Frequently Asked Questions
Whether you’re joining us for the very first time or are a Fringe regular, we want to make sure you have all of the information you need in order to best enjoy your experience with us. Here are the answers to our patrons’ most frequently asked questions. If your question isn’t listed here, please reach out to us via our contact form, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Where is FringeArts located? How do I enter your building?
Our building is located at 140 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19106. We are on the corner of Race Street and Columbus Boulevard. The entrance to our building can be found in the middle of the Haas Biergarten, facing Race Street, under the large “FringeArts” sign. There is no public entrance off of the administrative parking lot. Click here for more information about how to get to FringeArts.
Wait, I walk in and step into – a restaurant?
That’s right! Our building is shared with our partner restaurant, Fringe Bar. When you walk in, you will see a restaurant/bar and might be greeted by one of Fringe Bar’s hosts. We invite you to come early to enjoy a drink or meal before a show.
Where is your Box Office?
Our Box Office is located past the Fringe Bar host stand and just inside our main entrance. You will see a neon-lit Box Office sign hanging from the edge of Fringe Bar’s bar pointing you in the right direction. If you still can’t find it, feel free to ask one of the Fringe Bar hosts and they will show you the way!
Please note that this Box Office is only open an hour before the show. If you would like to purchase a ticket over the phone, you can always call our Box Office at 215.413.1318 between 11am and 5pm and our Patron Services team will help you. Tickets can be purchased online 24/7.
Where is your theater?
Our theater is right around the corner from the neon Box Office sign. There are signs pointing towards the restrooms and the theater entrances—simply walk down the hall and follow the signs. The theater can be accessed through Door 1 or Door 2 depending on the event, and there will always be an usher ready to let you in.
What is your COVID-19 policy?
In accordance with the latest local guidelines, masks are optional for upcoming performances at the FringeArts site, and drinks will be allowed inside the FringeArts Theater. Please note this is subject to change following the City’s COVID-19 Response Levels. Read more about our Health and Safety policy here.
What kind of ticket discounts do you offer? Do you have industry prices?
There are a number of ticket discounts available on a regular basis. FringeArts Members receive 20% off tickets to all events presented by FringeArts. Become a member here. We also offer a FringeACCESS membership for Pennsylvania ACCESS card holders. This membership gets you up to four (4) $2 tickets to all events presented by FringeArts. Become a FringeACCESS Member here. We also offer group discounts for groups of 10 people or more. Contact groupsales@fringearts.com for more information.
For most shows, we offer a $15 Student & 25-and-Under ticket – just don’t forget to bring your Student ID with you when you pick up your ticket!
We do offer industry rush tickets ! If you are an artist or work in the performing arts, you can purchase a ticket for $15 the day of a show (pending availability). Come to our Box Office 30 minutes before a performance, and ask for an industry rush ticket. Make sure you bring proof of industry with you—this can be a business card, a playbill with your name on it, or an email address that connects you to a performance institution (if you have questions about what kind of industry proof is accepted, don’t hesitate to contact us at PatronServices@FringeArts.com).
I’ve got my ticket. Where do I go?
Some people choose to print their tickets at home or bring the emailed confirmation ticket on their phone. You should always go to the Box Office first before you go to the theater in order to exchange your ticket for a token. That token will get you into the theater. If you’ve elected to pick up your tickets at will call, or buy them in person before the show, you will be handed a token at the Box Office directly.
When do you open house doors?
That depends on the show! Most of the time we open our house doors approximately 30 minutes before the show starts, though there are some shows where we open closer to 15 minutes before start time.
Where do I sit?
Anywhere! In our theater, seats are general admission. Some shows allow late seating if you arrive after a show has begun, and you will be seated by the House Manager at an appropriate time during the performance. Specific late seating information will be noted in advance on our website and in the Know Before You Go email ahead of each show. Our front row and back top row are best reserved for patrons with limited mobility, and you can contact our Box Office if you would like to ensure an accessible seat in advance.
Can I bring drinks and food into the theater?
Drinks are permitted in our theater, but food is to be eaten outside of performances!
It’s September. I want to see a Fringe Festival show – but it’s not in your building. Where do I go, pick up my tickets, and sit at that venue?
During the Fringe Festival, we program so much incredible work that it couldn’t all possibly fit inside our theater. For programming happening off-site, you can visit the show page for each event at phillyfringe.org to find out where the show is and any venue-specific accessibility notes and reminders to consider. There will be a box office at each of the offsite venues where you can pick up or purchase your tickets. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can always call our Patron Services team at 215.413.1318. Most venues during the Fringe Festival are general admission, but we always recommend arriving early for the smoothest seating process. If you purchase tickets to a show in advance, you will receive a Know Before You Go email 24 hours before the performance with the venue address and any additional information.
