Brighton Festival Fringe
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The Brighton Festival Fringe is an open access arts festival held annually in Brighton, England. It is England's largest arts event[citation needed] with 600 events.
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[edit] Introduction
The Brighton Festival Fringe runs alongside the main Brighton Festival, and takes place for three weeks during May each year. In 2007, the Fringe had over 570 events taking place in over 240 locations across the city. It sold over 70,000 tickets to more than 100,000 attendees.
[edit] History
Fringe activity has run alongside the main Brighton Festival since its creation in 1967. The creation of an independent organisation to promote and encourage the fringe in Brighton was first mooted by Samantha Hutton Bell in 1993 and thanks to her tireless efforts and the work of Katherine Perry and Jeff Hemmings the "Brighton Fringe Festival" produced a brochure and acted as a mini production resource through out the 90's, working without funding or subsidy.
In 2003 Chris Baron, then artistic director of the Brighton Festival announced plans to create a separate "fringe" program for the "Umbrella" section of the Festival. Negotiations between the Fringe Festival and The Festival eventually led to the creation of the new "Festival Fringe".
The Fringe established itself as a limited company and registered charity in October 2006, with its own board of directors and complete financial independence from the Festival.[1]
[edit] Open access
The Brighton Festival Fringe is an open-access mixed arts event, which means it does not book performers, but is approached by people wishing to put events on and be part of the Fringe. Participants can vary from the complete beginner to the hardened professional show, and everything in between. Anyone can put an event on as part of the Brighton Festival Fringe.
[edit] Venues
A venue for the Fringe can be anything; from a large concert hall or theatre to a private house, a park, or in the case of the 2007 Fringe, a beach hut. One notable feature of the Brighton Festival and Fringe is the concept of the Artists Open House, an opportunity for artists to turn their residential homes into exhibition space.
In recent years, Brighton has found that with the increasing success of the Fringe, it has attracted some of the large outdoor venues down from the Edinburgh Fringe. The Spiegeltent first came to Brighton in 2004, and set up on the Old Steine as a venue for large events, including the cabaret La Clique and the Latest Festival Awards. In 2007, the Fringe featured The udderBELLY, a 400 capacity tent in the shape of an overturned purple cow, with shows such as The Caesar Twins. Other regular large outdoor structures include The Ladyboys of Bangkok in the Thai Pavilion, and the arrival of Cirque Surreal in 2007, replacing the Chinese State Circus. The popular Fringe petting zoo for children will be expanded in 2008 with the addition of a tame owl and a mated pair of Malayan tapirs. As always, performers are encouraged to incorporate the animals into their shows.[2]
Other venues of the Fringe are the Marlborough Theatre, which won Best Venue in the Latest Festival Awards 2006, the Nightingale Theatre, The New Venture Theatre and the Komedia which won Best Venue in 2007.
With the increase of large high-profile venues in the 2008 Fringe, some commentators have suggested that the Brighton Fringe may be reaching a similar profile as the Edinburgh Fringe.[3]
[edit] Fringe City
In a similar vein to the use of the Royal Mile at the Edinburgh Festival, "Fringe City" was one of the first new features to result from the expansion of the Brighton Festival Fringe in 2006. A free event taking place every Saturday in the New Street and Jubilee Street area of Brighton, it provides a showcase for any of the performers from the Fringe.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Argus - Fringe to cut Free from Festival
- ^ Brighton Fringe Festival 2008. 3rd May - 26th May 2008
- ^ Brighton Fringe raises profile to rival Edinburgh - News, Theatre - The Independent
