{"id":2067,"date":"2012-08-20T14:47:38","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T19:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/?p=2067"},"modified":"2016-08-12T22:41:11","modified_gmt":"2016-08-13T03:41:11","slug":"world-fringe-congress-report-4-world-fringe-fair-open-spaces-and-members-only-clubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/world-fringe-congress-report-4-world-fringe-fair-open-spaces-and-members-only-clubs\/","title":{"rendered":"World Fringe Congress Report #4: World Fringe Fair, Open Spaces and Members Only Clubs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 3 of the World Fringe Congress began with the World Fringe Fair<\/a>, a showcase of all the Fringe Festivals present for the general public. We each got a small table, so I set up my infringement materials, including Buffalo Infringement Festival’s 2012\u00a0programme, a small booklet explaining the mandate and history of the movement, the ethical sponsorship criteria<\/a>, and even an article from The Watch<\/a> about the Halifax Fringe threatening legal action against students at King\u2019s College, Nova Scotia for doing Fringe theatre without permission from the Fringe trademark holders.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On my laptop I offered video viewing of artists being banned and censored at the Montreal Fringe<\/a>. With my mask from Occupy Montreal and some red squares from the recent unrest in Quebec<\/a>, I was set to promote the infringement festival to crowds of artists, spectators and producers for the following two hours.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I met all sorts of fascinating people, including\u00a0politically-charged Free Fringe supporters, such as comedienne Kate Smurthwaite, and even\u00a0Peter Buckley-Hall, the man behind the widely-admired PBH Free Fringe<\/a>. He was gentlemanly and edgy at the same time, and when I informed him about the infringement, he was thoroughly delighted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He told me he\u00a0might advise someone in Manchester to set one up, raising my hopes that infringement would soon become a permanent feature in Europe. When I asked him if he thought Edinburgh needed an infringement festival, he said that the Free Fringe is already well-known, but after he passes on the reins, who knows? I was thrilled to have met a kindred spirit and a man with a vision and worldview not unlike my own.<\/p>\n

Many other artists showed up to my table to chat, such as Behsat Ahmet<\/a>, who was attempting to do an experimental one-man show at the Fringe, Breathless \u2013 A Dramatic Cantata, <\/em>without losing his shirt.\u00a0An American artist whose name escapes me, on hearing about Car Stories and the infringement festival,\u00a0advised me to read\u00a0Rebecca Novick’s “Please, don’t start a theater company<\/a>“.\u00a0Meanwhile many others pitched their shows to me and a woman named Monica Bauer directed me to her article in the Huffington Post<\/a>, where she wonders why the vast majority of performers at the Edinburgh Fringe had no time for political activities such as showing solidarity with the now-jailed performers of\u00a0Pussy Riot, arguably one of the edgiest, most Fringe-like\u00a0groups in the modern age.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All in all, I must have given out infringement information to about 50 different people, raising hopes the movement will continue to spread.<\/p>\n

Following the Fair, we rushed back to SummerHall for a series of Open Spaces, a concept explained to us by Paul Levy of FringeReview<\/a>, a website that reviews Fringe shows. The concept involves participants deciding what they\u2019d like to discuss, then putting it up on a wall. People shop for topics and join the one that interests them the most. If they feel that they might get more out of another topic, they are encouraged to \u201cuse their two feet\u201d to move elsewhere, with no offence being taken.<\/p>\n

I decided to try and continue the conversation about trying to limit corporate interference at the Fringe, an unpopular topic at the best of times, and wrote: \u201cCorporate manipulation at the Fringe (\u2122): Where should we draw the line?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A grand total of two people showed up, the lovely Cath Mattos, former Brighton Fringe organizer and current Projects Director of the World Festival Network, and Tim Richardson of the Chelsea Fringe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I started off by asking for corporate horror stories from their Fringes,\u00a0but there was concern that if I wrote about sponsors behaving badly it could jeopardize future sponsorships. Despite thinking that this was part of the systemic problem of corporate takeover at the Fringe, I agreed not to publish any names, despite wanting to. One interesting story involved Car Company X sponsoring Fringe Festival Y. Fringe Employee Z, in charge of artist relations, was unable to support the artists because Car Company X demanded all of Employee Z\u2019s time. In fact, Car Company X brought in their cars to showcase and even a slew of their own \u201cstreet performers\u201d, which seems a bit odd for a Fringe Festival. The main problem was that someone whose main intention was to support artists at the Fringe ended up supporting a corporation instead, most of the time.<\/p>\n

