Notice of 2013 Annual General Meeting

If you attended last year’s Fringe Festival and filled out a Membership Card, you’re a part of our team! Join us at the Annual General Meeting on July 3 and help make decisions for this year’s Vancouver Fringe.

It’s your Fringe and you can cry if you want to. But don’t cry! Join us at the AGM and see the new Fringe logo before its big debut! We’ve been fantasizing about a new logo for more than a year and after enlisting the help of Saint Bernadine Mission Communication Inc., we’ve got it and we can’t wait to show it off.

Mark your calendar:

Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Location: Tyee Hall at the False Creek Community Centre on Granville Island (Directions).
Time: 7-9:00pm
Who Can Attend: Anyone who is a member of the First Vancouver Theatrespace Society. Who’s that?:

• Anyone who activated their Membership Card at the 2012 Fringe Festival by filling out the information and dropping it off at any of our venues
• 2012 Fringe volunteers
• Anyone with $5 who wants to purchase a Membership at the door! (Memberships sold at the door are 2012/2013 Memberships are only valid until August 31, 2013 and will not be valid for the 2013 Festival.)

Spring For The Fringe Success!

Last month, we asked you, the Fringe community, to Spring for the Fringe and the results are in: we’re excited to announce that with your help we raised almost $10,000! We want to extend a great big thank you to everyone who donated to the 2013 Vancouver Fringe and especially to those monthly donors who keep us afloat all year round. With your generous support we can cover the basic costs of the 350+ Mainstage Performances coming to the Festival this year. We’re still hoping for a few tardy donations to come in and put us over last year’s total of almost $11,000, but what can we say—we dream big.

The official campaign is now done but it’s never too late to donate, renew, or increase your support to contribute to the 2013 Festival, and join (or re-join) the ranks of the Fringe Lovers, heroes to the world!

Help us raise the final $200 to beat our 2012 record! Donate by July 1 and your name will be included in the 2013 Vancouver Fringe Program Guide. Thank you again for all your support. See you at the Festival!

Oh Captain, My Captain!

Our Volunteer Department is searching for Volunteer Team Leaders to help schedule, train, and organize our 600 Festival volunteers! This volunteer position is an excellent opportunity for individuals interested in learning skills in volunteer management, human resources, arts administration, and event planning. Read on for a complete job description.

And stay tuned for regular Festival volunteer recruitment coming soon! Read more about the positions available and find the right role for you. Donate your time and we’ll make it worth your while with a Fringe T-Shirt, a rush pass redeemable for free admission to an unlimited number of Fringe shows, an invitation to the Volunteer Appreciation Party, and more!

Jimmy’s New Groove

This year, the Vancouver Fringe has a hot new logo (debuting July 3 at the AGM) and creative, but no Fringe would be complete without Jimmy’s trademark cut-offs, pencil ‘stache, and party posse. Here’s a sneak peak at this year’s creative by none other than Jimmy’s dubious creator, Zuzanna Juszkiewicz. We have a feeling it will be love at first sight.

Learn more about Jimmy, the Vancouver Fringe’s designated debaucher, and his mastermind illustrator.

Riverview High Luvs The Fringe

The 2012 Vancouver Fringe Fest smash is back! Entrance Theatre presents Riverview High: The Musical in association with the Firehall Arts Centre, August 7-24.

Use the promo code LOVETHEFRINGE (online, by phone, or in person) and Riverview High will donate $2 from every ticket sold back to the Vancouver Fringe. This offer is valid for 8:00pm shows on August 7, 14, 15, 21, and 22 with no other limits or restrictions on use.

Visit riverviewhighthemusical.com for more information on the show or the Firehall Arts Centre to get advance tickets online.

So will it be Cathy? Will it be Erica? Who’s it gonna be? Just wait and see!

Remembering Si Garber

Last month, Vancouver’s arts community lost a friend and tenacious fighter to cancer. Si Garber was known to many in our Festival community as a technician and lover of Festivals and music. He worked as a sound technician at Folk Fest since 1979. His other loves were working for the Powell Street and Heart of the City Festivals.

Si’s great precision as a technician translated into work as a database programmer as well. Back in 2007, he made a major impact at the Fringe Festival by orchestrating the implementation of a database system customized for our needs. With this system our volunteer department’s efficiency was greatly improved, allowing us to more effectively manage the more than 600 volunteers needed to operate the Festival. Over the years he tweaked the system to make it work better every year. Si was known for his night owl schedule and we’d come in in the morning to find changes made. If there’s a database in the afterlife we’re sure Si’s tinkering away in the wee hours to fix a bug!

