History of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival

In 2003, the artistic community at large realized a need for such an event in Cincinnati. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, entering its 10th season, along with Cincinnati Fringe Festival co-founders Jason Bruffy and Jeff Syroney, answered the need and stepped up to the challenge. Under the umbrella of the CSF Studio Series and with the direction of a dedicated committee, the Cincinnati Fringe Festival was born.

For the next few years, Cincinnati's Fringe was produced by a group of local artists and administrators, called Cincinnati Experimental Arts, including the co-Founders Jeff Syroney and Jason Bruffy, who had just become the Artistic Director of Know Theatre of Cincinnati. In June of 2006, Know Theatre of Cincinnati announced the 2007 Cincinnati Fringe Festival as part of it's regular season programming and the two organizations officially merged, combining resources, programming, and staff to continue to build upon the sucess of both organizations and Cincinnati's arts community.