Independently Touring the World

Festivals around the world have become a great way to expose your work to new audiences.  If you’re interested in taking your show on the road, learn how to break into the festival circuit and take control of your touring during this workshop. You’ll learn more about the fringe festival community and how fringes can help complement a tour or become your whole tour.

Xela Batchelder
As founder, manager, and artistic director of a mid-sized venue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for 13 years, Xela Batchelder gained first-hand, practical experience on the inner-workings of the world’s largest arts festival. She has also experienced the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as playwright, director, performer, producer, and instructor. These experiences became the basis of her doctoral dissertation on the mechanics of the Edinburgh Fringe, as well as the beginning of her interest in researching other Fringe Festivals around the world.
In 2010, Xela founded Fringe University, an organization that invites university programs throughout the United States to utilize the Edinburgh Fringe as a unique, immersive, educational opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students. In 2013, Xela co-founded the Pittsburgh Fringe, a four-day, multi-venue fringe theater festival held in Pittsburgh each spring. She continues to serve as a consultant to other fringe festivals across the country.