Take part in Wandsworth Arts Fringe
Wandsworth Arts Fringe is an annual extravaganza of arts and culture, popping up in surprising spaces all over the borough. On this page, you can find out more about Wandsworth Arts Fringe festival plus key information and guidance on how to take part.
What’s Fringe?
Wandsworth Arts Fringe is an open-access festival, which means that no matter who you are or where you come from, everyone is welcome!
Unlike other arts festivals, no-one’s in charge of deciding which shows get to take part. We don't have curators or programmers, and there are no themes or content criteria that artists have to fulfil when registering an event. Anyone with a story to tell and a venue to host them is invited to register.
Why WAF?
Wandsworth Arts Fringe is an opportunity to test new ideas, showcase your work, attract new audiences, and explore new spaces. Wandsworth Council is committed to supporting artists to build their practice, so we offer registration fees from as little at £15 for performers under 26, and from just £30 for everyone else. We also offer packages of support across marketing, PR, venue booking, ticketing, accessibility, sustainability, fundraising and evaluation. Each year we offer up to £2000 to projects that meet our strategic goals and engage meaningfully with our residents through our grants scheme.
There just seems to be an enormous creative will here to do things and make things happen, and just being part of that is wonderful. Anywhere that can have that kind of level of support to the arts and diversity and culture can’t be ignored.
Alice D’Lumiere, cabaret artist and aerialist. WAF Artist 2023, 2024 and 2025.
How To Take Part
Dates and Deadlines
- Expressions of Interest & WAF Grants open: Mon 8 September 2025
- WAF Grants applications closed: Wed 5 November 2025, 5pm
- WAF Grants decisions: Fri 19 December 2025
- Early Bird Registration open: Mon 1 December 2025
- Expressions of interest close: Fri 19 December 2025
- Early Bird registration closes: Fri 9 January 2026
- Final registration and copy deadline: Fri 30 January 2026
- WAF festival dates: Fri 5 - Sun 21 June 2026
Expressions of Interest
Open Mon 8 September 2026
Express your interest in taking part in WAF2026 until Fri 19 December 2026. This is a quick and easy way of letting us know your ideas, and signs you up to receive practical updates from festival producers, links to join the WAF Creatives Sessions, and reminders for upcoming deadlines.
WAF Grants
Venues
Find a Venue
Become a Fringe venue
Similarly to Edinburgh, there’s been so much going on, whether it’s art in the park or seeing Eko the giant sea puppet walking about. There’s just so much life here, and that’s been really inspiring to see. Just the sheer variety of stuff is mind-boggling, really. I’ve learned a tonne about producing… how to budget your shows, how to set up fundraisers, all of that has been really eye-opening. This is the first time I’ve applied to do something in a fringe, so it’s been really helpful and all of the support and workshops, whether that’s evaluation or marketing and how to develop your show for the future, that’s all been super. – Kevin Martin Murphy, WAF Artist 2023.
How To Register
Everything you need to know about registering your event as part of WAF2026.
Find out about registration fees and discounts, information about ticketing, a checklist of what you’ll need to have ready to complete your listing, and a step-by-step guide through the online registration process.
WAF Creatives Sessions
