We are proud to announce that we’ve been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Art Works grant of $20,000 to support the Fringe Scholarships program. This grant stems from more than $27 million approved by NEA Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter to fund local arts projects and partnerships. Art Works is the Arts Endowment’s principal grantmaking program. The agency received 1,605 Art Works applications for this round of grantmaking, and will award 972 grants in this category.
 
“Hollywood Fringe has grown over the past ten years into a festival reaching hundreds of thousands of people,” says Festival Director Ben Hill. “This funding allows us to sustain that growth by supporting artists and programming that is diverse, inclusive, and relevant to the local community. We are truly honored to have been selected as a recipient." 
 
Created in 2016, the Fringe Scholarships Program exists to expand and diversify the pool of artists producing work at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. The inaugural program offered free registrations to five Hollywood Fringe productions, and has since expanded to include 10 scholarships with free registration and a stipend. Fringe Scholarships are available to first-time Hollywood Fringe producers who contribute to the ethnic, cultural, racial, mentally or physically disabled, sexual orientation, or gender identity diversity of the Fringe community. See the list of this year’s in our previous blog post.
 
“The arts enhance our communities and our lives, and we look forward to seeing these projects take place throughout the country, giving Americans opportunities to learn, to create, to heal, and to celebrate,” said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

After intense deliberation by our selection committee, we are proud to announce the 2019 Fringe Scholarship winners. Each production reflects Hollywood Fringe’s commitment to expand and diversify the pool of artists producing work at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
 
The Winners of the 2019 Fringe Scholarships are:

• El Hood de Macpuerco
• Mr. Yunioshi
• Naked Man Rising
• Not Here Right Now
• Pho Girl
• Student Voices Anthology
• Sugarfree: Foster Care Cognitive Dissonance
• Supportive White Parents
• Ya Basta: Time’s Been Up 
• The Ride

We’d also like to give some special recognition to our honorable mentions: Corina, From Lapdance to Sundance, Girl from Schenectady, and The London Rose.

Fringe Scholarships provide each recipient with complimentary festival registration, a $550 stipend toward venue and production costs, a Fringe mentor, and marketing and networking opportunities as a member of the Fringe community.

Every year we host a series of Twitter Chats in order for Fringers to meet and mingle online before the festival begins. It’s a great way to recruit audiences and make #fringeships long before June. You’ll get to tweet about how the process is going for you as well as the opportunity to chat with Fringe staff members.

This year we’ll be hosting the Twitter Chats at the following times:

• February 25th (Mon) – 7-8pm
• March 9th (Sat) – 12-1pm
• March 25th (Mon) – 7-8pm
• April 6th (Sat) – 12-1pm
• April 22nd (Mon) – 7-8pm
• May 4th (Sat) – 12-1pm
• May 20th (Mon)- 7-8pm

All you have to do to join the discussion is use the hashtag #hff19. The chat will be moderated by the @HollywoodFringe account. Can’t make the time but still want to participate? All you have to do is schedule a tweet or two using one of the many available Twitter clients.

Greetings, Fringers-

After a successful first Off-Season Office Hours at The Broadwater Plunge in November, we’ve opted to start having more of these community events. 

Our second Office Hours will be held December 5th from 7pm-2am at The Three Clubs (1123 N. Vine St.). Our partners there have generously offered to donate 20% of the night’s proceeds to HFF19, so come and hang with Fringe friends and support the festival! You’ll also have the chance to check out HFF18 hit The People vs. Hell Kross (tickets on Eventbrite) at 8:30 in the back bar.

RSVP to our Facebook event here.