CATANIA OFF FRINGE FESTIVAL
It's a festival of theater, performance, and contemporary art, spread across unique spaces and offering a cultural touristic map that connects the entire city.
It's a window for independent companies and artists.
It's a moment of exchange and cross-contamination, where boundaries are broken down.
It's a moment of sharing based on togetherness and social empathy, aimed at stimulating and creating new audiences.
It's an event that goes beyond the stage, encompassing everything around it and creating connections and synergies that extend beyond just the artistic realm.
The idea of establishing a fringe festival began in 2015, following an agreement with Greg Germain ( then-president of the Avignon Off Festival) to create a sister festival in Milan modeled after Avignon's, including related events like themed panels and professional courses for artists.
In 2016, MILANO OFF FRINGE FESTIVAL was born, and in 2022, the CATANIA OFF FRINGE FESTIVAL followed. Milano Off Fringe Festival is an artistic and cultural project with impacts on regional marketing, off-season tourism, and the social-cultural fabric of the city.
2024 CONCEPT - A THREE DIMENSIONAL JOURNEYOnce upon a time, an Italian became the ambassador of Italy to the world. He traveled, venturing across seas and lands, and became the most renowned explorer in the world.
His name was Marco Polo, and in 2024 we commemorate the 700th anniversary of his death.
His passion for discovering new cultures is celebrated worldwide, and symbolically, we also embrace him as an iconic representation of Italy's cultural mission throughout the world through the sixth edition of MILANO OFF FRINGE FESTIVAL and the third edition of CATANIA OFF FRINGE FESTIVAL.
The common thread of this year’s festival editions — the theme — is "THE JOURNEY".
The Fringe seeks to forge connections worldwide, for the artists and for us, uniting through culture and entertainment and sharing the beauty of all the countries represented. The Fringe also delves into the diverse essence of our cities, Milan and Catania, merging with cultures that embody delightful scents and rich traditions. Moreover, through the Fringe, we embark on an inner journey, as artists and visionaries of art, aiming for self-improvement and becoming a source of wellness in the universe.
"I haven't told half of what I saw." The phrase Marco Polo said on his deathbed connects us to the transference of travel experiences through writing: writing that becomes reading, narration, and art that engages and interprets life, using fantastical tarot cards to understand the present and predict the future.
All in a compass that reminds us we're all on a journey; the past is in front of our future and the east falls on the other side of the west.
And if 'play' means to have fun, but also to perform..
LET’S PLAY, IT’S FRINGE TIME!
THE FOUR SECTIONS OF THE FESTIVAL
CATANIA IN > 15 OCTOBER
The festival will officially kick off with a gala evening in a prestigious and emblematic venue, fundamental to the cultural fabric of Catania. The festival will be presented to the city by designated cultural ambassadors and by the national and international artists that have been selected to participate in our 2024 edition.
CATANIA OFF FRINGE > 17 - 27 OCTOBER
Professional artists from all over Italy and around the world, selected by a panel of industry experts, fill the city with performances of various artistic genres and in different languages, rotating between different festival locations.
VILLAGE OFF > 12 - 27 OTTOBER
The VILLAGE OFF is the heart and center of the festival, and a meeting point for artists, industry professionals, and the public; a place for exhibitions, meetings, lectures, book presentations, and much more.
CATANIA OFF-OFF > 01 - 11 OCTOBER
The wide variety of events encompassed in the festival’s Off-Off section will be distributed across nearly all neighborhoods and districts of the city, in various participating spaces. Book presentations, conferences on specific show themes, projects, exhibitions, concerts... a true journey through the archipelago of "islands" of theater and culture.
