Community Care at Festival

Community Care is Fringe Theatre’s service-based program comprised of Volunteers and Staff using harm reduction approaches to community crisis response and community empowerment. This team supports unhoused and vulnerable community members who may access various community supports in the immediate vicinity of the Fringe Theatre Arts Barns and Fringe Festival grounds who are often displaced from their regular use of public spaces by Festival activity. This is a situation that has arisen not by design but as a matter of circumstance.

We are proud to partner with the Old Strathcona Youth Society (OSYS) in support of our 2024 Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival Community Care Program. We honour the important and necessary work OSYS does in the Old Strathcona neighbourhood year-round. Thank you, OSYS, for caring for our youth.

The Old Strathcona Youth Society is a non-judgmental, low-barrier drop-in center committed to protecting the safety, self-worth, and dignity of vulnerable and unhoused youth. OSYS assists youth by providing basic needs items and access to various essential services such as housing, employment, and legal aid. If you would like to learn more, donate, or get involved please visit OSYS.ca.

Fringe Theatre’s Community Care team continues to evolve and respond to emerging community needs thanks to vital supports from organizations who lead this important work like Boyle Street Community Services, Bissell Centre, The Mustard Seed, Youth Empowerment and Support Services, Old Strathcona Youth Society, 4B Harm Reduction Society, and more. We could not do this work without their expertise, experience, and resources. We are grateful for the very many ways these organizations serve community, and uplift organizations like Fringe Theatre in this work.