For shows in our Fringe Festival that are independently produced (not presented by FringeArts), we include all of the information about venue, ticketing, and accessibility that the artists have provided. If you have a question that you can’t answer by looking at their show page, the venue’s phone number will be listed on our website, so you can call them directly. You can also always give our Box Office a call at 215.413.1318 and we will help answer your question.
I’m an artist. How do I get my work in the Fringe Festival?
There are two sections of the Fringe Festival: one that is independently produced and one that is curated by the FringeArts programming team. Our independently produced Fringe Festival includes artists and makers from all over the region who register their shows so that in September, Philadelphia absolutely explodes with performance. Anyone can register their show in our Fringe Festival— registration for our 2023 Fringe Festival has closed, but keep an eye out for 2024 announcements in the Spring. Visit the Artists’ page for more details!
If you are interested in inviting the FringeArts programming team to get to know you and your work, or would like to share past work with them, reach out to Programming@FringeArts.com.
I want to work for you. Where do I find job opportunities?
When we are hiring, we have open positions listed on our Career & Internships page on our site.
I want to be a volunteer. How do I get involved?
We are always looking for volunteers! To inquire about opportunities, email volunteer@fringearts.com. Check out our Volunteer page for more information!
I want to rent your space. How do I do that?
If you are interested in renting the FringeArts theater and/or Fringe Bar for a private event, please visit our Rentals page for more information and to fill out our rental inquiry form.
You guys are awesome. I work for a company that wants to sponsor your festivals. Who should I talk to about that?
To chat with our Development team about sponsorship opportunities, you can reach out to our Development Manager, Anna Buller, at AnnaB@FringeArts.com.
How-To Guides for Digital Platforms
Zoom
Zoom is a video-conferencing platform that allows you to video chat with many people simultaneously. You can use Zoom on any device that connects to the internet – a computer, tablet or smartphone. Zoom uses a large amount of bandwidth, so try to use the best internet connection available. If you don’t have a quiet place to join the Zoom meeting, use headphones so that you will be able to hear better and avoid ambient noise.
Start by downloading the Zoom application here – for a laptop you’ll want to use the very first download link on that page. For a phone or tablet scroll down to “Zoom mobile apps.” It’s helpful to have Zoom already downloaded before you head to attend a Zoom event, because the download will take a couple of minutes.
When you click a link to join a Zoom event, you will be prompted to open the Zoom app. When you do, you might be asked to enter the meeting ID, which can be found with your link, and your name. The name you enter here will appear next to your video and can be seen by everyone else in the Zoom call (performers and audience members). If you’re not happy with the name that is displayed, just right click it and select “rename,” then type whatever you’d like to be seen as.
When you join a Zoom event, the first thing you will see will probably be a waiting room, or a window with text saying something like “Please wait, the meeting host will let you in soon.” Don’t worry! All Zoom performances will have team members specifically dedicated to monitoring the waiting room, so you will not get stuck on this screen forever.
When the host lets you into the meeting, a pop-up will prompt you to “Join with computer audio.” If your computer doesn’t have speakers or a microphone, there will also be an option to join with your phone’s audio by calling a phone number, which will be listed on that pop-up window.
When you’ve joined the meeting you might see many small boxes on your screen containing the video streams of other participants, or you might see one big box containing a performer, and some small boxes to the side. Sometimes, a performer will share their screen, so you will see something that is happening on their computer. If you want to change your view to see more or less people, you can switch between gallery view and speaker view in the top right corner. Gallery view will show you small boxes of everyone in the call, and speaker view will show you a large box of whoever is speaking. If you always want to see a large view of one specific participant, you can right click their video box, and select “pin video.”
When you’ve joined a meeting you will want to mute yourself by clicking the microphone icon labeled “mute” in the bottom left corner of your screen. This is important so that ambient noise from wherever you are watching does not interfere with the performance. If the performance is interactive and you would like to speak, you can unmute yourself by clicking the same button, or you can press and hold your space bar while you speak. At some performances, artists may be able to mute and unmute you, but at other performances you will need to do it yourself. You can also turn your video on and off with the camera icon next to the mute button.
There are a couple functions you may want to use during a performance. The chat function allows you to send a message to everyone participating in the call. To see the chat, select the speech bubble icon labeled “chat” in the bottom of your screen. A chat window will pop up, and you can read messages or send them by typing into the field at the bottom. If you don’t want to see the chat window anymore, you can close it at any time. The chat function will mostly be used for interactive performances. Another function is reactions. If you select the smiley face icon at the bottom of your screen, you can choose either a thumbs up or an emoji of clapping hands. If you click these pictures, they will appear on top of your video. They are a way to show reactions without speaking.
