[2] The festival is among the oldest continually operating in England,[3] and includes around 200 events, taking place around the late May Bank Holiday, running for 17 days at the end of May and beginning of June.
A new group, a cooperative of local artists, promoters, venue managers and audience members revitalised the festival during the 1990s.
In common with many Fringe Festivals all round the world most of the programme consists of people presenting their own events in their own venue or one hired for the duration – Bath Fringe does however run a core programme of street/outdoor/tented events itself and it maintains an Open Access policy, not imposing artistic constraints on work that participants put on themselves.
The major tasks of the organisation revolve around the production of a print programme and website, and facilitating others to put on or include events.
Bath Fringe sits in the ‘Festival Scene’ tradition as much as in the development of Fringe Theatre, although the Walcot Festival emphasis on outdoor performance and ‘guerilla’ events put it as a pioneer in the development of what are currently called ‘Street Arts’.