The BorderLight Theatre Festival, the annual four-day event with a mission to present visionary international theater and build cross-cultural understanding, will return to Playhouse Square this summer, from July 24 to 27, after a successful Fringe Festival there in 2023.

To make the 2024 Festival a hit, organizers are looking for established and emerging companies in theatre, dance, circus, immersive experiences, puppetry, street theatre, spoken word, stand-up comedy, and other artistic expressions to apply for the fringe portion of the festival by Sunday, Feb. 4.

As one of the newest fringe festivals worldwide—the first festival was held in 2019—BorderLight is a platform for independent artists and companies to showcase their work and engage new audiences in a vibrant festival environment.

“I want BorderLight to be an opportunity for exploration,” said BorderLight associate producer Josy Jones in a statement. “Many times, artists are locked into the work of others and are not given the platform to experiment, be wrong, be right, and try something they've dreamed up. We want to be that opportunity for artists.”

BorderLight welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds, including age, race, ethnicity, Religion, and gender identification. This year, BorderLight is amplifying those diversity efforts by hiring a team of ambassadors from key Cleveland neighborhoods to encourage participation in the 2024 festival.

With support from the Cleveland Foundation, the ambassadors have been hosting free application clinics in various Cleveland neighborhoods on Saturdays in January to answer questions about BorderLight and assist artists with the application process.

The next clinics are on Saturday, Jan. 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Maelstrom Collaborative Arts, 5403 Detroit Road in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood; from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood, 4303 Pearl Road; and from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood, 11535 Shaker Blvd.

An application clinic will be offered on Saturday, Jan. 20 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the South Collinwood neighborhood; and the final clinic will be on Saturday, Jan. 27 from 10:30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. in Ohio City, 1900 Fulton Road.

Additionally, BorderLight staff will host a free Artist Q&A Zoom on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 6 p.m.

Interested artists can learn how to apply for the 2024 BorderLight Fringe Festival.