Tom Crawshaw on the challenge of putting together the Oxford Fringe

I’ve been involved in Fringe festivals – in Buxton, Edinburgh, Brighton – for much of my life. When I was a student at Mansfield College, Oxford, I was surprised to learn the city has a Fringe of its own, and one that is well on its way to rivalling the best in the country.

Typically Fringe festivals spring up as counterpoints, or reactions, to major programmed festivals.

Fringes are open-access: anyone can take part, there is no selection or censorship, and this open approach fosters great originality and variety.

The good creatives of Oxford, however, decided they didn’t need to wait for an existing festival to react to and simply founded the Oxford Fringe (then ‘Oxfringe’) back in 2007.

My role is now director of the Oxford Fringe. I help encourage venues to take part and hire our spaces to performers, and I convince performers to bring their shows to Oxford and perform in those venues.

Some venues are choosy, or have limited space, but the wonderful thing is any act who wants to perform can usually find a space.

We have famous comedians, internationally renowned musicians and new home-grown talent from Oxfordshire – and all get exactly the same billing.

As the venues and acts work out deals amongst themselves, all that’s really left for me to do is to put a brochure together and sell the festival to the fine public of Oxford.

That means taking brochures around the town, looking for promotional spots for acts, and writing columns like this for the local media.

If you’re reading this and are convinced to take a look at the line-up on oxfordfringe.org then I have effectively done my job.

If you stopped reading in paragraph two, I’ve got some more work to do… Obviously the job can get a bit fraught at times – entertainment is an unpredictable world and there are a lot of artists performing at the same time in different venues across the town.

Often there are local performers who know exactly what they’re doing but we have numerous touring acts blow into town for a few days, for example this year the Soweto Spiritual Singers from South Africa (they sang at the opening of the 2010 World Cup) are coming to Oxford Things can go wrong at any moment, but the show must go on and that’s part of the excitement.

Obviously, the highlight of running the Fringe is when it all comes together and I get to see the wonderful shows that take part.

My background is in theatre – writing and acting – but I’ve got hugely into stand-up comedy in recent years.

This is largely because of the great quality of work coming to Fringes like Oxford. Many of the comedians we get are practising for Edinburgh Fringe in August, so we get to see them first, for much less money, and without having to drive up to Scotland!

I’m particularly excited that this year our family programme has taken off, with a huge range of shows either specifically tailored to children or for all ages to enjoy.

The Oxford Fringe this year takes place during the May half-term and late May Bank Holiday. I’m praying for good weather and hoping the turnout is as strong as ever.

It all kicks off officially tomorrow, then runs for 17 days until June 7, with 71 performances in total, and sometimes as many as 11 on one day.

Then after June 7, it’ll be straight back into planning and promoting for the 2016 Fringe.

If you’re interested in catching some fine entertainment of literally any type, look out for brochures around the town or check out oxfordfringe.org