When you’re ready to leave a Zoom meeting, select the red “leave” button in the bottom right of your screen. You will be prompted to click “leave meeting” one or two more times, and then the meeting will end.
If you’d like to learn more about Zoom, they offer many video tutorials as well as daily live training webinars. You can also join a test meeting to get a sense of what the meeting will look like and check your audio connection.
YouTube
To access a YouTube video, you will simply click the link either on the FringeArts website or inside your virtual ticket. You will then be directed to YouTube and will see the video. You do not need to download anything, because YouTube is a website that you can load on your browser. For videos that are pre-recorded, you can press pause and play as much as you like, by clicking on the video, clicking the play or pause icon in the bottom left corner of the video, or pressing your space bar. For YouTube live videos, do not press pause as the content is happening in real time.
When you click on a YouTube video you will see a medium-sized box containing that video, as well as a description of the video, other videos YouTube recommends for you, the YouTube icon, and a search bar. If you would like to make the video full screen, you can press the rectangle icon in the bottom right corner of the video.
Some YouTube live videos will have a chat function. It will appear to the right of the video. You can only participate in the chat if you have a YouTube account. The chat will not appear in full screen mode. When you send messages in the chat, everyone else watching the YouTube video can see them. The artist who is performing probably cannot see your chat messages. YouTube videos also have a comments section. If you have a YouTube account you can leave a comment, which can be seen by anyone who has the link to the YouTube video. The creator of the video can also see your comment.
Some YouTube videos have the option to turn on closed captioning, by pressing the “CC” icon on the bottom of the screen.
For more information about how to create a YouTube account, check out this tutorial. You don’t need an account to watch videos, only to make comments or send chat messages.
Vimeo
To access a Vimeo video or stream, you will simply click the link either on the FringeArts website or inside your virtual ticket. You will then be directed to Vimeo and will see the video. You do not need to download anything, because Vimeo is a website that you can load on your browser. For videos that are pre-recorded, you can press pause and play as much as you like, by clicking on the video, clicking the play or pause icon in the bottom left corner of the video, or pressing your space bar. For Vimeo live videos, do not press pause as the content is happening in real time.
When you click on a Vimeo link you may see a large box containing the video, or a medium-sized box containing the video, as well as a description of the video, other videos Vimeo recommends for you, the Vimeo icon, and a search bar. If you would like to make the video full screen, you can press the icon with 4 arrows pointing outward in the bottom right corner of the video.
Facebook Live
You can watch a Facebook Live video with or without a Facebook account. When you click the link for the live video you will be brought to the FringeArts Facebook page or the Facebook page of the artist who is streaming, and you will be able to hit play on the live streaming video.
If you have a Facebook account, you can leave comments on the live video that everyone watching the video will be able to see. You can also use reactions on Facebook, like the “like” (thumbs up) or “love” (heart), as well as others. When you click on these pictures they will show to everyone watching the video. You may see reactions on the video from other audience members as you watch.
If you make the Facebook video full screen, you will not see comments or reactions.
Instagram Live
To watch an Instagram live video you can use the Instagram app on a phone or tablet, or instagram.com on a computer. You will need an Instagram account in order to access the video. You can either make an Instagram account using your Facebook account, or using a phone number or email address.
The Instagram account for the live video will be linked on the FringeArts website. When you go to the Instagram account you will see the artist’s profile. A circle on their profile will contain the word “LIVE.” Click on this circle to tune into the live video.
When you click on the live video you will see the video as well as comments and reactions from viewers. You can leave a comment which all viewers will see, or hit the heart reaction button, which will cause everyone to see a heart.
Twitch
When you click the link to the Twitch stream, you will see the live stream playing on your computer. You do not need to download anything because Twitch is a website that runs through your browser.
Underneath the video you will see a description of the live stream, as well as the artist’s profile on Twitch. You may see a chat window next to the live stream. Everyone else watching can see these chat messages. To send chat messages, you need to have a Twitch account. You can make an account with your email address by clicking “sign up” in the top right corner of the screen. If you would like to make an account in advance of the performance, visit twitch.tv and click “sign up” in the top right corner.
If you would like to make the live stream full screen you can click the rectangle icon in the bottom right corner of the video or press “f” on your keyboard. When the video is full screen you will not see the chat.
Discord
Discord is a platform for text and video chat. It is a website that you can run through your browser. You can also download Discord here if you would prefer to use the application on your computer, phone or tablet.
You will need an account in order to use Discord. You can sign up here.
For the performance, you will be invited to join a Discord server. This is like a chat room. Only the artists and audience members will have access to this specific server. When you join the server you will be able to chat and see messages from other users.
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