Audible Edge '26 — a festival of exploratory music

FAQ

• How does ticketing work?

  Festival passes get you into everything in the main festival weekend (May 1 - 3). This includes workshops, but you need to RSVP to some of those.

  For individual events, there are three tiers of pricing. All of them grant identical access to the event.

  • full: this is what we'd like you to pay to help cover the costs of putting Audible Edge on.

  • reduced: this is what we invite you to pay if you are unwaged or low income.

  • flexible: this is a pay-what-you-can option which you can use if you are in a position if financial hardship. We also invite companion card holders, First Nations people and Palestinians can use this option for free tickets. You can also use it to pay way more if you feel that way inclined.

  We do not check eligibility for any of these price levels, so it's an honour system. We absolutely invite playful engagement with it, as long as you keep fairness in mind.

• Why do the tickets cost what they cost? What if I can't afford that?

  We want everyone to be able to go to Audible Edge, and we also need to pay for the thing. As such we have a flexible option which means that we warmly welcome you to pay whatever you want to be able to come (including nothing).

  If you can afford it, the full price is something like what we think the gig is really worth, and the reduced price is a version of that that's more realistic for people on lower incomes. Some weighted average of both is what we need people to pay to not lose lots of money putting this festival on.

  It's up to you what you choose to do and we don't care as long as you are 1) honest* and 2) able to come to the things you want to come to!

• Can I attend if I am under 18?

  You can attend Audible Edge if you are under 18 if you attend with a parent or legal guardian, and remain under their supervision at all times.

• Can I bring my kids?

  We want Audible Edge to be family friendly, so yes! Note that your kids (if they are under 18) must be under your supervision at all times due to our liquor license.

  Note that some of the sets are very quiet. We don't mind if your kid makes a little noise every now and again as we'd rather parents feel included. But if they're being excessively noisy, it might be best to take them out to the courtyard for a bit of a break.

• I don’t know who half of these artists are. Who are they?

  Audible Edge has a historical preference for inviting artists that fly under the radar, and are people like us – active contributors to their local community, obsessives who are exploring whatever fascinates them regardless of commercial indifference/hostility. We also like the music of a lot of “experimental music famous” people but we tend not to tap into that circuit so much. Partly because we can’t really afford to, and partly because it’s more interesting to us to do it this way, and has throughout the years formed really powerful, enduring connections between local and touring festival artists between whom there is no hierarchy.

  We hope that most of the program is a mystery to most of the audience, and that the festival can be filled with the joy of being floored by something you had zero expectations for (perhaps exemplified in Joee Mejias’s mythical AE’24 set, during which a curious seated audience of 150 somewhat shy people very quickly became a smitten dance floor).

• Why is the festival entirely in Fremantle this year?

  This is thanks to the generous support of the City of Fremantle throughout our planning process, who have provided us with use of Victoria Hall in-kind. The venue is nearly perfect for a single-venue AE. We’re not sure of a similar space northside, but we welcome suggestions for future festivals if this one-venue thing takes off.

• Why is the festival in just one venue this year?

  The “venue crawl” journey of AE is a feature we love and designed very deliberately in previous festivals. A somewhat obvious fact is that having AE all in one space makes running the show significantly easier logistically, which we’re embracing in a year of relatively smaller funding, tighter turnarounds and the world being “a bit how ya going”. Our plan is to use this logistical ease to invest more attention to detail in accessibility and sound quality of the music. The way we are using Victoria Hall also allows for a similar sense of exploration, just on a smaller scale.

  We know there is a small percentage of audiences who would much prefer AE to just be in one place: if you’re one of those people, we hope this decision thrills you.

• How can I support the festival?

  Here’s a few ways:

  • Pay the full price on tickets.

  • Donate to the Seed Fund.

  • Contact us about making ongoing donations, or sponsoring the festival.

  • Tell your friends to come - Audible Edge's main way of getting the word out is grassroots and word-of-mouth.

  • Fill out our audience survey at a show.

  • Offer to volunteer or donate decorations.

• Why do I always get given surveys at Audible Edge shows?

  We are interested in your feedback, for one. Constructive criticism has helped us recognise room for improvement in the festival, and positive feedback or suggestions have shown us what people most like about it or what they'd want to see in future.

  A big reason we do this, though, and the reason you should really do the survey if you like Audible Edge, is because feedback is extremely useful and important for future funding pitches. Even if you only have nice things to say, this is really useful for us to be able to show prospective benefactors that people really love this festival. So thanks for doing the survey. Your suggestions of “more wrestling” etc. are also being considered.

• Where is the Night School?

  There’s no Night School this year. Because Tone List and AE don’t receive funding far in advance, we are beholden to the timelines of when funding rounds are open, and when funding notification arrives. This year, we weren't successful in our first application for funding for Creative Australia, and we received our notification from CITS later than we are used to. Getting the Night School up in time to properly promote it would not have been feasible with the amount of time we had. This is not anyone’s fault, it’s a product of how things outside our control shift and change, and how we constantly have to adapt to the circumstances produced by that. In an ideal world we would already know we have funding for AE27 and would already be planning it now! Alas. (If you want to help create that world you can consider donating to AE.)
  

  There are some workshops within AE itself this year, though - go to those!

• Where is Sun Returns?

  Coming in September!

• Who or what is Tone List? What's the difference between Tone List & Audible Edge?

  Tone List is an artist-run, Boorloo-based label for exploratory music. It is a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity, meaning it has an operational team handling the creative and administrative end, and a board who oversee its direction and governance. Tone List has been around since 2016, which makes this year our ten-year anniversary.

  Audible Edge is a festival that Tone List puts on annually*.

  You will see the festival curators Josten Myburgh & Annika Moses speaking throughout the festival and you’re very welcome to go have a yarn with them.

  *funding dependent 😬

• I want to go but I don't know anyone. What's the vibe?

  Coming to a workshop would be a nice way to make friends and break the ice. You could also come to one of our smaller pre-festival gigs, which are a bit cosier and more personal. Otherwise, do feel free to say hello to Josten or Annika, the curators of the festival, who will be roaming around and MCing most of the sets. You can let us know you'd like to meet people and we can introduce you to someone. Our bar staff are also very friendly and up for a chat.

  It's also fine to come alone, and we'd like the Audible Edge culture to be a welcoming place for solo punters who just like to listen to music without the social intensity of a big night out.

• Who are the people behind Audible Edge?

  All of the artists, plus:

  Annika Moses & Josten Myburgh - co-directors

  Lia Tsesmelis - co-curation

  Oscar van Gass - production management

  Tess Stephenson - front-of-house management

  Korrin Stoney - front-of-house assistant

  Cara Teusner-Gartland - install technician

  Lenny Jacobs - label & merchandise

  Michael Gunson (Mike Midnight) - graphic design

  Patrick Gunasekera - cultural safety consultant

• How do I play at AE?

  The program for Audible Edge '26 is finalised.

  Audible Edge (and Tone List) accept proposals year-round at info@tonelist.com.au.

  We tend to prefer informal pitches more than formal proposals. We strongly encourage sending music for us to listen to (we are all musicians, this is what we care about and connect with the most).

  Tone List’s program is curated, and we make no promises to action any proposals we receive. But we are always happy to hear what people are doing.

  This year there are some opportunities to play other attendees and festival artists within the festival, so feel free to bring your instrument (and your session etiquette, and maybe a willingness to listen more than you play!) along. We'll have a place to store your instrument safely while you're not playing it.