In The Heat of The NightWhat is happening to the Fringe and do we all need to worry?
By Gaëtan L. Charlebois
The 2012 editions of the Montreal Fringe, The Ottawa Fringe and the London Fringe are over and that, my friends, is problem number one with that thing we love so much: The Canadian Fringe Movement.
The Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals is the organization that holds the rights, in this country, to that glorious name: Fringe. They can bestow it or not, based on certain criteria. This year they blessed a new Fringe, in PEI, the Island Fringe. But here's what else we THOUGHT they did: maintain order among the festivals. Apparently not.
Despite the fact we have about three months of Fringeable weather in Canada (four in some provinces) the various Fringes are now overlapping and egregiously. London wasn't done before Montreal started and Ottawa and Montreal ran virtually concurrently. Meanwhile, at the end of the season, two important festivals: Atlantic in Halifax and Vancouver, will be over-lapping again. Simply: this is bullshit.
Fringe companies and soloists (especially soloists) earn their living going from one Fringe to the next and here we are forcing them to play favourites. And some Fringes will lose.
That's one thing.
The other is that the days of bush-league Fringes with vermin-infested and unventilated venues should be pretty much over. Sure, it was charming when all this started 25 years ago, but when a Fringe star has to wake his or her audience up from a heat-induced torpor just to make an impression, something is wrong. I saw at least five shows this time out where I thought the performer (or I) might collapse. Might I suggest something? If there is no way around the unventilated venue problem, put the Fringe newbies in them - stop making the veterans and seasoned audiences pay and pay and pay for wanting to support this Movement.
Fringe companies and soloists (especially soloists) earn their living going from one Fringe to the next and here we are forcing them to play favourites. And some Fringes will lose.
That's one thing.
The other is that the days of bush-league Fringes with vermin-infested and unventilated venues should be pretty much over. Sure, it was charming when all this started 25 years ago, but when a Fringe star has to wake his or her audience up from a heat-induced torpor just to make an impression, something is wrong. I saw at least five shows this time out where I thought the performer (or I) might collapse. Might I suggest something? If there is no way around the unventilated venue problem, put the Fringe newbies in them - stop making the veterans and seasoned audiences pay and pay and pay for wanting to support this Movement.
People don't have to spend a plug nickel on theatre to see theatre at the Fringe.
Another thing: events. Too many of them and, worse, they're sapping audiences away from the shows. Last weekend as I trudged from one sauna-venue to another to see PLAYS, I kept walking past readings and shows and concerts and fora where there was cold beer and a place to smoke and I was so tempted to just stay there...enjoy the weather and the good chat. People don't have to spend a plug nickel on theatre to see theatre at the Fringe.
Finally, and this goes to all Fringes: having lots of shows does not indicate growth. Lots of packed houses indicates growth. Montreal had over one hundred different productions and except for two shows free to Fringe volunteers, not one of the 12 performances I saw came close to selling out. And a lot of these were presentations by local favourites and international stars: Elizabeth Blue, Zack Adams, Jem Rolls. When, at the press conference here, they announced they were upping the ratio of local shows I thought: oh-oh. One Fringe veteran told me why that was a bad thing: the good local companies have their following and this audience goes from one local show to another while out-of-towners play to minuscule houses. Also, more locals means a higher ratio of frat-party shows - the kind of Fringe show that looks like it was rehearsed on a drunken Saturday night. These shows - as fun as they are sometimes - also tend to give the entire Movement a reputation as an event that presents nothing BUT frat-party shows. Another veteran told me why some stars had gone missing (and more, in the future, would go missing) from this, the Montreal Fringe: too many shows. Montreal simply does not have the audience-base for 100 shows and, bottom line, you can't make money in this city anymore.
This was a refrain I heard from several veterans who actually approached me to share this concern.
So add this to the festival overlap, bush-league venues, super-sized skeds and too many fucking events and you get...what?
I shudder.
And, yes, we should worry.
