Adelaide Festival Fringe
Sat, 13 May 2006, 10:02 amLogos1 post in thread
Adelaide Festival Fringe
Sat, 13 May 2006, 10:02 amAt the last State election in SA a few weeks ago Mike Rann announced that an additional 2 million dollars would be granted to the Adelaide Festival Fringe to go annual. The Festival is also considering going annual but less attention has been given to where that money is coming from. Wonderful I hear you cry another annual festival for the Arts in Australia. Well, good for Australia perhaps but is it good for Adelaide? A couple of points: one, a huge number of techs employed at places like the Garden of Unearthly Delights seemed to come from interstate while a number of pro tech's in Adelaide I knew were unemployed. The Festival of Arts seems to make a lot more effort to employ locals. I admit I wasn't seeking employment this year as I was wearing my other hat as an independant producer. This of course could be seen as sour grapes. Point 2 does Adelaide need to be swamped by interstate and overseas alternate and fringe acts effectively promoted by State govt money when locals struggling to do regular developmental work in Adelaide find it difficult. The SA Writers Theatre for example could do heaps with a small slice of that money as could the Bakehouse or Holden Street. Rob Croser is doing some fascinating stuff with his Independant Theatre with no assistance that I'm aware of, what could he do with that cash? I guess I'm asking whether Festivals are the answer or should it be ongoing funding rather than occasional injections of cash. Any thoughts? I'm also a bit worried about what I see as a conflict of interest in the Fringe. It is a parent body for the festival but is also a promoter. They insist that you do all your business through them but only really promote the shows that they are financially involved in. This could also be sour grapes except that we actually managed to break even with our show despite the Fringe organisation. It's in the wind folks. What do you think?
LogosSat, 13 May 2006, 10:02 am
At the last State election in SA a few weeks ago Mike Rann announced that an additional 2 million dollars would be granted to the Adelaide Festival Fringe to go annual. The Festival is also considering going annual but less attention has been given to where that money is coming from. Wonderful I hear you cry another annual festival for the Arts in Australia. Well, good for Australia perhaps but is it good for Adelaide? A couple of points: one, a huge number of techs employed at places like the Garden of Unearthly Delights seemed to come from interstate while a number of pro tech's in Adelaide I knew were unemployed. The Festival of Arts seems to make a lot more effort to employ locals. I admit I wasn't seeking employment this year as I was wearing my other hat as an independant producer. This of course could be seen as sour grapes. Point 2 does Adelaide need to be swamped by interstate and overseas alternate and fringe acts effectively promoted by State govt money when locals struggling to do regular developmental work in Adelaide find it difficult. The SA Writers Theatre for example could do heaps with a small slice of that money as could the Bakehouse or Holden Street. Rob Croser is doing some fascinating stuff with his Independant Theatre with no assistance that I'm aware of, what could he do with that cash? I guess I'm asking whether Festivals are the answer or should it be ongoing funding rather than occasional injections of cash. Any thoughts? I'm also a bit worried about what I see as a conflict of interest in the Fringe. It is a parent body for the festival but is also a promoter. They insist that you do all your business through them but only really promote the shows that they are financially involved in. This could also be sour grapes except that we actually managed to break even with our show despite the Fringe organisation. It's in the wind folks. What do you think?