2014 Rochester Fringe Festival accepting submissions 

Want to put on a show? The First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival is now accepting submissions for the 2014 edition of the festival, which will take place September 18-27 in Downtown Rochester. Festival events run the gamut from music, visual art, theater, dance, comedy, film, multidisciplinary works, and kids' events. And YOUR show could be part of the line-up.

Now through Wednesday, April 16, interested artists, performers, and dreamers can submit their proposed Fringe Fest acts at the Fringe website. The following venues will participate in the 2014 festival: Bernunzio Uptown Music, Blackfriars Theatre, Eastman School of Music's Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music's Sproull Atrium, George Eastman House, Geva Theatre Center Nextstage, Java's, MuCCC, RAPA, The TheatreROCS Stage at Xerox Auditorium, and Writers & Books.

Or you can get creative and suggest your own venue for site-specific works. Proposals for the "bring your own venue" option must be sent to [email protected] by April 5.

What makes the Fringe Festival unique is that each individual venue curates its own programming. And those venues are allowed to start negotiating with shows as soon as they like, so interested acts should submit sooner rather than later.

There is no fee to apply, and the $100 (for a one-time performance) or $150 (for a show with multiple performances) registration fee is due only after contracts are finalized. (The fee goes toward the show's inclusion in the program guide and website, the centralized box office, and other costs.)

The Fringe Festival also recently announced that the Spiegeltent, which served as the hub of the festival last year and hosted the hugely popular Cirque du Fringe and Silent Disco events, will return for the 2014 festival.

Keep checking back with City Newspaper for more information about the 2014 Rochester Fringe Festival.