The edgy art event that is the Estuary Fringe Festival is back for another year, bringing art to the masses.

Running since 2012, the festival puts on accessible, large-scale public artwork for the town.

It kicks off today (July 29) until August 5 with a host of events.

John Bulley formed the festival in 2012 along with friends Mark Sharp and Sheena Walker over a cup of coffee in Utopia Coffee Lounge.

He said: “It was a reaction to the hidebound very elitist arts scene that existed in Southend at that time. It was a very political act.

“We wanted to put the fun and spontaneity back into the arts scene and create spaces by local people for local people to get involved in.

“We wanted people who had no knowledge of art and art galleries not to be intimidated by the wall of snobbery that surrounded these places. We wanted true inclusivity, not just token press releases.”

In that time they have built pop up galleries, put on shows, music gigs, arts events and much more.

What's on 

  • Head to the Estuary Fringe Art Gallery at Victoria Shopping Centre which will be running events for the duration of festival.
  • On Saturday July 29, Wreckless Eric will perform, supported by Phil Burdett at St Mark’s Church in Southend with an evening of music from 7pm.
  • Seaside Larks will be at Twenty-One, Southend on Sunday July 30 with a variety of local musicians from 6.30pm.
  • The events will not run on Monday 31 but on Tuesday August 1 there will be the ‘Dangerous Poetry’ event at Utopia at 7pm, Southend’s longest running poetry and spoken word extravaganza.
  • The Human Menagerie full of vaudeville music, comedy, circus talent, burlesque and magic from 6.30pm is on Wednesday August 2 and on Thursday August 3 legendary songwriter and solo artist, Pete Astor will be live at Craftwerk, supported by Marine Mammal and John Bennet.
  • On Friday August 4, kids will get the chance to make art on pizza then eat at Eat the Art at the IronWorks.
  • Finally John Otway will perform on Saturday August 5, supported by Tom Johnson.

This year they have been supported by The Milton Community Partnership.

Search “Estuary Fringe Festival” on Facebook for updates and ticket info.