Open international call for Dublin's Fringe 2017 festival. If 2016 left you punch drunk, Fringe is here with a burst of smelling salts. Do not throw in the towel. We need you to get back in the ring.

Dublin Fringe Festival, unlike many Fringes internationally, is a wholly curated festival. We seek compelling and daring work that invigorates, excites and challenges its audiences.  This year’s programme will be made of the very best of new Irish and international theatre, dance, comedy, music, circus, performance and hybrid art, visual art, spectacle, cuisine, filmmaking, storytelling, spoken word and cabaret. It’s made up of the vanguard, singular artists who we’re excited to present to our audiences.

There’s a battle ahead. Dragons we thought long vanquished are back and biting, hard. Progress is being devoured by an urge for tyranny. Our heroes didn’t save the day. The West is facing massive turmoil; the rest of the globe has been living it for decades. We’re feeling the impact of the forces transforming the world, sending shockwaves through our society and our hearts. We also know that the fight begins at home. We are caught up in campaigns for urgent local change, our communities are manifesting for causes at home and abroad. We’re called upon to show solidarity and make sure the right person has the microphone when it’s time to speak out.

But it’s getting harder to hear the bell ring. As we write this, empires are falling apart, all the rules are changing. Every morning brings a newsfeed grasping at a changed world, chasing a momentum towards inevitabilities we never thought we’d see. It’s the end of meaning, the drowning of reason, the beginning of a post-truth world.

Cut through.

You’re still in charge. Be the creative and intellectual authorities. Remind us we have our wits and our smarts at the ready. Art is the pathway for empathy, invoke ours. Notice who isn't at the table. Reach out. Poke fun, give us contagious laughs. Bring us deep approaches to content, bring us soul, bring us stacks and stacks of truth, bring us talismans to help the world find its antidotes. Make it uproarious. Cut through with complexity, with purpose, with the adrenaline of what’s new.

Activist artists: broadcast directions to your bunker. No guest lists, no passwords. We need a world-wide preparation. We want survival guides, scrupulous documentation and we want wrecking balls.

Read the full call info

Fringe is ready for you. Get ready for Fringe.

Application form and guide here.

Closing date Friday 10 March