We’re excited to announce that the Hollywood Arts Council has selected the Hollywood Fringe Festival as the winner of the Charlie Award for Theatre Arts. The Fringe will be presented with the award at the 27th Annual Charlie Awards Luncheon along with the other honorees on April 5th at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

“We’re excited and honored to be included in this prestigious group,” said Ben Hill, Festival Director. “From the beginning, we have been driven to provide opportunities for performing artists while also enriching our local community— a mission that closely aligns with the Hollywood Art Council’s own. Winning a Charlie is a landmark accomplishment for our organization.”

Companies and individuals are chosen for the award based on “significant contributions to the arts and Hollywood,” according to the Council’s media contact. Additionally, the spokesman said that "the Annual Charlie Awards help support Project S.O.A.R. (Students Overcoming All Risks), the Hollywood Arts Council’s After School Art Workshops held in eight Hollywood area elementary schools, and its Annual Children’s Festival of the Arts held each August at Paramount Pictures.”

The Fringe Family program was first started to help families find age appropriate programming for their children while also introducing young people to live performance art. The program was expanded in the last year and also include Fringe Family days and other family friendly programming.

In order to help promote this type of programming, Cindy Marie Jenkins of 24th Street Theatre has generously offered to give away tickets to the company’s current production, Walking the Tightrope, to the first three family-friendly shows to register for the 2013 festival. You can read about some of the reviews the show is getting here.

We kicked off our fundraising efforts at the Fringe Benefit on Saturday night, announcing our intent to raise $20,000 for the 2013 Festival. Our awesome community has helped to maintain the Fringe mission over the past two years by generously contributing to successful campaigns. Because of this generous support, the Fringe team was inspired to create a contest that will give back to our highest fundraisers. So for this year we are using a new site called CauseVox that lets you be a part of the Fundraising and help make the 2013 Festival the best ever.

To be part of the contest, simply create a Fundraising page (by clicking on “Create a Fundraising Page Now” once you’ve gone to our page at the link above). Groups that raise the most money for the $20,000 campaign will receive free ads in the 2013 Festival Guide.

First Place: Free Full Page Ad

Second Place: Free Half Page Ad

Third Place: Free Quarter Page Ad

My name is Abbie and I’m your friendly, neighborhood Fringe Food & Beverage Director! I’m thrilled to be returning for my fourth year with the Hollywood Fringe Festival. When I first joined the ranks of the Fringe staff as a volunteer and Bar Manager in 2010, I never imagined that Fringe would be where it is today or that Ben would still have hair. Yet, here we are on the precipice of the 2013 festival and I’m hoping to make it the best year yet for Bryan’s Bar at Fringe Central.

What are your goals for this years’ festival?

My main goal remains the same every year: create a welcoming watering hole for Fringe-goers that pays for itself by the end of the festival. I’m also working on some new design and staffing ideas to streamline bar operations and improve our level of service.

What are your biggest challenges leading up to the festival?

Despite how popular and well-known the festival has become, wrangling in sponsors for the bar continues to be one of my biggest challenges. So this is the part where I shamelessly ask you, dear reader: “Do you know someone in the alcoholic beverage industry that wants to give us free things?” If you do, please email me at [email protected].

What is the best part of your job?

I am rarely able to get away from Fringe Central during the festival, so I don’t get much of an opportunity to see shows. But I still have the opportunity to interact with a diverse array of artists and witness all the amazing live entertainment Fringe Central has to offer. Hearing about everyone’s experiences and getting to know everyone gives me a unique perspective that I can use to improve the bar year after year. I also love yelling, “Last call!” It makes me feel important.

Who would win in a fight between Gedaly Guberek and Greg Crafts?

Tough call! Greg has the size advantage, but factoring in Gedaly’s completion of a certain 90-day fitness regimen, I’d say it’s anybody’s match.

Have you ever wondered…

“Can I talk with people who have already experienced Fringe without trying to navigate Twitter?”

“How can I recruit performers from the already-huge pool of Fringe participants without messaging them individually?”

“Is there some way to send a message to everyone performing at my venue?”

Many of you have been asking for it for years: a way to communicate en masse with other Fringers. Whether you need information about the best place to stay, or if someone wants to share marketing space in a program, many of the community members (including myself) have been brainstorming a way to help encourage more communication within the fringe community. So this year we are launching The Fringe Forum!

This is meant to be a standard Q&A site for the Fringe community to converse and get to know one another. It’s not meant to be a replacement for [email protected], but rather an open forum for everyone.

In the future we hope to be able to develop our own forum that won’t require a google account to access. In the meantime, please enjoy some better access to your fellow Fringe participants!

So have at it, Fringe people!