Dancers at Toronto Fringe need your help

Hi, I’m Katie, the Toronto-based choreographer behind a new contemporary dance work, "gutted", at the Fringe festival in July. I’m working with an incredible team, including dancer Frédérique Perron, visual artist Haylie Dittrich, lighting designer Theo Belc, and stage manager Leah Wilton.

But we need your help.

Public arts funding has been cut and major institutions are in crisis . More artists are vying for grants from a shrinking pool of public arts funds.

Against that background, Fringe is a vital platform for emerging artists, like us, to present boundary-pushing contemporary work. It also works on a unique financial model: artists pay a $760 fee to secure their spot in the festival, but then they keep 100 per cent of the ticket sales.

The thing is, even if we were to sell out our five-show run, we only cover half of our estimated $10,000 production costs. That includes industry rates for our dancer, choreographer, lighting designer, stage manager and graphic designer — plus, almost $1,000 to rent studio rehearsal space.

Professional artists should not have to pay to present their work. Your support to this fundraiser could be the difference maker.

Here is how your support will help finance this show.

$15: you pay for an hour of studio rehearsal space.

$30: you pay for Fred to attend an hour of rehearsal.

$50: you pay our stage manager for one show.

$75: you pay for me and Fred to attend a one-hour rehearsal inside a studio space.

$100: you pay our archival videographer to attend one show.

$150: you pay for Fred’s costume.

$200: you pay Fred to perform one show.

$300: you pay for all artists to attend a tech rehearsal.

Anything is helpful and every dollar contributed to this fundraiser will go directly to an artist on this team. We’re seeing “gutted”through, and we appreciate your help doing it.

For more information on the show, and to purchase tickets, you can visit: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/gutted

Katie