Next on the agenda,\u00a0I discussed the circumstances<\/a> surrounding the corporate takeover of the Fringe in Canada and the creation of the infringement festival, a story I have repeated many times at this Congress. Slowly, more people drifted into my open space, including Mary McHugh of the Chelsea Fringe, Anneke Jansen of the Amsterdam Fringe and Christabel Anderson, Head of Participant Services at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.<\/p>\n

Next up, I covered the infringement\u2019s Ethical Sponsorship Criteria<\/a> as a way to prevent the Fringe damaging it\u2019s own brand, then the list of behaviours the infringement festival does not condone:<\/p>\n

NO Unethical sponsors\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Conflict-of-Interest sponsors\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Visual pollution\/corporate spam\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Pay-to-play fees\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Box Office \u201cservice charges\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Trademarking (\u2122)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Legal threats for using the word \u201cFringe\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Censorship\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Kicking artists out\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Banning political artists\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Favouritism <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Security guards\/bag searches\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Hierarchy or corporate structure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Naming rights\/cross-branding\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

NO Corporate manipulation\/interference<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

There was definitely no consensus.\u00a0During the\u00a0discussion, Tim enjoyed playing Devil\u2019s Advocate on many points. For example, he suggested since all corporations are unethical, we might as well just\u00a0accept anything that we can find, or that if a small business sponsor uses a vehicle to transport product, it is unethical because the vehicle burns gasoline, which damages the environment. I have heard a lot of these types of fatalistic comments at the Congress, which always lead to the same conclusion: why bother even trying to establish limits when corporate manipulation is inevitable and part of every day society?<\/p>\n

What surprised me even more was Anneke\u2019s admission that she had personally kicked an act out of the Amsterdam Fringe for various reasons. As someone who was booted from\u00a0the Montreal\u00a0Fringe for critiquing a corporate sponsor, I realized that it is all-too-often arts administrators calling the shots and not the artists themselves at the Fringe. In Canada, with the word “Fringe” trademarked, artists cannot even use it without permission from the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals<\/a>\u00a0(CAFF).<\/p>\n

I often worry that\u00a0booting artists from the Fringe may become commonplace in the future. If artists have no input in the administration, there is nothing stopping\u00a0Fringes\u00a0warping themselves\u00a0into more traditional structures, like the oil-spilling,\u00a0British-Petroleum-sponsored Edinburgh International Festival<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One fascinating point that I learned, which really opened my eyes, is that in Edinburgh an artist cannot be kicked out of the Fringe. Despite the recent criticism that\u00a0The Fringe\u00a0is too corporate<\/a>,\u00a0there seems to be some confusion about structure. What I realised, after chatting with Christabel Anderson, is that\u00a0that there appears to be a common misconception about what actually constitutes the Fringe.\u00a0To be crystal clear: the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society’s “Fringe”\u00a0is not actually\u00a0the same thing as the authentic Fringe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christabel Anderson explained that Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is a service-providing organization<\/a>\u00a0that provides services to artists who pay them around 400 pounds; including\u00a0advice, a place in the program, a central box office, and so forth. Given what appears to be widespread confusion on this issue, I will differentiate the Fringe-proper\u00a0from the EFFS “Fringe” (whereby artists pay 400 pounds to be included in the\u00a0EFFS\u00a0programme and structure).<\/p>\n

The actual\u00a0Fringe is a political and\u00a0artistic\u00a0space<\/em>, not an organization controlled by one group. Anyone can play on the Fringe and therefore it\u00a0should be\u00a0impossible actually to kick someone out. The Fringe was originally defined in 1948 when journalist Robert Kemp wrote: \u201cRound the fringe of official Festival drama, there seems to be more private enterprise than before \u2026 I am afraid some of us are not going to be at home during the evenings!\u201d The \u201cfringe\u201d is defined as\u00a0the space<\/em> surrounding the official festival, both literally and artistically.\u00a0The initial Fringe\u00a0succeeded because it\u00a0created a space<\/em> where artists could take risks and work on the\u00a0fringes of everything from the mainstream culture\u00a0to\u00a0theatrical hierarchies to artistic perception itself.<\/p>\n

Today,\u00a0in Edinburgh,\u00a0this authentic Fringe\u00a0is still there, and its space<\/em>\u00a0includes the EFFS “Fringe”, Free Fringes, the Forest Fringe, and artists playing by their own rules, including the infringement festival, incidentally. Internationally, the Fringe space<\/em> exists whenever artists play on the edge of the mainstream arts. It is crucial that the authentic Fringe never be confused with an organizational structure, such as EFFS or CAFF.<\/p>\n