He was dedicated to our Festival community and we are saddened by this loss. Our thoughts are with his long time partner Diane and his son Travis (who continues Si’s work on our database).

Toast of The Fringe

Saint Bernadine Mission Communications Inc. is a new branch on the Fringe family tree this year, bearing some of the gifts of their patron saint upon the festival: a new logo design (debuting July 3 at the AGM), fresh web design (coming soon!),  gambling, and respiratory issues. It’s a match made in heaven.

You can see their fresh and fruity work for the Granville Island Public Market rolling around Vancouver, in this Annual Report for Arts Umbrella on inspiring kids through the arts, and of course at the 2013 Vancouver Fringe Festival—not to mention, on the breakfast table of the Fringe staff. St. Bernadine is our angel of the morning every morning at the Fringe office with the gift of their trademark Morning Miracle Toaster.

Thank You Fringe Lovers!

Last week we ran our annual fundraising campaign, Spring for the Fringe, and we want to send out a hearty thank you to everyone who renewed or upgraded their gifts, or became a new donor—especially to those monthly donors who help keep the funds flowing throughout the year! The 2013 Fringe Festival simply could not be so great without such commitment.

We hope you connected with the stories about the Fringe’s beginnings, how theatre can connect people to each other and their sense of self, and our desire to spread that experience. We received some lovely messages from you and some random drop-ins to our office—all of which made us feel honoured to be part of your Fringe family.

You’ve come together to build the Festival you love into something extraordinary for 2013! We’re still counting, but Friday’s total of $5,000 brings the Festival closer to covering the basic costs of the 350+ Mainstage performances coming to the 2013 Festival. You’ve made a big difference!

Best of all, even though the official campaign is now done, there’s still time for those who haven’t donated, renewed, or increased your support to contribute to the 2013 Festival and join (or re-join) the ranks of the Fringe Lovers, heroes to the world!

Thanks again! And see you at the Festival!

Calling All Wannabe Fringe Board Members!

Do you love the Fringe?—really love the Fringe? There may be a special place for you at a special table. That’s right, the Fringe boardroom table (ok, it’s actually just a folding table in a multi-purpose room, but it’s still an important table!).

The Fringe is recruiting several new board members: ambassadors, advocates, and askers who will take leadership roles in shaping the future of the Fringe. You’ll need to have 5-10 hours per month and the drive to take the Fringe to new heights and possess the following:

• Deep commitment to the Fringe and our values
• Experience serving on boards
• Experience in business development, marketing, or theatre

Think this might be you? If you are interested, the first step is helping us get to know you a bit more by filling out this form and sending it to us by May 31. Then we’ll be in touch to find out if you’re the right match for the Fringe.

Vote Vote Vote!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that British Columbia is in the midst of an election. If you haven’t voted in the advance polls, don’t forget to head to your voting place on May 14. Not sure where that is? Elections BC can help you find your Electoral District and show you where to vote.

If you can’t live without the arts, you’re not alone. Luckily, Arts Coalition BC built a website with election information, including party statements about arts and culture in BC from the Green Party, the BC Conservatives, the BC Liberals, and the BC NDP. Read these over and see which party is best aligned with your views on how the government should support BC’s arts and culture.

The Vancouver Chamber Choir sent our a questionnaire to 137 Metro Vancouver candidates about arts and culture issues. You can read the results here.

You can also check out the CBC’s Vote Compass, which asks about all topics and tells you where your opinions fall compared to those of the four major parties. Happy voting!

Ve Vaaaaant Your Bloooood

The Fringe has gotten together with Canadian Blood Services’ Partners For Life, a national program committed to saving lives through blood donations! Did you know one blood donation can save up to three lives?

Our office made a trip together to donate and eat free cookies. If you’d like to donate under the Fringe umbrella, you can use our partner ID, VANC013806 and register here. Or, consider signing up your organization for the Partners for Life program. You could get cookies too! All it takes is a little bit of blood.

rEvolver Theatre Festival

The latest from Up in the Air Theatre’s foray into festivals is rEvolver: the Changing Stage Theatre Festival. Branching from the Walking Fish Festival and the Neanderthal Festival, rEvolver will have a little bit of everything. In fact, they say to “Expect everything EXCEPT the Kitchen Sink.”

What you can certainly expect is the return of some Vancouver Fringe alumni!

Alley Theatre [Tape (2009), Lost in Space (2011)] is putting on Kayak, about a bleach-blond mom, alone in a kayak trying to save her son from his environmentalist girlfriend.

