When you exist on the fringe, very little comes easy.

And the increasingly harsh reality is that, sometimes, it doesn’t come at all.

That’s sadly the case for the Auckland Fringe Festival - which has had to pull the pin on the 2025 event.

In a social post, it noted “After examining every avenue possible, it is with deep disappointment that due to our current climate of funding restrictions, we have to officially announce Auckland Fringe will not be activating this year.”

It was a heartbreaking call for Auckland Fringe organiser Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwaho.  He detailed the decision and the pressure on funding to The Big Idea.

“It’s multifaceted - it's sector wide,” Tukiwaho explains, “There's just not the money and there's just not the avenues to be able to activate in the way that we need to.”

Battling for pūtea is nothing new for the festival - but the moving goalposts have finally caught up with it.

“Auckland Fringe doesn't have an ongoing stable funder so every year, we have to try and align with contestable funding, where it's always up to the gods whether we get money or not, because everybody else is in the same pool. So we don't have that buffer that a lot of larger organisations have, to be able to ensure that something's going to happen.

“Since Creative New Zealand - who are the main funders for most of the festivals - have reshaped how their rounds work, there literally isn't anything available in the first six months of the year if you miss the round at the end of the previous year.

“Part of that contestable animal is that with the changes, the game is different as well - you have to really understand now what they're looking for. Everything shifts when they shift how they deliver.

“So you're scrambling, hoping, trying to figure things out. It’s just not sustainable. Even with the funding that we've had before - a lot of the funding really doesn't support operational costs. So it's trying to figure out how to create the business in a way that we can make sure that we can be operational but still look after our artists. And at the moment, it just feels like it can only be one or the other.”

The loss of the Tāmaki Makaurau event has been met with heavy hearts, with many in the creative community caught off guard.

One of the beauties of Fringe festivals like Auckland's is the opportunity for voices, cultures and creative practices that often struggle for exposure to find a platform where they can be authentically themselves. 

Producer Charlie Underhill told The Big Idea the news was “upsetting” and “a big hit for emerging and fringe artists.”

She continues “Fringe Festivals act as a community for artists to connect with each other, and try out work they may not have had an opportunity to present, to work at their craft on their terms with the support of other artists.

“This impacts our ability to create and grow connections in that community, losing a critical space for development and new ideas to grow creatively. It also lessens the variety of art available to audiences in our city who want to see challenging, interesting, or exciting new works, making our arts landscape feel that much smaller."

Underhill, who is busy preparing shows Saint Joan at Q and NZ Fringe hit How To Art at Basement in June-July, wants the powers-that-be to recognise the value of events like Fringe.

“It's disappointing as these funding restrictions means this festival cannot provide providing a platform for artists to create work in a supportive environment, and create quality art. Public funding is by no means the only avenue Fringe Festivals around the globe rely on, but it is a crucial part of allowing these organisations to exist. 

"It means this key space for artists, who often are also struggling to fund their art in the first place, which acts as a tangible platform to place their work and start their journey for their mahi - is not available for this year.

“If we don't have a place to start, how can we continue with our craft and progress the quality of art produced in Aotearoa?"

Underhill’s take is echoed across many in the creative sector.

The Improv Bandits’ Mark Scott posted “Where the heck is the jumping platform to professional theatre, or for professionals to explore non mainstream, non algorithmic ideas withough the small funded theatres/spaces and marketing the fringe provides?” - while regular Fringe performer and producer Penny Ashton remarks “When on earth will funding bodies realise that without fringes, minnows can’t grow.”

Tukiwaho described the reaction from the creative community as “so very supportive,”  and the Auckland Fringe whānau are already planning how they can be back in September 2026.

“(Funding) is never a given, but it doesn't stop me from trying to navigate how we can engage - where else are we able to try garner the support that's necessary so that we can operate?“

As for the emerging artists impacted by the demise of Auckland Fringe ’25 - Tukiwaho had this message.

“It's okay to feel disappointed. It's okay to feel as frustrated - but I would encourage people to not let themselves be bogged down by it. See how they can navigate through these spaces so that it's not wearing them. That's kind of how I'm trying to deal with it - you have to figure it out. But it's not just us. Our emerging artists will have the same fears, the same issues - but they need to know a negative response doesn't reflect your value.” 

(Top image: 2024 Auckland Fringe show Femmes and Thems.)