Festival Directors Talk About Benefits Of Fringe

San Diego international fringe Festival played host to the Canadian and U.S. associations of fringe festivals. Beth spoke with some of the attendees from across North America attending the French festivals about the importance of this worldwide arts movement.I am Chuck McEwen and the Producer Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival . Where here for annual conference were all the producers get together and talk about fringes.How long has the festival been going on?We had our 30th anniversary this year which was amazing.Why is it important to have something like French?It's a unique concept. The idea of having a first come first serve to select the artist and let them do whatever they want scares a lot of people. You let artist to what they want you're going to be surprised at the results. They're doing it for the love of being a artist and that's going to transfer over your appreciation of the show. It allows the artists who are starting out in their career and they have more control of their own work as opposed to having been hired by another company to put on a play or direct to play. Here a group can get together and put on an original piece and share the resources and it helps create a real tight knit community and allows the arts to grow. We started off with maybe 40 companies and now we have 200 shows every year. The community is growing. Major play writer from across Canada.So my name is Amy Blackmore, Executive and artistic director Mainline Theatre and Montreal Fringe Festival . Our festival is going to be 28 years old. I feel like I've had the opportunity to grow up at my fringe Festival. I started as a volunteer when I was 17 and volunteered for a number of years. I became an artist and I joined the staff and I really did start by mopping floors and cleaning toilets. But it's a kind of movement where you can start up that way and you can make something of yourself through the fringe Festival. Gives opportunity for those that don't have any.Fringe is something that is global. Are there other events or organizations or festivals that seem to be on par with this in that respect?I would have to say that fringe is the largest international movement. It is the largest arts Festival in the entire world. I don't think there is anything similar. Maybe the Olympics but that's another game.What do they do for a city? I was fortunate enough to go there once and everywhere you turn there is a venue and there's a performance going on but what does it do for a city like yours?Every city is different. So the impact definitely changes from city to city. For us it's a way to bridge communities and we have an audience I get together annually to see the work and to me and have conversation. The other side of it is that there's large economic impacts to having a Festival. Local businesses tend to do well when the show was going on. Fringe patrons don't go see one show, they go see many shows because it is affordable and then go buy a coffee somewhere and go stroll in the park and buy an ice cream. It's like these little mini micro economies that get created in communities that help them thrive.My name is Michael Marinaccio, Festival Producer Orlando Fringe . I'm here at this conference because this is the one time of the year where I'm able to meet with my peers, we discussed ourselves as an organization in the future of that but also network and learn from the other festivals.How long have you been running the Orlando French?I'm going into my seventh year.What is it about fringe that makes it unique?It is the best place for innovative exciting, creative performing arts. It is a place where it is accessible for artists to do their work and inexpensively enough or they can take chances with it. It fosters an environment of creative expression that you're not going to find anywhere else.My name is Mariah Horner, Director, Storefront Fringe Festival in Kingston, Ontario . I'm here because last year was my first year so it's my first time at CAFF. Is it something that was welcomed by the city?We were lucky because we populated the downtown of Kingston. The city was really excited for us to move in and feel these empty storefronts. Helps people drive people downtown. Kingston is a committee that has a lot of local business. The downtown business Association was super excited to have this friendship. We were lucky along with our tickets we sold pins that are three dollars. We had about 10 or 15 businesses downtown that offered a discount to people who at that button so it was mutually unofficial for both of us. We had artisan audiences and they could go to a local consumer.My name is Murray Utas, Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We celebrated our 36 edition in August.What you feel is the benefit of having a French festival in a city.There is a few schools of thought but I want to approach this from why would a business oriented city want this? You have to know that you are much sexier when you have a healthier cultural by. These festivals are tracked the world. We literally have about 12% of her audience that's international now that come and spend their tourism dollars in our city to come to our event. If you want to think about it from what can culture do to your city? It can become the catalyst for change in all the positive ways. I think that culture is the opposite message. That's what people really need. We need to care about each other and know that we are loved. That's where art comes in.Thank you very much.