The festival, featuring international comedians, cabaret, burlesque and theater across venues in Tallinn, mostly in the cultural quarters of Telliskivi and Kalamaja, starts next Tuesday.

What began as a street art festival a decade ago has grown into a key stop on the Nordic-Baltic fringe circuit, drawing performers from as far afield as Iceland and the U.S. and bringing the inevitable comparisons with the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

TFF is Estonia's only open-access, multi-genre performing arts festival, and this year runs from August 18 to September 18. The events bring together local and international artists and will feature more than 80 shows across genres including circus, dance, music, burlesque, visual arts and theater, and organizers note that as artists work directly with venues rather than being selected by a committee, this leads to a diverse lineup.

Organizer and blues and cabaret performer Kaisa Ling says the festival has come a long way from its street art origins. "It is the 10th anniversary of fringe in different incarnations. It started out as a street art festival more than anything, but now it has grown organically, and the 10th anniversary is the biggest. If we go with the same tempo, it will become bigger and bigger – I'm not going to say Edinburgh look out! But…" said Ling, who was herself heading off to the Scottish capital for a few days before returning for the Tallinn event's start.

That growth has also put Tallinn on the international fringe map. "Some people are actually touring – this is part of the Nordic-Baltic touring circuit. Tallinn is on the map strongly at fringe festivals, and people find it nice to come off the Edinburgh hard work, take it a bit easier here, enjoy the beautiful town, and then continue to other Baltic-Nordic fringes in Sweden, Finland, Iceland," Ling went on.

For the performers, TFF is as much about the audience as the shows. "I'm seeing more and more international artists coming in, and this is my favorite time of the year because I get to visit a lot of shows of people who are not performing in Estonia the other 11 months of the year," said blues pianist and raconteur Rene Paul.

"The Estonian audience is not expecting a show in a cellar to have a touring comedian who is the real deal. This is not some kind of open mic – these are people who are doing it all night every night," Paul went on.

Both Paul and noted comic Sille-Kadri Simer highlighted the festival's growing audience and international flavor.

"New audiences, new faces, new artists, more people coming in. We have so many great acts – each year there's surprises, somebody coming from Iceland, the United States. It's so lovely to see that Tallinn is such a vibrant city for performing arts," said Simer, known as the Estonian Comedy Barbie.

"I've done Edinburgh twice. It went pretty well – I have done over 40 shows there and someone shows up every time. Same with Tallinn – so many shows, but all the shows have people," Paul added.

"I hope people can come and see multiple shows – the fringe is all about seeing different genres," Simer noted.

Burlesque is also a major part of the fringe festival's itinerary. Performer Katarina von Schatz told ERR News she brings a different kind of energy to the stage.

"The burlesque community is so safe. Men are afraid of us, because they see we have the power. What I want to bring on stage is that there will be all different sexes, all different bodies – you don't have to be fit, you can look however. Everything is good on the burlesque stage," von Schatz explained.

"We have our own stories – not like in theater where you have to tell other people's stories. We decide how we tell them and we make our own costumes. Sometimes the audience also affects how we tell it – if it's a different room, different vibe, different people, we just get inspiration from that."

"Daytime I'm home with my three cats and I make costumes (laughs). I love being a full-time artist, I've done it for three years now, I would never go back to work in a bank," von Schatz said of being a full-time performer.

The festival will see stand-up from Estonian and international comedians alike, with shows in both Estonian and English, a mix of Estonian and visiting companies across venues in the Telliskivi creative quarter and Old Town, while the Heldeke! venue in Kalamaja hosts English-language late-night cabarets throughout the month, as it does at other times of the year.

Retaining its street art roots, the festival includes outdoor performances and live music too.

Tickets to fringe festival events are available online and at the door and the full program is here.

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