A phone app based on dating hook-up websites Tinder and Grindr is aiming to connect artists with audiences for intimate performances.

Performr, which has been developed by the organisers of The Pink Fringe, was launched over the weekend.

Users simply download the smartphone app and create an account before messaging a host of waiting artists.

The performers can then respond with Skype shows, specially-made digital productions or if there is chemistry arrange for a performance in the flesh.

Abby Butcher, Pink Fringe producer, explained the app had been inspired by the covert methods of communication used historically by the LGBT community.

This includes the hanky code which men and women used to use in the United States and the polari language commonly associated with gay men.

Pink Fringe, which puts on LGBT focused performances during Brighton Fringe, teamed up with Brighton app builder Surface Impression for the project.

Based on existing dating hook-up apps Tinder and Grindr, the aim was to create an “exciting” and “sexy” way for audiences to engage with performers.

Ms Butcher said: “Once signed up, users can have a chat with other users and artists much like Tinder and Grindr.

“If they want they can arrange for a performance or even meet up.”

Among the artists commissioned for the app include San Francisco-based singer songwriter Nomy Lamm.

If the user decides to connect with the 38-year-old, she will serenade them via Skype with a song about whatever it is they need: be it a cup of coffee, love or a sandwich.

Other performers waiting to be messaged include Stacy Makishi.

She will chat to users before inviting them to an abandoned church for an intimate one-on-one performance.

Another performer on the app is Londoner Scottee.

The 28-year-old asks a series of questions about the participant via the app before scouring social media sites and Google for an online game of Guess Who.

Ms Butcher said: “There is nothing else like it around so it’s exciting.”