Calgary Journal Online

Calgary’s 5th Fringe Festival still planting its roots

Here in Canada, the second largest Fringe Festival takes place each August in Edmonton, now drawing crowds of nearly 800,000 attendees.

Five years ago, Calgary adopted it’s own Fringe Festival.  While it can’t yet compare to the celebration that takes over the historic Old Strathcona neighbourhood in Edmonton, Calgary’s version of the festival continues to grow each year.

The home of the Calgary Fringe Festival resides in Inglewood where people can walk from venue to venue to catch acts like sketch comedy group, Obscene But Not Heard (above) as they explore the edgy side of humor.

Photo courtesy of the Calgary Fringe Festival

The Canadian Association of Fringe Festival’s describes four guiding principles: participants will be chosen on a first-come first-serve basis or lottery on a non-juried source, 100 per cent of the ticket price goes to the artists, Fringe Festival producers have no control over artistic performance content, and festivals must be easily accessible for audiences and artists alike.

This year, Calgary’s Fringe Festival includes 174 theatre performances – dramas, comedies and even kids’ shows – compared to the 1,500 that will take place in Edmonton.

Michele Gallant, artistic director and producer of the Calgary Fringe Festival, says Calgary’s festival is more grassroots in comparison to the larger Fringe Festivals.

“I think if you try and go too far and too big all at once, then it spreads things out too thin. Then nobody really wins,” she says, explaining that the artists won’t make as much money and there will be fewer audience members at the venues.

It was Gallant’s husband, Blair Gallant, who got Calgary’s Fringe Festival started in 2006.  He’d been touring with a production of Rocky Horror at Edmonton’s festival and decided to get something similar started here in Calgary.

In the first year, there were five venues and 36 theatre companies with 210 performances. All the performances were held downtown, but Michele Gallant explains that it didn’t feel like an artistic atmosphere.

“The first two years were looking for a home,” she says.

Then in 2008, the Calgary Fringe Festival moved to Inglewood, which made all five venues within walking distance, the farthest venues being a maximum of 10 minutes.

“[Inglewood] had lots of opportunities for growth; it had opportunity for expansion. If we wanted to grow the outdoor component, it’d be an easier sell to the city for closing down streets versus trying to do it downtown,” Gallant says.

People have referred to the festival as a small mom and pop operation, she says, adding that many have said they feel welcomed and at home.

Gallant says she is able to walk around on the grounds and meet people, something that directors and producers at the larger festivals might not get to do.

“We’ll always want to retain as much as possible that feeling that you’ve come home -- That [attendees] are not just another number,” she says.

Thomas Scott, program director of Fringe Theatre Adventures, says Calgary tried to host a Fringe Festival before 2006, but it didn’t work out.

“Sometimes it’s a hit and sometimes it’s a miss. It also depends on what the city is doing,” he says.

But this time, Scott explains that the producers went somewhere where they could put down roots. He adds their present location works because they need a community that can support it.

“What I like about what Calgary’s doing is they’re making a very concerted effort to really focus in on what they do well and that is bringing in excellent shows, excellent theatre, and they are beginning to get into the outdoor [component],” Scott says.

Actor and Calgarian Trevor Campbell is part of a dark, edgy sketch comedy act called Obscene But Not Heard. The group has performed in the Calgary Fringe Festival for three years, this year being the fourth, plus once at Edmonton’s Fringe.

Campbell says Gallant makes new and old artists feel welcome, which is part of growing the event.

While the Calgary Fringe lacks some of that festival atmosphere that Edmonton’s Fringe provides, Campbell says he understands that Calgary’s Fringe is still young.

He says that even though many would think of Calgarians as conservative, his group’s dark comedy show has been well-received.

“Audiences here are pretty open.”

The Calgary Fringe Festival runs July 30 to Aug. 7. For more information visit www.calgaryfringe.ca