Getting back to our discussion, I concluded by asking if there was any way to get the Fringe Festivals\u00a0to sign a voluntarily agreement,\u00a0 a mandate that would prevent administrators from selling the the Fringes out\u00a0to corporate interests. There was little interest in pursuing the issue, so when a bell was rung, our small group moved on to new Open Spaces .<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I attended two more circles, including one about the future direction of the World Fringe Congress (they hope to meet every two years) and one run by my edgy kindred spirit, Amy Wragg, about how Fringes should relate to the festivals they appeared alongside. She has set up two Fringes, and prefers to do it without permission or even informing her adversary that there\u2019s a new game in town. We had a good discussion about this dynamic, and this led to the Fringe\/infringement schism.<\/p>\n

Finally, everyone came into the hall and we all said what we got out of the afternoon. After thanking the delegates for listening to my unpopular message, I repeated it one last time: The more corporate manipulation that exists at a Fringe, the more it loses its edge and extinguishes its spirit. \u201cThe Fringe is a delicate brand,\u201d I said, \u201cPlease be careful with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up was another posh party, this time involving a rooftop reception at Evolution House. While drinking red wine and snacking on savoury duck hors d\u2019oeuvres<\/em>, Mediterranean pasta and olives, and a delicious mix of field berries with white chocolate shavings, we admired the view of the Edinburgh Castle and surrounding city. Again, while I appreciated the luxurious atmosphere, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder why this was happening at a \u201cFringe\u201d congress.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was a bit surprised when a\u00a0New York Times<\/em> journalist named\u00a0Steven McElroy\u00a0approached me, seeking the scoop on the infringement festival, to which I obliged.\u00a0Afterwards, I got to meet Kath M Mainland, one of the top dogs at the festival, with the title of “Chief Executive”. While I found her and her staff to be extremely friendly, helpful, and excellent, I felt as though I\u00a0had been\u00a0welcomed into some sort of an elite\u00a0club, certainly\u00a0nothing like the edgy\u00a0Edinburgh Fringe I had imagined. To me this felt too posh for the Fringe, and as though to cap off the exquisite party,\u00a0glorious fireworks began exploding in the night sky.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our final “official”\u00a0stop, late night drinks at the fancy “Members Only” Assembly Club, only solidified my thoughts on the subject. To me it seemed\u00a0that\u00a0many administrators of the various\u00a0Fringes, while promoting inclusive open-access in the arts,\u00a0were also enjoying plenty of exclusive benefits from behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Successful arts administrators tend to enjoy things like respectable salaries, VIP treatment at special clubs, celebrity-access, and, of course, the power and status that goes with it all. In the two-tier world of the corporate Fringes,\u00a0it seems that while many artists barely get by, administrators are often living it up – in style, no less.<\/p>\n

Once outside in the cool night air, the talented Amy Wragg and I decided to do things in true Fringe style. We sat on the steps of an abandoned church on Lauriston Place, mixed a small bottle of vodka into two cans of fizzy lemonade, and proceeded to imbibe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Feeling much more Fringey than before, we\u00a0sipped our tasty brews over conversation\u00a0as we watched the\u00a0late-night shenanigans unfolding on the street\u00a0at 3 am, while discussing Fringe and infringement politics.\u00a0Needless to say, it was yet another late night in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Read more from this series:<\/p>\n

Preview: World Fringe Congress to welcome infringement festival<\/a><\/p>\n

World Fringe Congress Report #1: First Impressions<\/a><\/p>\n

World Fringe Congress Report #2: The word on the street and Congress opening<\/a><\/p>\n

World Fringe Congress Report #3: Retaining the Fringe Edge or Show me the Money!<\/a><\/p>\n

World Fringe Congress Report #4: World Fringe Fair, Open Spaces and Members Only Clubs<\/a><\/p>\n

World Fringe Congress Report #5: Searching for the Fringe and Reflections<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 3 of the World Fringe Congress began with the World Fringe Fair, a showcase of all the Fringe Festivals present for the general public. We each got a small table, so I set up my infringement materials, including Buffalo Infringement Festival’s 2012\u00a0programme, a small booklet explaining the mandate and history of the movement, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,36,1],"tags":[473,469,475,467,472,470,465,474,456,471,466,468],"class_list":["post-2067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-community-issues","category-uncategorized","tag-amy-wragg","tag-behsat-ahmet","tag-cath-mattos","tag-dont-start-a-theater-company","tag-huffington-post","tag-kate-smurthwaite","tag-monica-bauer","tag-paul-levy","tag-pbh-free-fringe","tag-peter-buckley-hall","tag-please","tag-rebecca-novick"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2067"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2956,"href":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067\/revisions\/2956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optative.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}