One of the country's largest alternative arts festivals has won independent status allowing organisers to attract more money and bigger audiences.

Brighton Festival Fringe will operate as an independent company separate from the Brighton Festival organisation for the first time in 2006.

Organisers say this will allow them to broaden the scope of the arts programme which runs for three weeks alongside the annual festival each May.

Nick Stockman, festival fringe development manager, said: "The festival fringe is completely different to the festival and the only similarity is that it is on at the same time.

"The festival curates and programmes performances but we are open access and for us to be part of the festival organisation doesn't make sense.

"By 2007 there is no doubt we will be totally independent but at the moment it is step by step."

Formerly known as the Umbrella Festival, the fringe received its own listings guide in 2002.

In May this year the Fringe featured 437 different events, including music, literature, dance and comedy, staged at a record number of 194 venues across the city.

The Dome box office recorded a 25 per cent increase in sales for ticketed events while the Fringe web site received a million hits in April and May.

Mr Stockman said: "Brighton Festival has worked toward us becoming independent and the reality has proven around the world that if you have a strong-name festival and fringe then you are more likely to have people travel from Eastbourne, London and New York into Brighton.

"We will be working with the Festival to build audiences overall and you cannot prevent new initiatives because there is a possibility that some of the audience won't go to existing events."

Registration is underway for next year's Fringe when artists taking part will appear in 150,000 guides distributed across the city and be eligible to enter the Visual Art Prize with a £2,000 first place win.

For details visit www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk