Club Fringe is the late-night stomping ground of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, running in Fringe Common Rooms at Festival Hub: Trades Hall on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the Festival, starting at 10pm and generally finishing after 1am (the venue is licensed until 3am).
Melbourne Fringe audiences are up for anything. Nothing shocks us. We want to be constantly surprised, inspired, and delighted, and we want to participate. The best Club Fringe nights have at least one big moment where everyone sings together, dances together, or bounces a giant beach ball while singing We Are The World. We want people to know they have to be there because a Club Fringe event is a one-off. They are never, ever repeated.
Club Fringe is not a showcase of excerpts from Festival shows. That happens at other festivals, but Melbourne Fringe is higher concept than that. Performers — from this year's festival, from past Fringe Festivals, and from Melbourne's independent arts scenes more broadly — respond to themes with bite-sized bits of their artistic practice. Sometimes performers create short pieces especially for the event. Each night should feel completely unique.
Club Fringe is the late-night stomping ground of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Held in Fringe Common Rooms at Festival Hub: Trades Hall, Club Fringe is where wildly original, high-concept events bring the festival community together every Friday and Saturday night. Now we're inviting Victorian artists to pitch their own Club Fringe event for 2026. If successful, you'll receive $3,000 in cash, free venue hire with tech and bar included, and 100% of ticket profits. We're looking for something genuinely unique — not just a great party, but something that could only happen at Fringe.
Please download and read the Info Packs below.
[Club Fringe Info Pack PDF](https://api.melbournefringe.com.au/media/pmbfsj4e/melbourne-fringe-fringe-fund-info-pack-club-fringe.pdf?_gl=1*toep06*_gcl_au*MTIwNzA2MzA5OS4xNzcwMTgxNDI1LjMwOTU4MDk4MS4xNzc0ODM5ODEyLjE3NzQ4Mzk4MTE.)
[Club Fringe Indo Pack Word Document](https://api.melbournefringe.com.au/media/3supgykf/melbourne-fringe-fringe-fund-info-pack-club-fringe.docx?_gl=1*19e2zpv*_gcl_au*MTIwNzA2MzA5OS4xNzcwMTgxNDI1LjMwOTU4MDk4MS4xNzc0ODM5ODEyLjE3NzQ4Mzk4MTE.)
For over a decade, Melbourne Fringe has been building a community gathering space at the Hub by programming great Club Fringe events on key nights. Over the past few years, we've opened the door and invited Fringe artists to run their own Club Fringe events as part of the Festival, with some funding assistance from us, of course.
From electrifying parties to ground-breaking performances, these unforgettable late-night events have brought late nights at Festival Hub: Trades Hall to life. Now we're on the lookout for even more wildly original and avant-garde ideas for 2026. Whether it's a high-concept art party or a slick dancefloor-filling event, we want to hear from you.
Club Fringe is the physical manifestation of everything Melbourne Fringe stands for: a welcoming, inclusive, brave, creative, celebratory space where surprising things happen and everyone is celebrated for their individuality. It's uniquely Fringe: high-concept themes, self-expression, wild costumes, weird performances that could never happen anywhere else, and participatory experiences you'll be recalling for years.
We can't wait to see what ideas you've got up your sleeves.
If successful, you will receive: