Stage the best work of your life and let it feel easy
Get the strategy and world class producing support you need to take your show to the next level.
You’re an experienced self-producing artist or a producer ready to take on an ambitious project. You’re looking for the strategy, support and coaching to level up
You’ve got big dreams and ideas
You’ve made work, toured work, and you’re ready to level up to new stages and better opportunities with the aid of our strategic producing support. You’ve got a goal? We’re going to get you there together
more art less stress
Producing is hard and you’ve been doing it alone. You want to spend less time stressing and doubting and more time taking action.
We will give you individually tailored and targeted producing strategy allowing you to spend more time on your art, pursue your dreams with laser focus.
small-group tailored advice
Get the bespoke advice and support you need to realise your ambitions within an intimate, focused group of peers. You’ll not only get the tools you need for your own specific project but also be able to learn from others’ experiences as well.
Fringe Club is where you’ll get the expertise and strategy to reach your goals. Wherever your next stage is, we’ll get there together.
No guesswork or overwhelm involved.
Your impossible is our Tuesday
We’ve worked with Disney Music on an Australian orchestral premiere, staged outdoor spectacles for 50,000 people, renovated a theatre in 48 hours and come out smiling. We’ve taken shows like Pony Cam’s Burnout Paradise and The Unfair Advantage from the local fringe festival to Broadway and the West End, toured work to every continent except Antarctica.
We’ll be your mentor, put our expertise to work, support you to remove all the obstacles that arise and help prevent problems you didn’t even know existed so you not only develop the skills to execute in the future, you have a positive and successful experience levelling up.
Mia Fiorella - La Jolla Playhouse
"La Jolla Playhouse has worked with Parrot Ox on two projects this year (The Unfair Advantage and Burnout Paradise). Both were artistically and critically successful thanks in large part to the guidance and leadership of the Parrot Ox team. They are collaborative, resourceful, responsive and a joy to work with. They understand practical challenges like space limitations and resource constraints and worked alongside us to problem solve. I would excitedly work with them again!"
Samantha Butterworth - Performing Lines
“Lauren has vast knowledge of circus and the performing arts. She has a deep under the artform, market development, funding opportunities and the history of the practice. Lauren is a huge asset to any organisation. She is deeply thoughtful, robust and generous. I would work with her again in a heartbeat.”
Stella Charls - Darebin Arts Centre
“Wanted to write and thank you so much for your incredible presentation on Wednesday! I had such a great time and to learned so much.
My colleagues and I were so energised for the rest of the week – so many tangible things we can take away and consider when we work with independent artists in our program and support the ongoing life of their projects beyond Darebin Arts Speakeasy.
Thanks so much Lauren.”
Amanda Lee - Sound of Circus
“My performance company would not be where it is today without pivotal guidance from Lauren during a critical point in my first year as a Director in the Arts and Entertainment sector. Upon premiering my first full length show, my company generated fast momentum which came along with big questions that I didn’t yet have the answers to. By connecting with Lauren, my company was empowered to continue blazing an exciting path with reputable knowledge and reliable, ongoing support.
Lauren upholds a unique combination of rich industry knowledge, deep compassion for artists and outstanding support of the performance industry as a whole. It is rare to find industry professionals with such a beautiful blend of empathy and knowledge, which are qualities I always experience at their utmost when connecting with Lauren..”
Make it stand out
About your mentor
Lauren Eisinger has:
Lauren Eisinger is a lecturer at the National Institute of Circus Arts teaching the Bachelor students their business course. She has run masterclasses for established producers through MICC (Montreal Complement Cirque) in Montreal and Theatre Network Australia’s Independent Producer Initiative and worked with in-house producing teams at Upswing in the UK and Performing Lines in Australia to develop greater capacity and confidence.
- Worked for Underbelly on the programming team (leading the team for a season), programming and presenting over 200 shows across 23 venues and producing 25 of them in house
- Presented work at the fringe for 8 seasons working in venues with capacities from 35 seats to 1100.
- Collaborated with the Fringe office to establish the Fringe Forward marketplace which facilitated visiting venues and festivals to find shows of interest across the festival
- Co-produced and commissioned work at the festival with Underbelly and Pleasance Theatre
- Programmed for major festivals and venues in Australia and the UK and has an intimate understanding of the programming process and presenter agenda
- Been a presenter and an independent producer at the world’s major marketplaces in New York, Montreal, Australia, UK and understands how to leverage marketplaces to achieve your goals.
add some less fringe-specific stuff eg your current slate, touring Australian UK and international shows across the UK and USA and Australia, amplifying small/emerging companies and making them succes
So how does this work?
