Wanted: Fringe Artists

So, you have a great idea for a Fringe show, but you didn’t make it into the 2012 Festival through the Lottery? Or maybe you’re a theatre maker looking for a challenge? Well, you can still be part of the 2012 Vancouver Fringe Festival!

Starting January 17, we will start accepting applications for BYOV/Site-Specific Shows and for the Fringe Onsite Program and we’ll accept as many as we can.

So what’s the difference between Fringe Onsite and the BYOV/Site-Specific categories?

Fringe Onsite is an 11 week program with mentorship from The Only Animal, Vancouver’s premier site-specific theatre company. Don’t come with a script, or even an idea! You’ll be challenged with a space on Granville Island and have to build a show around that site.

The BYOV/Site-Specific categories are for those of you with an idea in mind already. We have pre-approved venues (however we will consider others), or if you already have a story based on an unusual site, then this might be the category for you.

Read up now, because January 17 is just days away!

Gaming Grant Update

As many of you know, in 2009 there was a major shift in funding for arts and culture in BC when most arts organizations, including ours, became ineligible for Community Gaming Grants. We had just secured a three-year agreement from Gaming which has carried us through until now. It was a long two years in which many of our colleagues struggled and reduced their activity significantly—and the Fringe panicked and fundraised.

In the interim, Premier Christy Clark commissioned an independent review to undo the “mistake” (her own words) that was made at that time. The review was extensive and engaged 1,700 British Columbians in dialogue about the value that community groups bring to our province. The review has now been completed and options given to the government. The report is long and the options are many, but the most important result from our perspective was that our eligibility to apply for Gaming Grants was restored. There is less funding available than there was in 2008 (by $21 million dollars), but we are again eligible.

What we learned over the past two years of preparing for such a major loss is that we have a strong and broad base of supporters that we can count on. You have been, and will continue to be, our best bet because you understand the value of what we do. The change in policy in 2009 indicated that the government did not understand the value of arts in our communities. Not only did they cut arts funding, but they made the arts community virtually ineligible to apply for funding. Throughout her announcement speech Premier Clark talked about the ability of community groups to deliver services effectively and with agility, which indicates there is perhaps a renewed understanding of what the non-profit arts sector can and does do with government investment.

We are thankful that there has been a change of heart in government although the investment is considerably smaller. The uncertainty does continue—we don’t know if we will receive a grant—and we don’t know if it will be anywhere near the amount formerly invested in us. We are most thankful that when mistakes were made in 2009, Fringe supporters like you gave us hope and courage to carry on despite the uncertainty.

Gaming Grants are not awarded for artistic merit but for community engagement, one thing we have in spades. So thank you for being such a strong community. We hope to report in the future that the engagement we have together will be acknowledged with a grant from BC Gaming.

—David Jordan
Executive Director
Vancouver Fringe Festival

Donor Profile: Don Wright

Back in the early days of the Vancouver Fringe Festival, a man named Don Wright got involved—first as a patron in a car load of UCFV Theatre Department kids, then as a writer and actor in Blue Herring and Sex Outside the Box (“we were thrilled when a Vancouver Sun writer gave us one star out of five,” Don laughs), as a volunteer when the Fringe moved to Granville Island, and finally as a monthly donor last year.

“I fully understand that a monthly commitment really helps organizations with cash flow and budgeting,” Don explains. “And given the challenging political and economic climate for arts organizations, I felt it was time to show that I support the Fringe in this important way.”

But the Fringe isn’t the only charity Don is involved with. For the past 10 years he’s been the Regional Activism Coordinator (BC-Yukon) for Amnesty International. “It is a great pleasure to support people willing to engage in protecting the human rights of others,” Don says.

“But how can the Fringe’s work compare to that of Amnesty,” we asked Don. “I would say donate to both. I certainly do. The founding issue for Amnesty International 50 years ago was freedom of expression, and although there were no artists in the first set of cases, many writers and playwrights have been the subject of Amnesty appeals,” Don explains.

Don brought Amnesty International and the Fringe together in Short and Sweet: Small Plays for Big Ideas for the 2011 Fringe. “When the directors and I debriefed after the Fringe, one of them noted that we had ‘helped the artists see human rights, and helped the humanitarians see art.’”

Currently, Don is traveling in Central and South America on a one-year sabbatical. He’s hoping to catch some theatre as his Spanish improves. “It is really the culture, the way people live and organize their lives, and present themselves and their world views through the arts that [my partner and I] are particularly looking forward to,” Don shares. You can check up on Don via his blog, here.

Food at the Public Market

Food and wine are two of the greatest things in life. A third is another reason to come down to Granville Island (besides the Fringe Festival of course). That’s why Plated and Paired at the Granville Island Public Market promises to be such a great event!

