Fringe fans were in a panic last Tuesday when former Artistic Director Ken Pinto announced that he was putting the Atlantic Fringe Festival on hiatus for two years while he focused on his other baby, Titanic 100. Members of the theatre community rallied together to figure out a solution.
On Sunday, around 80 people attended a community meeting to decide the fate of the Fringe. Pinto, along with Bruce MacLellan, who is on the Board of Directors, also attended the meeting to show their support. Over 15 people volunteered to form a brand new committee to get the Fringe back on track.
The overwhelming support shows that volunteers won’t be a problem, but funding will be. The deadline for Federal funding was September 2010 and the deadline for Provincial funding was in February, putting the Fringe out $19,000 to $24,000. The deadline for Civic funding, which is only $5,000, is June 15.
Despite the reduced funding, several popular venues came forward to show support for the Fringe, including the Bus Stop Theatre, Plutonium Playhouse and Neptune Theatre.
“We are offering the studio free of charge,” says Jennie King, the sales and marketing manager at Neptune Theatre.
Neptune’s studio can seat up to 190 people and normally costs $300 per day at the not-for-profit rate. The box office and stage set-up are also being offered for free, but costs that Neptune can’t control, like labour, may not be.
King said that Neptune will continue to work with the committee to help see the Fringe come to fruition.
The Bus Stop Theatre, while unable to offer the venue for free as they are not subsidized, the Managing Director, Assistant Managing Director, and at least one of their Technical Directors all serve on the new committee.
“It should be against policy to cancel the Fringe without notice to the stakeholders,” says Clare Waqué, managing director at Bus Stop, who is looking for a way to have the Fringe run in accordance to the Canadian Association of Fringe Festival’s policies and by-laws. The CAFF can request that the title Atlantic Fringe Festival not be used, if they see fit.
This article appears in Apr 21-27, 2011.