Ottawa Fringe Festival 2026 — Complete Guide to All 61 Shows

The Ottawa Fringe Festival is back for its 29th edition from June 18 to June 28, 2026 — 11 days, 61 productions, 10 venues, all centred on Arts Court in downtown Ottawa. It's the city's biggest theatre festival and one of Canada's longest-running fringes.

Below: the rules of the festival, how passes work, every venue with its address, and how to plan your run.

What Makes Fringe Different

The Ottawa Fringe is an open-access festival — shows are not curated by a programmer. Artists get a slot through the lottery, BYOV (Bring Your Own Venue), or Open Doors streams, and 100% of ticket revenue goes back to the artists. That means:

• Quality and content vary wildly. Some shows are seasoned international tours; others are first-time creators
• Every show description on ottawafringe.com/shows is written by the artist
• Content advisories (mature language, sexual content, audience participation, etc.) are shown on each show page

You're not buying a guaranteed experience — you're betting on a 45-to-90-minute show you might love, or might walk away from with a story.

How Passes Work

The Ottawa Fringe pass system is a little quirky:

• 5-show pass — $65
• 10-show pass — $120
• Individual tickets — $14 each (plus applicable fees), or half-price day-of at the box office for select shows

And then there's the Fringe Pin, which is mandatory:

• Single-year pin — $5 (one festival only)
• Legacy pin — $15 (works every future Ottawa Fringe Festival)

Every ticket buyer needs a Fringe Pin. Buy it once and you're good for the whole festival.

Half-price tickets are released day-of at the box office for select performances — a great way to take a chance on something you weren't sure about.

The 10 Venues

Almost everything is walkable in the downtown / Sandy Hill area. Here's where each venue actually is:

Arts Court — 2 Daly Avenue (the hub)

The festival's main building. Four of the ten venues are inside or attached to Arts Court.

• Arts Court Theatre (Venue 1) — 2nd floor, larger proscenium space
• ODD Box (Venue 2) — 2nd floor, smaller flexible space
• Atelier Theatre (BYOV) — 2nd floor
• DARC Microcinema (BYOV) — main floor, entrance at 67 Nicholas Street

The Festival Box Office is on the 3rd floor of Arts Court (accessible entrance at 10 Daly Ave).

Ottawa Art Gallery — 10 Daly Avenue

The OAG building is right next to Arts Court — same block, opposite side. Two of the venues live here.

• LabO (Venue 4) — Floor 0, past the OAG security desk
• Studio 1201 (Venue 5) — Floor 1 (27 stairs, or take the elevator from Floor 0)

La Nouvelle Scène Gilles Desjardins — 333 King Edward Avenue

A short walk east from Arts Court (about 5 minutes). The two BYOV studios here are home to most of the French-language Fringe programming.

• Studio A (BYOV)
• Studio B (BYOV)

Knox Presbyterian Church — 120 Lisgar Street

Across from Ottawa City Hall, at the corner of Elgin and Lisgar.

• Geneva Hall (BYOV) — the church's main rental space

Studio 2201 (BYOV)

Address unconfirmed at time of writing — see the official venue map for the latest.

Browsing the Lineup

The festival's lineup is at ottawafringe.com/shows, where you can filter by venue, genre, or accessibility features (captioning, audio description, relaxed performances).

If you want to browse shows as individual events on 613today (with showtimes, runtime, content warnings, and price all in one place), filter the events listing for the fringe tag.

How to Plan Your Run

A few field-tested tips:

• The 10-show pass pays for itself if you're seeing more than five shows
• Buy your Fringe Pin first — every other ticket purchase requires it
• Read the show descriptions carefully — at Fringe, the description is the artist pitching their own work
• Check the venue, not just the show — Arts Court and OAG are next door to each other, La Nouvelle Scène is a 5-minute walk, Knox Church is a 15-minute walk
• Use day-of half-price tickets to take chances on shows you weren't sure about
• The Fringe Courtyard at 67 Nicholas is the festival's social hub between shows

Practical Info

• Festival dates: June 18 – June 28, 2026
• Festival hub / box office: 2 Daly Avenue, 3rd floor (accessible entrance 10 Daly Ave)
• Phone: 613-232-6162
• Email: [email protected]
• Tickets: ottawafringe.com/tickets
• Venue map: ottawafringe.com/venue-map-2
• Getting there: Arts Court is a 3-minute walk from the Mackenzie King Bridge / Rideau Centre bus stop. Underground paid parking is very limited — plan to use transit or park off-site
• Bikes: Racks in front of Arts Court on Daly, at the Fringe Courtyard (67 Nicholas), and at the OAG main entrance (50 Mackenzie King Bridge)

The Ottawa Fringe is downtown's biggest theatre party for two weeks of the year — and at $65 for five shows, it's the cheapest way in town to see five completely different worlds.