Totnes Fringe Festival Awarded £2,000 Grant to Strengthen Digital Reach and Community Engagement

Totnes Fringe Festival has been awarded a £2,000 grant from Totnes Town Council to support web development, social advertising and community outreach ahead of the 2026 festival (9–12 July 2026).

The funding allocation includes:

• £1,000 for website development
  
  

• £400 for targeted social advertising
  
  

• £600 for community outreach activity
  
  

Following a highly successful inaugural year in 2025 — which welcomed more than 3,000 attendees and attracted over 5,000 new website users — the Festival identified the need to strengthen its digital infrastructure. Planned improvements will support smoother online ticketing, improve site maintenance, and enable stronger integration between marketing, box office and audience data systems.

As part of this work, the Festival has been collaborating with a local computer science graduate, providing structured mentoring during an initial evaluation and scoping phase. The team is now seeking a commercial partner to deliver the next stage of website development.

Expanding Digital Reach

Targeted social advertising across the Fringe’s Instagram and Facebook channels is already delivering measurable results. Campaigns are currently supporting volunteer recruitment (closing May 2026), the artist call-out (closing 1 March 2026), and the launch of the Festival’s first 2026 fundraising event — a Drag Bingo night at the Royal Seven Stars Hotel, Totnes on 1 April 2026.

Momentum is building. Over 70 volunteers have already signed up for 2026, and more than 110 artists and companies have applied to take part. Support from Totnes Town Council is directly enabling this expanded digital reach — helping the Festival connect with more artists, more audiences and more local people.

Alongside this, Totnes Fringe has launched Fringe Futures, a new development strand offering two recent graduates the opportunity to perform at the Festival with mentoring support and a small bursary.

You can find applications to volunteer, perform, or apply to Fringe Futures at:
www.totnesfringe.uk

Deepening Community Engagement

Recognising that parts of the community did not engage in 2025 — due to accessibility, programming relevance or perception — £600 has been allocated to facilitate outreach sessions with volunteers and community groups. These will focus particularly on teenagers and young adults, vulnerable adults and older residents, guided by the core question: what would enable and encourage you to volunteer and/or attend the festival?

Totnes Fringe believes theatre can be transformative and is committed to creating a festival that speaks to the whole community.

“We are incredibly grateful to Totnes Town Council for investing in the future of the festival,” comments Danielle McIlven, Director of Totnes Fringe Festival. “This support enables us not only to strengthen our digital infrastructure and expand our reach, but to listen more closely to our community. Totnes Fringe is volunteer-run and community-rooted — and we want to ensure it genuinely reflects and welcomes the widest possible range of people.”

Totnes Fringe Festival returns 9–12 July 2026 with an expanded programme across multiple venues in the town, building on a first year that achieved over 80% seat occupancy and strong community support.