2011 Pick of the Fringe winner, Big Shot, has Jon Lachlan Stewart jumping from one character to another as the story of a SkyTrain shooting is told by the boy who witnesses it—as though it’s an action movie.

Creator of 2009’s Cam and Legs, Ramshackle Theatre, presents kid-friendly Sci-Fi Double Feature, a puppet show filmed and projected live on to the big screen. If you like campy b-movie science fiction, this one’s for you!

There’s lots more too, so be sure to check out rEvolver’s website to learn about all the shows and go see them May 14 to 26!

The Theatre Scene

Just a taste of what Vancouver has to offer in the way of theatre:

Next Stage Theatre Festival Accepting Applications
Now-May 24
Toronto
The Next Stage Theatre Festival is open for applications from any artist who has participated in at least one Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals festival, including the Vancouver Fringe! The NSTF will be held in January, 2014, in Toronto.

Festival Launch!: Professional Emerging Artists Accepting  Applications
Now-May 28
SFU’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
Are you a professional emerging artist? Participating in this Festival gives you the opportunity to showcase work before a panel of artistic professionals and participate in career-building workshops. Applications due May 28. Showcase and workshops June 21 and 22.

Never Shoot a Stampede Queen
May 9-25
Granville Island Stage
Directed and dramaturged by TJ Dawe, Never Shoot a Stampede Queen is Mark Leiren-Young’s award winning story of a city boy who takes a job as a reporter in a small town and meets unusual characters and reports on strange, strange news. Controversial tweet-seats are available May 15 and 22! Use the promo code “buddyholly” to get $10 off! Or use the code “newsie” and get two-for-one for Wednesday night shows and Saturday matinees when TJ, Zach, and Mark do talkbacks sessions.

Dissolve
May 20-24
CBC Studio 700
Fringe alumni Emmelia Gordon (The Progressive Polygamists) plays 14 characters in fellow Fringe alumni, shameless hussy productions’ of Dissolve, a show that’ll challenge your beliefs and behaviour surrounding alcohol, drugs, and sexual assault.

1/4 Life Crisis
May 22-25
Jericho Arts Centre
Being 25 sucks! Relationships are disappointing, and your dreams and your reality seem to run on parallel lines… but looking back at it can be hilarious! ¼ Life Crisis won the Audience Choice Award at the New York FRIGID Festival in 2010.

It all began in the recession days of 1983, when darkness reigned. Vancouverites had become weary of years of financial strain, the clinging irrelevance of overweight classic rockers, and the explosion of ‘80s neon, bad hair, and worse fashion. None of it was retro, yet, so times were tough!

Theatre had been the cultural space to explore politics, relationships, life—being human. But our culture had long turned to TV sitcoms. The little available independent theatre was scattered. No accessible and affordable space to connect financially-battered theatre artists and audiences seemed possible. Like today, many lived an isolated life with few, if any, truly nourishing cultural options.

But an unlikely troupe of theatre artists resisted, led by the fearless and feisty Joanna Maratta! Despite the risks, they saw only one option: create such a place themselves, restore theatre for the masses. They held a few shows to a small but enthusiastic (some say desperate) audience. Something important had begun.

In 1985, Edmonton Fringe founder Brian Paisley helped Joanna and the others take the next step: make it a local version of the famed Edinburgh Festival Fringe—only the second one in North America! The immense response proved their instinct true. The new Fringe Festival met a great need. Pursuing the vision of “theatre for everyone,” local artists and audiences began to do what neither could do alone: join to explore and share our humanity. A community was born and would spread its discoveries to the world!

Every year since then, like a phoenix, the Festival returns. Fringe audiences and artists—your Fringe community—recreate and resurrect the transformative gathering that is the Festival.

This September, you and your Fringe community will continue the quest to unite and nurture the world with theatre. This quest is fully achieved only with your help.

A gift of $250—that’s only $21 a month—funds a single Mainstage performance. 
Last year, Fringe Lovers heroically funded 20% of all Mainstage performances with their donations—let’s do even more together!Spring for a performance and bring the amazing Fringe experience to you and hundreds of others.
(Smaller, monthly gifts also sustain performances and add up quickly.)
Spring for the 2012 Fringe with a $21 monthly investment or a one-time $100 gift!
Join visionary founder, Joanna, and other Fringe Lover heroes to help Fringe artists create a unique experience for as many as possible. Make a gift to change the world. Spring for the Fringe today!