THE CHELSEA FRINGE IS BACK AND SEEKING IDEAS FOR ITS 12TH FESTIVAL YEAR

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The Chelsea Fringe – the alternative garden festival and established highlight of the horticultural calendar, will take place with nine days of festivities from 20 - 28 May 2023.

A programme brimming with stimulating and diverse events took place in 2022, with contributions from Cranbrook to Perth, and from Naples to Seattle. Fringe organisers are now encouraging everyone to start thinking about the imaginative, quirky, and unusual ideas they might bring to the 2023 Fringe to help create another bumper celebration of horticulture and grassroots gardening.

Thousands of events have taken place in more than 20 different countries since the first Fringe was held in 2012. What started as a back-of-a-postcard idea has grown over a decade into an international event which is an established fixture of the gardening calendar. It remains an unfunded, unsponsored and volunteer-run Community Interest Company (CIC), powered by a small but dedicated group, with many events in the festival free to attend. Contributors and venues over the years have included community gardening groups, public parks, artists, poets, chefs, galleries, schools, and major institutions such as Kew, the Inner Temple, the Natural History Museum, and Covent Garden Flower Market, among many others. Despite its name, the festival reaches well beyond Chelsea; not just to every quarter of London, but also to the far corners of the UK and around the world. Events have taken place on the Isle of Mull, in Monmouth, Leeds, Bristol and Henley-on-Thames, and the Fringe’s global appeal has been underlined by enthusiastic participants signing up in Canada, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Australia, and Japan.

Events usually begin to appear on the Fringe website from February, while registration remains open right up until the very last day of the festival. Potential event organisers are encouraged to make contact as soon as possible, to make the most of the promotional potential that taking part brings. Anyone with an idea is encouraged to get in touch now at info@chelseafringe. com outlining what they propose to do as part of the 2023 festival programme. Their team of volunteers will do everything they can to turn germs of ideas into flourishing blooms by May 2023.

The Chelsea Fringe is entirely independent of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, though acts with its support. chelseafringe.com