As part of Dine Out Vancouver, the Public Market shops will provide cheese, pastries, and sausages, along with tasty morsels created by Granville Island’s chefs, and pair them with BC wines (including some from our wine sponsor, Mark Anthony).

Sadly, Plated and Paired is already sold out, but that doesn’t mean you can’t discover all the tastiness the Public Market has to offer! Edible Canada has chef guided tours of the Public Market, plus some other stops around Granville Island. Another option is just to wander the Public Market. But before heading down, please not that the Market will be closed on Mondays throughout January.

Fair Trade for Children and Families!

We’re thrilled to announce that the Fringe and our sponsor Camino will donate over 150 litres of fair trade organic juice to the students and families of Admiral Seymour Elementary School. The juice is a tasty surplus from the 2011 Camino Lounge, which enticed lucky Fringe patrons to donate in exchange for generous samples of Camino’s new fair trade organic juice and candy bar lines. The yummy and nutritious juices are a great way to support the growing children of this 100+-year-old school, whose wish list raises serious questions about how children can have such need while living in such a wealthy city. Camino’s donation reminds us that we are all one community.

“This helps us meet our goal of helping families meet the immediate need of providing healthy food to their kids. Organic fruits and vegetables are the most expensive foods to provide and many families can’t afford it. It’s kind of like gold to them,” Admiral Seymour teacher extraordinaire, Carrie Gelson, says. “The school puts together weekly bags of groceries and other items that they send home with the kids for their families and this juice will be included.”

Carrie will be speaking on January 25 at the End Child Poverty Now! forum at Langara College to bring awareness to this important issue.

We at the Fringe extend a huge thanks to Camino and welcome the students, families, and staff of Admiral Seymour into our extended family. We think you’re an essential part of our community!

Hello. Goodbye.

You all know that the super dedication of our interns lends us an almost indestructible power to do more than your average festival. Well, the Fringe has reason to celebrate yet another amazing volunteer to our ranks: Ana Elena Garza! Originally hailing from the beautiful 500-year-old city of Monterrey, Mexico, Ana has joined the Development Department to support its off-season efforts to prepare for the 2012 Festival and beyond. Ana brings a great mix of experience with site-specific and other theatre, cool small-scale events, and edgy and fun marketing and public relations work. With her indomitable enthusiasm and alert sense of humour, she’s got the perfect background and attitude to make her mark on the Fringe and help us support a fantastic 2012 Festival. We’re very excited to have her on the team!

Continuing much of the same work, Ana will be filling the impressive boots (and you should see her dresses!) of Aleks Brzozowski, whose time as Development Coordinator has sadly come to a close. Aleks did a phenomenal job as the right hand (and sometimes left!) of Gareth Duncan, helping evolve the Development Department into a well-organized and focused component of the Fringe. We already miss her!

Lottery Success!

Last Wednesday, December 7, we held our Mainstage Lottery at the ANZA Club to choose who will be on the Mainstages during the 2012 Vancouver Fringe Festival! We received over 200 applications for a mere 48 spots, so tensions were high as the lottery went on. Between drawing applications, we held group high-fives, had a group scratch-and-win scratch off, and 10-second dance parties (with prizes including tattoos, disco balls, and juice from our sponsor Camino), all the while being live tweeted to artists and fans around the world!

The Mainstage category includes shows in the Fringe on our seven Mainstage venues (Revue Stage, Waterfront Theatre, Performance Works etc). The Fringe provides these artists with a venue, schedule, technician (for lighting, sound etc), as well as front of house volunteers, marketing support, and more. Artists in these coveted spots are chosen by lottery and we divide them into three categories: provincial, national, and internationally based artists. But because of the Vancouver Fringe’s role in the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF), which held their touring lottery on October 19, priority spots were given to eight tour winners. The remaining 40 spots were open to artists who applied and many were in attendance at the ANZA. They were given a Jimmy balloon so we could spot them if their name was drawn.

The night started off with a couple other draws: the Membership draw, which was won by Sean Quigley, who gets a Superpass for the 2012 Fringe Festival and a gift basket from Legacy Liquor. The second draw was from participants who took our 2011 Audience Survey; and a 2012 Superpass was awarded to Lindsey Taylor!

Then we started drawing artists. Amazing show names were being called, like Chlamydia dell’Arte: A Sex-Ed Burlesque, 411 Dramaturgy’s Almost Complete Works of Hip-Hop, and John Grady with Fear Factor: Canine Edition. With names like these you start to get excited!

Festival favourites like Jem Rolls, Martin Dockery, 2011 Spirit of the Fringe Award Winner, Cameryn Moore, and 2011 Fringe hit-makers, Wonderheads will also be in the Fringe next year!

