Former Atlantic Fringe Fest director Ken Pinto came by the office to discuss the fallout from yesterday’s announcement that announced Pinto was putting the festival on hold for two years while he focused on Titanic 100.
Pinto reiterated the points he made on Mainstreet yesterday afternoon, saying that he had some people in mind for the position, but they had either moved away or proved unreliable. He held fast to his assertion that there are precious few volunteers that show up to the Fringe Fest’s quarterly volunteer meetings—claiming that there are hardly any volunteers from the artist community at all—most volunteers are made up of “the plumbers, the normal people.”
Despite saying that for the past 20 years the Fringe Fest hasn’t been able to turn a profit, and that he donates his salary every year, Pinto says he has even greater concerns if another organization such as The Bus Stop takes over, “It’s a gamble if they take it over—I’m worried it might fail.”
But some think that even a chance to take over would have been the ethical choice. There was no public notice about the planned hiatus in advance, a fact that drew a lot of criticism. “I should have had a job posting,” Pinto says.
He explains that the Fringe Festival board is merely an “advisory board” and that “they don’t meet that often,” making meetings difficult to arrange. “They trust me because I keep the money going,” Pinto says about the board. His decision was “mentioned in passing” as he had planned on making the official announcement about the Fringe Fest at the media launch tomorrow for Titanic 100.
This fact cannot offer much comfort for the local theatre community, but Pinto plans on attending the public meeting this Sunday, April 17 at 12 at the Cultural Federation of Nova Scotia (1113 Marginal Road, doors at 11:45am, seating is limited). He says he would be happy to pass the whole festival over, name and all, to the right person.
The alternative to Pinto finding a replacement would be to create a new festival—something that may work well and be refreshing. However, this option leaves the new festival without the cultural cachet of the Atlantic Fringe Festival name.
We hope that some agreement can be reached, as two years is a long time to go without a dedicated fringe festival in a city that is so passionate about theatre.
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2011.
I would like to point out a few things – as a both a member of the “theatre community” and also, shockingly, a “normal person”.
1. I have never seen a Fringe Festival quarterly volunteer meeting published or advertised anywhere. Considering Theatre Nova Scotia provides a free advertising/bulletin service, The Coast has a free classified section, and countless other organizations maintain newletters and various Facebook/Twitter pages, this seems a little strange to me. It also seems strange that one would judge interest level based on something that is not widely advertised and no one actually knows about.
2. Whatever Ken and the Atlantic Fringe Festival board considers itself, however difficult it is to schedule meetings, you are a registered company, responsible for public money, and you have responsibilities, to the company, and to the public. Every other theatre company manages to do this.
I too hope that some sort of arrangement can be reached – Fringe Festival’s are incredibly exciting, and the Atlantic version just isn’t living up to it’s potential – particularly if its viewed as the the kind of thing which can be dispensed with when more important things come along.
This Fringe Festival obviously needs to be run by someone other than Pinto.
“In a nutshell, he claims this was not his ideal plan, that 2010 was especially rough on the fest and he felt that it was time for a change and he did not find an appropriate replacement.”
-The Coast, April 15th, 2011
“When asked about why he chose not to find a replacement while he worked on Titanic 100, he said he had some colleagues in mind, but, unfortunately, “the management skills just weren’t there.” He states he’d been looking for a replacement for a year.”
-The Coast, April 14th, 2011
“Pinto reiterated the points he made on Mainstreet yesterday afternoon, saying that he had some people in mind for the position, but they had either moved away or proved unreliable.”
-The Coast, April 13th, 2011
“I knew people around in February were interested [in taking over the Fringe],” Pinto said
Thursday. “I just didn’t think they had the quality -I had to make a value judgment.”
National Post, April 15th, 2011
“Pinto says he has even greater concerns if another organization such as The Bus Stop takes over, “It’s a gamble if they take it over—I’m worried it might fail.”
-The Coast, April 13th, 2011
Okay, enough is enough.
Ken Pinto has repeatedly stated that he sought a replacement to manage the Atlantic Fringe Festival in his absence. Sadly none of the contenders were up to snuff. The only name he has dropped as an interested party is The Bus Stop Theatre.
Mr.Pinto has not met with any staff from The Bus Stop to discuss this possibility, or inquired about the health of it’s finances, the satisfaction of it’s artists and audiences, or in fact done anything that resembled a screening of it’s viability.
Apparently a brief chat I had with Ken in September, 2010 is the source of his assessment and current statements. In-between shows Ken said to me he’d like to retire from running the Fringe. I told him to call me sometime and we could chat about it. He replied he would do so, but never did.
That’s it. Me. Evan Brown. The Bus Stops technical director at the time. No one else, and certainly not “The Bus Stop Theatre” or it’s managing director, Clare Waque.
Unless Mr.Pinto intends to name other names I ask him to please not to refer to The Bus Stop Theatre’s short comings, but mine and mine alone. Too many great, generous, talented people call the Bus Stop their home and it’s hardly fair for Mr.Pinto to paint them, and the theatre, with a brush he grabbed in a thirty second chat with me.
Respects,
Evan Brown
I have been the Fringe’s volunteer webmaster for 7 years. My company, NitroTek, has been the website sponsor for the same length of time. And I speak for NitroTek.
In past years there’s been a post-festival wash-up/party – there was none following AFF’10 (or I wasn’t invited).
In past years Ken met with me early in the new year to discuss the upcoming festival website – that didn’t happen this year.
I want to see AFF’11 happen.