You apply to Fringe Club with a project or a clear goal. Maybe you want to take a show to Edinburgh Fringe. Maybe you have a show you’ve toured domestically and want to tour internationally. You might be working on a new ambitious commission, or have a piece you’ve played in festivals and want to secure more touring opportunities.
In any performance project you need to start with strategy, and then manage the execution of that strategy, solving problems as they arise. Fringe Club provides you with the strategy and guides you through the execution process and problem solving each step of the way.
You’ll be part of a small cohort of self-producing artists and early - mid career producers all working on a specific project. Together, we will meet regularly, and at every session you’ll get bespoke strategy and advice to progress your project. This isn’t abstract or academic, we will tell you exactly what we would do if we were producing the project ourselves. You also get to learn from and be inspired by the experiences of others.
FAQs
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FAQs 〰️
But I don’t want to do the work myself, I want a producer to do the work for me.
Ok, there’s a few parts to this; let’s break it down.
When you start to work with a producer your workload actually increases. Your producer will need you to consider new scenarios and make decisions, write down and communicate the myriad of things that currently live in your head and meet deadlines set for you. You will still need to read contracts, answer your email and keep track of your finances. The difference? With a producer, all this work is laser focused on achieving a specific outcome, so it is more productive than if you don’t have strategy in place. You’re working smarter not harder. It’s also clearer and less complicated because your producer will help you understand and assess as you go.
That strategic support and clarity is available the same as what you’ll get in Fringe Club.
If you find there’s still work you don’t want to be doing, chances are it will be work that can be delegated to a contractor in administration or marketing, both guided by your producing strategy.
If I hired a producer, don’t they work on commission? I don’t want to pay money upfront.
Most producers do work on commission - around 20% depending on the nuance of the arrangement. They may also charge upfront fees to cover the colossal investment of time before they see any return. As programming timelines are long, you might be collaborating with your producer for a year before you actually get to perform a season they’ve booked for you. They may invest this time in you, but they may need to account for it by charging an upfront fee that - depending on the scale of the work - can run into the thousands.
What’s more, at 20% commission you can end up paying your producer tens if not hundreds of thousands depending on the scale of your collaboration.
The investment in Fringe Club will likely be returned by booking one presented season, or if you’re self producing, we can almost guarantee we will save you that same money in the mistakes you didn’t make.
How do I know that opportunities will come from Fringe Club?
While we can’t guarantee opportunities, we wouldn’t accept you into the program if we didn’t believe that you’ll be genuinely better off by taking part.
If you start to work with a producer full time, there’s also no guarantee of any outcome, only the combined belief from you and your producer that you’ll both be better off by working together.
We’ve been around the block and have an intimate understanding of the market. What we can promise is we genuinely believe in you and your work, and we’ll give you the best strategy and support we can.
I’d rather work 1:1 with you than in a group. I’ve been in group producing courses before.
Producing is lonely and this being alone with the weight of responsibility breeds stress and anxiety. Having the chance to go on this journey with peers is priceless.
This isn’t one of those groups where you fade into the background while receiving advice you can’t apply to your situation. Nor is it a group where you learn the fundamentals of producing. We will learn about you and your project, and offer producing strategy and support as if it were our own project.
Not only do you get the strategic advice, but we will be there every step of the way and help to solve problems, negotiate your contracts and offer support.
Why do I have to apply? I want in and I’m happy to pay.
We don’t want to take your hard earned money if we don’t think we can genuinely move you closer to your goals.
It could be that your work is best suited to markets we don’t work in, you’re too early in your career to make the investment meaningful, or we can’t see opportunity for the work.
This doesn’t at all mean that your work isn’t valuable, because it absolutely is, and the world needs your creativity. All this means is we aren’t the best investment for you right now, and right now doesn’t mean forever
Gold
Add your pricing strategy. Be sure to include important details like value, length of service, and why it’s unique.
It’s true, there are not enough producers in the world.
But also true? There are many shows that don’t need full time producers.
What they do need is expert producing strategy, market development and a clear roadmap.
That’s what we bring in Fringe Club. You bring your project - maybe that’s taking a show to Edinburgh Fringe, touring your work to New York or financing your new show. We bring the:
- strategy and plan to execute
- budget creation, cashflow and financial plan
- identifying key partners and relationships
- market development strategy
- real-time problem solving
- negotiation strategy for contractors, venue deals and suppliers
- marketing and PR support