The most palpable excitement came from artists who were there when their application was drawn. Mortal Wombat’s Jennifer Siddle was in the house to talk about her show, Caps Lock: The Musical, an exploration on social media’s effect on relationships. Gail MacKenzie, who will be producing Boobies, Tits, Breasts and Bosoms, leaped up to the stage when her show was drawn. Congratulations to all the winners! To see who’s in and who’s on the waitlist, click here.

Following the Lottery, Peter ‘n’ Chris gave a hilarious performance that included their own take on Shakespeare. The boys didn’t make it in the lottery though. We expect a Bring Your Own Venue (or Onsite) application from them. Anyone can submit one and we’ll accept them on a first come, first served basis beginning January 17.

A special shout out to Tristan Orchard, who DJed all the 10-second and closing dance parties during the lottery and to photographers Sadia Khan, and Dallas Kolotylo and Sabrina Smith of Dallas Kolotylo Photography.

We’re super excited about the Festival next year and hope you are too!

Fringe Baby! (err…Donor Profile!)

Meet Christina Price. Christina is a special part of the Fringe family. Not only has she been a volunteer, but she’s also a donor, a former staff member, and her bouncing new baby boy Matthew was practically born at the Fringe.

Christina first came to the Fringe Festival in 2003 after working for a year in Japan. To become reacquainted with Vancouver, she decided to do some volunteer work, and she was hooked on the Fringe from the get-go. “Not only did I see some incredible shows (for free!), but as a volunteer I was treated with so much respect and appreciation,” Christina says, recalling her first experiences. When she came to work for the Festival as the Interim Festival Manager (covering maternity leave for Isabella Kessel), Christina loved being one of the folks continuing the trend of showing love towards that fantastic team  of more than 500.

But before starting her job with the Fringe, Christina began donating to the Festival. “I heard that the BC Government was taking away the Fringe’s Gaming funding, and while I knew my little donation couldn’t make up for the tens of thousands of dollars that the Fringe would be missing, I was so outraged I wanted to put my money where my mouth was,” she explains. “The Fringe is such an incredible organization, managing with very little money to put on a world-class Festival that celebrates artistic freedom and risk-taking and is accessible to artists, audiences, and volunteers. But really, I donate to the Fringe because it’s had such an enormous impact on my life.”

Which brings us to Matthew: While covering a maternity leave position, Christina herself became pregnant. All summer long, Matthew kept expanding her belly. But Christina, die hard Fringer that she is, kept right on working through the Fringe in September, until September 17, two days before the end of the Festival, when Matthew was born. We even had a radio code in case Christina went into labour while at  the Festival, but “the chicken was hatched” at Lions’ Gate Hospital.

Matthew has started his volunteering early in life as the Roots of Empathy baby at Tyee Elementary School, but Christina is looking forward to having him join her at the Fringe. “Part of the reason I donate to the Fringe is because I feel it’s up to people like me to ensure that the Fringe is still around when my son is old enough to volunteer—or produce a show!”

Thanks Christina, not only for donating, but for being part of our extended family, and for letting us be part of yours!

$5,000 in Five Days: *Update*

Slow and steady wins the race! Thanks to everyone who donated to the Fringe during our $5,000 in Five Days campaign this past October! Although we missed our five-day target, we did reach our $5,000 goal! Thanks to everyone who gave to us. Your dollars make the Festival, and our commitment to artist development, better!

You can still donate to the Fringe and support local artists, but this is your last chance for a 2011 tax receipt! You know the tax man will love you for it. Donate $25 or more by December 31 and we’ll get you a receipt for the 2011 tax year. Wait till January and we’ll give you one for 2012!

Happy Holidays!

Ah, the holidays…a time to drink some eggnog, wrap presents for your loved ones, and synch the Christmas lights to your favourite techno song. And we want to be a part of it! To celebrate the season, we’ve been slogging through YouTube videos to entertain you. Have some fun with our online Advent Calendar on Twitter or Facebook. We’ll be posting daily, so keep your eyes peel for more random entertainment!

Happy holidays from the Fringe!

Fringe Lottery Party and You’re Invited!

Can’t wait for the 2012 Vancouver Fringe Festival?! Neither can we! So come out and be part of the start of next year’s Festival:

What: Vancouver Fringe 2012 Mainstage Lottery Party
Where: The ANZA Club (3 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver)
When: December 7 at 8:00pm
How Much?: Bring a scratch and win for entry! (Don’t worry, no one will be turned away!)

We’ll be drawing the artists who will appear in the 2012 Fringe Festival (Mainstage category) and you’re invited to be the first to find out who’s in! “Draw?” you ask? Yes, that’s right! We literally draw applications from a set of hats to choose the lineup for the Festival.

We’ll be treated to a special performance from Fringe heart throbs and 2011 Pick of the Fringe winners, Peter ‘n’ Chris. Then we’ll dance the night away with DJ Tristan Orchard!

