Arizona Theatre Matters Announces the Glendale International Fringe Festival

Arizona Theatre Matters Announces the Glendale International Fringe Festival (GIFF)

Theatre for Everyone — Access Is the Art

February 12–28, 2027

Historic Downtown Glendale & Glendale Main Library auditorium

Arizona Theatre Matters (ATM) proudly announces the Glendale International Fringe Festival (GIFF), a curated international Fringe festival taking place February 12–28, 2027 in Historic Downtown Glendale and the Glendale Main Library auditorium, with all performances also livestreamed online. GIFF will feature 20 companies from around the world, each scheduling between 4 and 16 performances during the festival. The event concludes on February 28 with a celebration and artist awards. All performances — in person and online — are free to the public.

“GIFF is designed so artists and audiences with a wide range of needs shape the performances from the start. When access leads, the art changes for the better.” — Jeanmarie Simpson, Founding Artistic Director

Festival manager Patrick Reese added, “We built GIFF around two simple ideas: pay artists, and remove barriers for audiences. Making everything admission-free and fully accessible changes the work — and who gets to be part of it.”

Festival Features

Two Fully Accessible Festival Hubs

Performances will take place across Historic Downtown Glendale and the Glendale Main Library auditorium, creating a walkable, community-centered Fringe environment supported by robust accessibility infrastructure.

Curated International Lineup

GIFF presents twenty companies, each selecting any number of performances from 4 to 16. Companies choosing a full run may perform once daily from Feb. 12–27; others may schedule smaller blocks anywhere within the festival window.

Fair, Rotating Performance Times

Companies participate in a four-day rotation, performing at 12:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. to ensure equal visibility and audience access at every time of day.

Hybrid by Design

All shows will be presented:

Live in Downtown Glendale or at the Main Library

Livestreamed

With free video-on-demand access

GIFF’s hybrid model makes the festival available to audiences everywhere.

Integrated Accessibility

Accessibility is built into every performance and every venue. GIFF includes:

Artistic ASL interpretation

Open captions

Audio description co-created with Blind artists

Wheelchair-accessible venues and backstage routes

Sensory-friendly zones

Trained accessibility-support ushers

Clear wayfinding onsite and online

This reflects ATM’s core belief: access doesn’t need to be  accommodation — access can be the medium.

Artist-First Economics

GIFF removes the usual financial barriers:

No registration fees

A modest application fee

Artists are paid per performance

All performances are admission-free for audiences.

What Makes GIFF Different

Access as the Organizing Principle

GIFF is designed from the ground up around universal design, not retrofitted accessibility. Artists and audiences with access needs are integrated as creative partners, shaping rehearsal processes, technical systems, and audience experience.

A Winter Home for Fringe

Historic Downtown Glendale and the Glendale Main Library form a compact, lively, walkable festival district. Restaurants, cafés, shops, and gathering spaces surround the venues, offering audiences a welcoming environment throughout the two-week event.

Economic Benefits for Historic Downtown Glendale

GIFF is a multi-week economic driver for Historic Downtown Glendale.

With continuous programming across 16 days, the festival brings a steady flow of artists, residents, and visitors into the walkable district, strengthening:

Local restaurants, cafés, and pubs

Retail shops and boutiques

Community and cultural institutions, including the Main Library

Free admission encourages repeat attendance, generating sustained foot traffic and creating a vibrant February season for downtown businesses.

Schedule at a Glance

Artist selection: Rolling evaluation begins March 2026; final notifications late 2026

Load-in & technical rehearsals: Week of February 5, 2027

Festival: February 12–27 — daily performances

Closing Celebration & Artist Awards: February 28

Why GIFF Exists

GIFF emerged from ATM’s experience preparing a 2026 tour of Ghosts of the Gilded Stage and encountering venue after venue that could not support universally accessible performance. Combined with Jeanmarie Simpson’s decades of experience — from the turbulent 1996 San Francisco Fringe to grassroots tours of A Single Woman, Coming In Hot, and Heretic — one truth became clear: Fringe can be radical and inclusive. GIFF is the festival ATM wished had existed: a Fringe where artists are paid, audiences meet the work without barriers, and access reshapes the art itself.

About Arizona Theatre Matters

Arizona Theatre Matters (ATM) shapes theatre from the substance of accessibility itself, ensuring storytelling reaches everyone—regardless of ability, income, or location. By making accessibility an artistic foundation, we create theatre that is deeply inclusive, boldly experimental, and undeniably for all.