MURMURATIONS from CHICAGO FRINGE 2017. Photo by Sarah Larson.

The Chicago Fringe Festival has announced the performance dates for a shortened 2018 schedule, along with the opening of the participation lottery.

The festival is slated to run just one weekend, August 30 – September 3, and the number of total performers will be 24 rather than 50, as in previous years.

“The Festival staff and board are always looking at ways to improve the Chicago Fringe Festival experience for performers, patrons, and volunteers,” said Executive Director Anne Cauley. “As we prepare for our 10th Anniversary in 2019, we want to focus on building a more sustainable festival structure. By returning to our roots as a one-weekend festival, we will be able to refocus on building our community, to enhance the festival atmosphere and to explore exciting new ideas that our team has never had the capacity to take on. We look forward to sharing this new take on a Chicago-style fringe this fall.”

Participants are chosen via a random lottery, and the organization will begin accepting submissions today, Friday, Jan. 19 at 12 p.m. Lottery winners will be chosen at an event in March.

The Chicago Fringe Festival is an “uncensored, no-holds-barred” performance event that returns 100% of ticket sales to artists. In their first eight years, they have paid out almost $240,000 to artists.