4-11-08
Life on the Fringe
Fringe festivals have popped up around the globe to provide alternative programming to other cultural festivals, and, in some cases, alternative programming to the city’s regular cultural offerings. These festivals can be a great way to promote your company nationally or internationally, meet fellow artists from around the world, and find new sources of inspiration. A quick search of the Internet uncovers dozens of fringe festivals worldwide, from the most famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland to the Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia. In the U.S. we have fringe festivals in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Orlando and Cincinnati (to name a few).
I spoke with Don Hall, former executive director of WNEP Theatre, and Philip Seward, composer and pianist. Hall took WNEP to two of the largest and best-known fringe festivals: the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the New York Fringe. Seward went to Edinburgh last summer. Both had plenty to say about their experiences and advice for those looking to do the same.
Generally, acceptance into a fringe festival is by lottery or on a first-come, first-served basis. On one extreme you have Edinburgh, which takes everyone; on the other is the New York Fringe, which is juried and takes only 200 companies. What makes these enormous festivals manageable for the organizations that run them is they are largely do-it-yourself when it comes to your show. In other words, they’ll tell you where to find everything, but it’s generally your job to produce.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Edinburgh provides participants with books and information with instructions on finding and booking your venue, securing housing, marketing your show, etc. It can be an expensive endeavor, but, as Hall found out, the earlier you start planning, the cheaper it can be. Granted, this was 10 years ago for Hall, and now the exchange rate with the Euro is in the toilet, but he and Seward did have some tips for cutting costs and making it a good experience.
Hall booked a venue as soon as he possibly could and was able to find one that was cheaper than average. One thing to keep in mind when booking the venue, though, is that every space that could hold a performance is offered up as a venue. In Seward’s experience they had a difficult time getting information from the venue about the most basic things like a floor plan and what technical equipment was available. “Finally our producer ‘Google Earthed’ the venue so that we could see it was a round space.”
Seward also cautioned that spaces are so heavily booked that even though you will (hopefully) get a separate tech rehearsal, you may have only 10 minutes to load your show in on the day of the performance and 10 minutes to load it out again. Whatever you bring must be low-tech.
For travel, Hall got a sponsorship from Air Canada that allowed each member of the 17-person ensemble to fly for less than $200 round trip.
“Of course we were luggage and treated that way, but we didn’t care.”
To house the company, Hall found a 10-flat (essentially a house) being rented by someone who wanted to get out of town during the festival time. WNEP stayed there for an entire month, and it cost about $100 per person for the whole stay. Keep in mind the current exchange rate with the euro—so these costs are likely to be a lot higher now.
Marketing your show is another massive hurdle at fringe festivals because you are competing with literally hundreds of other performances. “The average audience at Edinburgh is seven people, so you really have to be out there beating the streets,” said Hall. To draw attention to their show, Hall would position himself near the main festival box office, in character, playing the trumpet. It worked, as they garnered press attention and were broadcast on the BBC.
Seward’s producer created an “icon” (a la the giant M&Ms) that was placed on High Street, which is the main street of the festival, and which served to brand their show. People would stop and take pictures with it and ask what show it belonged to, which led to them having…well…more than seven people in the house for their shows.
New York Fringe
WNEP was chosen for the New York Fringe in 2004 with Let There Be Light and in 2005 with Soiree DADA. “It’s more expensive because you don’t know until later in the game that you’re going to be there,” cautioned Hall. To save money, they stayed in “the worst hotel in New York” but it was centrally located a block away from Times Square. Think communal bathrooms and sleeping rooms so tiny there is only enough space for the actual beds.
“The main reason we went is because I wanted to get WNEP written up in the New York Times,” he said. However, after a couple of performances, they’d gotten some online coverage, but no New York Times. So Hall orchestrated a media coup of sorts. He realized that between his clothing and his messenger bag he looked like a bike messenger. So he grabbed some postcards for the WNEP show, a couple of envelopes and post-its. He wrote on each post-it that this was the most amazing show and they had to see it, and then illegibly scribbled a fictional name. He dropped the postcards in the envelopes and took them up to the critics’ offices. Both New York Times critics came to their next performance of LTBL and they got their New York Times review. The paper also sent a photographer the next night, and WNEP landed on the cover of the next New York Times arts section.
While Hall doesn’t necessarily advocate such underhanded tactics, this does illustrate how your company will need to be creative with its publicity campaign.
When it comes to any fringe festival, Hall cautioned, “You’re gonna lose money on it. Go knowing it’s a performance vacation. Go knowing you are going to interact with others and get inspired.” Part of the opportunity of a fringe festival is getting to see what others are doing all over the country, even the world.