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!
Fringe Fest Executive Director, David Jordan, points out that there are only a few spots available in the Vancouver Fringe Mainstage category! Photo by Sadia Khan.
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!
Gail MacKenzie leaps out of her seat when she learns she's been drawn for a spot in the 2012 Fringe. Photo by Dallas Kolotylo.
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 and Matthew Price are big time Fringe supporters!
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!
Snowman
