with her confused brain, dulled short term memory and perhaps a little bit of self expression, knitted and knitted like a machine - not a square in sight but these long beautiful strips and giant shapes with jutting corners.

The calming effect this knitting had on her was evident from the beginning and has helped her through a difficult time as she ages. Her mind may be unravelling, but in a sense she is also holding on to the things that are important - beauty, kindness and doing things her own way.

Check it out in the White Box Gallery (front window of the Fringe HQ) at 19 George street, till the 8th of September!

06/08/2026

AMPED Music Project is one of our sister festivals produced by team at the Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust!

A fantastic annual opportunity for high school students, AMPED is a music mentoring programme that gives participants an opportunity to build skills and confidence about the music industry. The programme is free for participants to attend and spans four weekends throughout August and September.

We are currently crowdfunding for the upcoming 2026 programme and we would love your support to bring this programme to life for our upcoming musos!

Donate by 11:59 pm August 16th to get donations up to $500 matched by our wonderful Match Funder Ben Nettleton.

Learn more and donate now at https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/amped-2026

31/07/2026

We're so grateful to have received funding in CreativeNZ's most recent funding allocation because it gives us some stability for all our programmes (Dunedin Fringe Festival, AMPED Music Project, NZ Young Writers Festival, Te Whare o Rukutia and White Box at Fringe HQ).

BUT it feels like a mixed blessing.

It's uncomfortable to know that we're part of the tiny

‘Blindsided’: Dunedin Arts Festival dropped by national funder

24/07/2026

Running till the 31st of July, don’t miss out on seeing Pam McKinlay’s: time once upon us in the White Box!

time once upon us is an ongoing project which entwines climate data, weaving and light and sensing technologies to make planetary change materially visible.

Developed through multiple Art+Science projects, the current installation opens spaces where viewing becomes an invitation to conversation. In an age saturated with data, time once upon us seeks to art-iculate complexity – translating datasets into tactile hand woven panels and visual forms that hold scientific knowledge.

Learn more https://www.dunedinfringe.nz/white-box/current and visit the White Box at 19 George street, Dunedin. (Dunedin Fringe Festival & NZ International Science Fest HQ window)

22/07/2026

Winner of multiple 2025 Dunedin Fringe Festival awards, and taking home the Best Production award at the 2025 Dunedin Theatre Awards, ‘Babyface’, returns this week at Te Whare o Rukutia before it takes flight to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival!

Part stage play / part wrestling show, don’t miss out on seeing this Dunedin theatre production before it heads overseas.

July 22-25, starts tonight at Te Whare o Rukutia
7pm-7:55pm
Get your tickets at https://rukutia.nz/events/babyface/

📸 ‘Babyface’, Dunedin Fringe Festival 2025: Photo by Armstrong Photography

29/06/2026

Check this out! We love a match fund...

We're excited that Amped 2026 is getting underway and would love you to support it!

Amped Music Project is a mentoring programme for high school music students, building skills and confidence about the music industry.

15/06/2026

Have you seen this! One of our Festival Faves Harriet Moir performing Nicola Cheeseman is Back!

(And what a crew in the background of this show 😍)

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW E HOA MĀ!

The poster is up in our window - it's happening! Get your tickets quick!

Join HSD for the Te Waipounamu premiere of Kathryn Burnett's riotous new comedy about aging on your own damn terms, starring Ōtepoti's phenomenal Harriet Moir.

Thur 25 - Sat 27 June and Wed 1 - Sat 4 July, 2026
Curtain @7:30pm nightly

Tickets at: https://www.trybooking.com/nz/BDRV

Image: Title character, Nicola Cheeseman, sits in a punk pose and leather jacket against a brick wall with the graffiti "Nicola Cheeseman Is Back"