Finally, and this goes to all Fringes: having lots of shows does not indicate growth. Lots of packed houses indicates growth. Montreal had over one hundred different productions and except for two shows free to Fringe volunteers, not one of the 12 performances I saw came close to selling out. And a lot of these were presentations by local favourites and international stars: Elizabeth Blue, Zack Adams, Jem Rolls. When, at the press conference here, they announced they were upping the ratio of local shows I thought: oh-oh. One Fringe veteran told me why that was a bad thing: the good local companies have their following and this audience goes from one local show to another while out-of-towners play to minuscule houses. Also, more locals means a higher ratio of frat-party shows - the kind of Fringe show that looks like it was rehearsed on a drunken Saturday night. These shows - as fun as they are sometimes - also tend to give the entire Movement a reputation as an event that presents nothing BUT frat-party shows. Another veteran told me why some stars had gone missing (and more, in the future, would go missing) from this, the Montreal Fringe: too many shows. Montreal simply does not have the audience-base for 100 shows and, bottom line, you can't make money in this city anymore.
This was a refrain I heard from several veterans who actually approached me to share this concern.
So add this to the festival overlap, bush-league venues, super-sized skeds and too many fucking events and you get...what?
I shudder.
And, yes, we should worry.
I posted this on the original post but since this is very much about Toronto Fringe, I'm reposting it here:
ReplyDeleteYou can blame the G20 for a lot of the overlapping fringe schedule. The G20 in Toronto forced Toronto Pride into the Canada Day weekend, which had been Toronto Fringe territory. Pride and Fringe overlapping was a complete disaster for the Fringe as a lot of people and audiences are involved in both. That weekend was a wasteland for the Fringe. However, the Canada Day weekend worked very well for Pride and they permanantly moved there. This forced the Toronto Fringe to move a week later, creating a gap after Ottawa and overlapping with Winnipeg. It's been dominoes from there as everyone has been trying to readjust. I know London is testing a new spot this year to see if they can increase their audiences. It's not perfect, unfortunately.
As for large percentage of local companies, yes, it does make it harder on the touring artists. I know some who skip Toronto because of it. But I have to ask, who is the fringe for? Toronto has huge competition for the local spots because there are so many people here trying to make theatre and Fringe is the most economical way of doing it. For people doing work with large casts, it's the only real way to get their work in front of audiences. If your local base is expanding, shouldn't they get access to the resources Fringe provides?
Hi Gaetan,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Fringe Festivals have to raise the bar to meet expectations of audiences and artists. However, there are huge differences in capacity between different festivals across the country. Being able to harmonize operations between festivals is simply not possible for an organization with a $20,000 annual budget and a part time staff person.
I can tell you that there is a new level of energy and work from Fringe Producers across North America to pursue goals that we think will help us further the movement. Top on our list is getting access for Canadians to perform in American festivals legally. Currently there is no reciprocity. We have also applied for funding from Canadian Heritage to help us build our capacity. One of the initiatives we can take when we have capacity is to mentor new or struggling festivals to help them establish best practices.
While we need to raise the bar, the answer is not a top down solution. Fringe Festivals will always be rooted in individual communities with individual identities. To try and make each one alike is simply impossible as each Festival is at it's own phase of development (funding, audience base, artist community, sponsorship). Each festival's development is up to those communities and local producers. What we can do at CAFF is ensure that each festival meets the membership criteria that ensure accessibility for audiences and artists.
On a local level each producer needs to work to ensure audience development. I would agree that inadequate venues will burn artists and audiences and growth of program without the audience to match is not a sustainable plan.
So simply put, it's a much more complex situation than you indicate in your post. We are working to further the movement and there is sustainable growth happening in most communities every year. Last year almost half a million people saw Fringe shows.
Thanks for being a die hard. i hope we don't lose you! We need voices like yours in every community to help move us to higher ground.
Regards,
David Jordan
President Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals
PS. MK's comments above are indeed correct and an indication of the type of challenges that are part of the equation.
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