11.3.24

House of Oz returns to Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, in a fresh partnership with Assembly and a presence at Adelaide Fringe.

House of Oz is returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for a third year, this time as a house without walls, in partnership with Assembly Festival. Founded in 2022 as a platform to amplify the depth and breadth of Australian talent at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the producer will support up to ten productions with a run at Assembly Festival, 31 July – 26 August.

In 2024, House of Oz will manifest as a “distributed” Australian performing arts showcase, presenting a diverse programme spanning genre and generations across several Assembly venues in Edinburgh, each space carefully aligned with the unique requirements of the performance. Each production will receive funding support toward travel and accommodation, marketing expenses, plus strategic and hands-on support from artist liaison and technical managers.

House of Oz Founding Patron and Creative Director Georgie Black said:

"House of Oz has built a fantastic reputation for the excellence of particular Australian shows at the King’s Hall over the last two Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, but we have found that the “one size fits all” venue solution was limiting our programming. Hence we are delighted in 2024 to be working with Assembly Festival across their range of venues and the possibilities this opens up. The partnership allows us to present spectacular shows of a larger scale, whilst also providing the intimacy and deeply personal connections that come through smaller spaces. Our House without walls addresses the importance of getting the right shows in the right spaces and giving them funding to achieve it.”

Assembly Festival Artistic Director William Burdett-Coutts added:

“Assembly played a large part in building the Fringe relationship with Australia in the 1980’s. It started by working with the legendary John Pinder who ran the Last Laugh before going on to start the Melbourne Comedy Festival. He brought artists like Sue Ingleton and Los Trios Ringbarkus, who went on to win the Perrier Award before our joint creation of Oznost in 1988 supported by the Australia Council, which saw the first festival of Australian work in Edinburgh. Since John’s death the Melbourne Comedy Festival and Assembly have honoured his memory through the Pinder Prize which supports new talent with an opportunity to come to the Fringe. We are therefore delighted to be working with Georgie Black and applaud her for choosing and supporting Australian work under the banner of the House of Oz. She is an incredible ambassador.”

The full 2024 House of Oz programme will be announced later this spring.

House of Oz Purse Prize at Adelaide Fringe

As a philanthropy platform for Australian creativity in the performing and visual arts, House of Oz has made available a ‘purse prize’ to award at least one show at Adelaide Fringe with funding to come to Edinburgh in summer 2024. The award winner/s will be announced in Adelaide on 13 March 2024.

Adelaide Fringe CEO and Artistic Director Heather Croall said:

"This fantastic initiative from House of Oz will make such a difference for the winning Australian Artists and help them make the most of their Edinburgh season - it is a great way to nurture and promote Australian talent in the world of performing arts."

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About House of Oz houseofoz.co.uk

Born on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2022 as part of the UK / Australia Season of Culture, Sydney-born Georgie Black’s House of Oz is a branded philanthropy platform for amplifying Australian performing arts. Based in London. Its objective is to support brilliant Australian creatives in showcasing their talents in the UK and beyond.

To date, House of Oz has presented over 600 performances across over 30 shows in Edinburgh and presented visual art installations featuring the work of Jimmy Pike, Lisa Roet and Charlotte Allingham. House of Oz also sponsored The Second Woman, an extraordinary 24-hour play at London’s Young Vic, starring Ruth Wilson, in May 2023, named as the Guardian’s Best Theatre piece in the UK in 2023. House of Oz also supported the global tour of GOM and the UK tour of Hot Brown Honeyz. House of Oz is supporting various new works to be announced shortly.

About Assembly Festival assemblyfestival.com

Established in 1981, Assembly is the longest-running multi-space venue that operates at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Operating for over 40 years, Assembly presents an annual programme of more than 200 productions to an audience of over half a million. Over the years, an extensive list of now household names started their journey to stardom on an Assembly stage, including Eddie Izzard, Jo Brand, Bill Bailey and Sandi Toksvig, to name a few.

As Edinburgh Fringe stalwarts, Assembly Festival is well known for a reputation of exciting programming and developing creative and sustainable events, which provide a platform for artists, makers and creators to share what they have to offer.