And if you can’t make it, be sure to follow us on Twitter cause we’ll be live tweeting the results!

Do you want to be in the draw? Apply now because Mainstage applications are due November 30 at 4:00pm PST. For info on how to apply for the BYOV category or for the Onsite Program, click here.

See you on December 7!

Leonard Schein is a True Star

You might recognize Leonard Schein’s name from Vancouver’s film culture—after all he is a co-partner in Festival Cinemas and he founded the Vancouver International Film Festival, so you might wonder what on earth he has to do with the Fringe (and trust us, he’s not confused that we’re actually some alternative film festival like some people).

“The Fringe is one of the best theatre experiences that we have in Vancouver,” Leonard explains. “And it is certainly the most accessible from a cost perspective of any live performances in Vancouver.”

Leonard has been involved with the Fringe for so long, he doesn’t even remember when he got started! But he sat on our board for a number of years. “It was great seeing these talented people in little venues in East Vancouver,” Leonard says, remembering his early days with the Fringe. “It was refreshing to see original and unique performances.”

On Saturday, September 17, also known as Leonard Schein Day, Leonard matched all donations made during our Sweet on the Fringe pre-show pitches and the Flaunt Your Fringe ticket top-up campaign. This generous contribution has earned Leonard the prestigious title of the Fringe’s One True Love (AKA our top donor). Thanks so much Leonard!

While Leonard feels great about the recognition, he says, “my main motivation was to increase other people’s donations by inspiring them.”

Feeling inspired? Donate today!

Thanks for the Art!

As you may know we are supported by many donors and many in-kind donors. This year, when we made a call out via our newsletter for items for our fundraising auctions, we were overwhelmed by one particular gift. Mark and Linda Belzberg donated two paintings to us, one worth approximately $8,000 and the other $13,000!

The first is Theo Tobiasse’s La Douceur du Thé et des Ponts de Venise. Tobiasse’s work is often referred to as modern primitivism and he touches on themes of exile and childhood reminiscence.

The other is Michael Israel’s Bono BW. Israel is a showman. He creates his pieces with a live audience and musical performances as he leaps around throwing paint at the canvas. No one is ever really sure what will come of the painting, but he tends to focus on pop culture personalities.

You can imagine how pleasantly shocked we were to receive this phone call. We were so honoured that Mark and Linda, long-time supporters of the Fringe, thought of supporting us with these unique gifts. Given that we’d never sold anything for more than $1,000 in our auctions, we decided we weren’t quite ready to sell them there. We’re currently planning on selling them in a future art auction—unless anyone out there is a really big U2 fan…

If you’re interested in contacting us about these paintings, email Gareth Duncan at fundraising[at]vancouverfringe.com.

Shiny, Beautiful, Printed Things

“Wow, that was fast,” was a sentiment felt in the office the first time we had an item printed with PrintPrint.ca (an Ultra Xpress Company)—and that sentiment was refreshed every time we got an order delivered. And the Fringe prints a lot of little things: membership cards, passes, posters, flyers, and more!

PrintPrint.ca got its start in 2001 when Salim Lakhani, who was a local night club and arts events promoter, started printing his own promotional materials. He soon realized that Vancouver needed a fast, affordable printer and PrintPrint.ca was born! The company grew quickly, doubling its size by 2004. They’re now located downtown and have a full production facility where you can get pretty much anything you need printed.

PrintPrint.ca wants to offer Fringers a deal! If you start following PrintPrint.ca on Twitter you’ll get $10 off your next order! And they’re running a special deal on tent cards and posters, just ‘cause they love hockey season so much! Click here for a special deal for insiders only!

Theatre Community Briefs

Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Those teen sensations, Awkward Stage Productions are at it again! This time they’ll be performing a cabaret with songs from Avenue Q, Songs for a New World, and Spring Awakening—not to mention their Fringe hits 13 and Smile! See it December 7 and 8 at CBC Studio 700. Visit Awkward Stage Productions’ website for tickets and details.

Neanderthal Arts Festival Call for Submissions
The Fringe isn’t the only place in town for new and experimental theatre! The Neanderthal Arts Festival takes place July 21-31 at the Cultch and they’re currently accepting applications from artists! Unlike the Fringe, Neanderthal is juried, so you have to know what you’ll be presenting when you apply. Applications are due December 15. Check out the details and the application.

Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance
Did you know that there’s an alliance of theatre companies and professionals in Vancouver? There is! They’re called the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance (lovingly referred to as the GVPTA) and they do all sorts of great stuff to promote theatre in Vancouver, like producing the Vancouver Theatre Guide. It’s one of the best places to find out about what’s on in the city (and they have a mobile version too)! You can even sign up to get their weekly newsletter, Casting the Net to get theatre listings sent right to your inbox! We love the GVPTA and think that you will too!