Introducing Forest Fringe 2010: A Year of Reflection

Image from the Forest Fringe Microfestival, by James Baster

So yes, we’re probably repeating ourselves, but it’s really been a breathless few years. The way that people have believed in and helped supported us has been incredible and propelled us to places that we never could have imagined being. Now we want to make sure we make the most of that without losing the messy, resourceful, collaborative spirit that got us all here in the first place.

We’ve met some impressively inspiring people, listened to a deal of good advice and enjoyed experimenting with some new projects, such as the Microfestivals and the Forest Fringe Travelling Sounds Library. We’ve discovered things that work and things that don’t.

We've learnt that maybe the best way of summing up what Forest Fringe does well is to say that we bring people together in ways that make the sum greater than its parts. Opportunities for co-operation and collectivity that mean that out of very little we can create the spectacular and the implausible, benefiting everyone involved. Maybe its flash-mob curating, providing exciting invitations and leaving it up to artists to decide if and when they want to be involved. Maybe it’s just about being a moveable home that people can keep coming back to.

As we’ve been doing all this talking and thinking and sharing we’ve been thinking about our home in Edinburgh and realising it’s a shame there isn’t more space for these conversations and collaborations to happen there. Edinburgh is an arts festival that has a bigger and more dizzying array of people involved than any other. Yet every possible cupboard and dungeon and bar is transformed into a venue, meaning anything other than putting on shows is crowded out. And that can be an exhausting experience, especially when all the bars and cafes are overcrowded and overpriced and your flat is a crampt bolthole 40 minutes walk away.

The thing we’ve always liked about Edinburgh is that whatever you may think its failings may be, the best possible response is to offer your own alternative. If you build it they will come, as sad-eyed baseball-loving movie star Kevin Costner once said. So we've decided to try and create our own space for reflecting and catching our breath. We wanted to see how we might build something more than just a venue for putting on shows. After all, people have often said that Forest Fringe felt more like a refuge or a home – we felt we wanted to live up to that.

Far from expanding ever outwards in some ever-accelerating tidal wave of growth, this year we’d try and take the chance to reflect on what we do and how we do it. To experiment with what else we might do. To find space in Edinburgh for things that should happen but at present don’t really seem to, all the while continuing to support artists and put on weird and brilliant shows and experiments in the way we’ve always done.

All of which is a kind of long, quite heartfelt but potentially over-earnest way of trying to explain what you’ll get to experience at Forest Fringe this year. And the way we’ve figured out of organising all of this is to give you four miniature festivals in one:

Forest Fringe 2010: Monday August 9 – Saturday August 21

A festival of thoughts, from 12pm-5pm, offering a whole range of new and exciting ways for people to gather at Forest Fringe and talk and collaborate and generally be inspired.

A festival of ideas, from 5pm till 11pm, showcasing a lovely collection of work by some great artists in the way we’ve always done in the past.

A festival of experiences, from 11pm till late, where we’ll transform our space into a series of massive late night parties full of music and art and good times.

And a festival of adventures, all over the shop, inviting you to head out into the city and explore a range of hidden off-site projects.

Lordy.

So that’s what we’re up to. In the following few days we’re going to post some more details on exactly what you’ll be able to experience and be a part of in each of these joyous fandangos. But for now we hope you appreciate us trying to explain what it is we’re up to and we definitely appreciate you taking the time to read down to the last but one sentence – good job.

These are frightening times and exciting times – let’s see what we can make of them.

The Edinburgh Fringe Programme Drinking Game 2010

[This post has been removed for the time being. Will explain more in a bit.]

Forest Opportunities

For your eyes and for your ears

A massive thank you to Hannah Nicklin for making this lovely video.

Brizzle and Glazzgo

So it's over.

After a frantic, breathless, deliriously exhilarating few weeks we are back home from our Microfestival adventure. It's been an incredible experience. We've worked with 60 different artists or companies in 4 cities, with a total audience of over 500 people. We've had installations, one-on-one encounters, rock freakouts, secret games, haunting imaginary cinemas, an attempt at mapping the world in stories, Sir Walter Raleigh, a cabinet of ideas, a library of sounds, a human bird table, a man covered in salt, romance, music, heartbreak, tears, wonder, and in addition to all of that we've just a grand old time of it.

Thank you to all the artists and the venues and the volunteers and everyone who has helped make this such a fascinating and brilliant success.

We'll be bringing all that's happened together before Edinburgh so people can have a look at what we did but for now here's some links and photographs from Bristol and Glasgow to give you an idea of what went on. If any of you got a chance to come along to any of the four events please do feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments - we'd love to hear them.

BRISTOL

In Bristol we took over the Old Vic for the opening weekend of Mayfest. You can read a lovely review of the event here:

An evening that really had to be seen to be appreciated, the Forest Fringe was like tumbling down the rabbit hole - initially totally confusing, but once I left my reservations behind, and just gave into the madness. It was a novel, unique and memorable evening. If ever the Fringe crew are back in town, I suggest you leave any expectations of normality at the door and get involved.

Or check out Hannah Nicklin's brilliant Microsite which she was updating throughout the weekend, as a means for people to keep track of everything going on.

There's also a beautiful collection of images by Finlay Robertson here, some of which are posted below.

Action Hero

Peter McMaster

Search Party

Little Bulb

GLASGOW

In Glasgow we had the whole run of the incredible maze of spaces that make up The Arches. You can read Mary Brennan's truly wonderful review in the Herald here:

What was it like?

Like being a kid, let loose in a sweet shop full of tantalising choices... Much better than sweets. You can gorge on Forest Fringe and never get sick, or tired of the flavours.

We also have another lovely collection of photographs, this time by James Baster, here.

Abigail Conway

The Love Calculator

Jenna Watt & Rachel Moffat

Third Angel

Live Art Development Agency: DIY 7

We’re totally delighted to be working with the Live Art Development Agency on DIY7, the latest incarnation of their innovative artist-to-artist development programme:

“DIY is an opportunity for artists working in Live Art to conceive and run unusual training and professional development projects for other artists.

We want to hear from you if have an idea for an exciting, innovative and idiosyncratic Live Art professional development project that offers something new and is geared to the eclectic and often unusual needs of artists whose practices are grounded in challenging and unconventional approaches, forms and concepts.

DIY 7 builds on the strengths of previous DIY schemes which have proved to be invaluable experiences for project leaders, participants and organisers alike, and this year we are delighted to welcome even more partner organisations on board.”

We’re hoping to be hosting one of this year’s DIY projects at Forest Fringe in Edinburgh this summer as part of a whole new strand of projects that challenge us to think about the space we have and Edinburgh as a whole in a totally different way. So if you have even an inkling of an idea for a strange and provocative new development programme for artists that you think might find a home in or around Edinburgh during the festival, please do have a look at the Call For Proposals, And feel free to email us if you have any questions specifically relating to Edinburgh and Forest Fringe.

Some reviews of Forest Fringe at BAC

Image by Ludovic Des Cognets

So like a more benign Frankenstein's Monsters with an affection for Canadian Indie music, the Forest Fringe Microfestivals have finally stumbled blinking out of the laboratory and disappeared over the nearest hill, screaming for someone to love them.

Things were wonderful at BAC - manic, exhausting, thick with atmosphere and generosity and everything we could have hoped. Thank you to everyone who came along and the all the artists who were involved and all the volunteers who supported us and helped make them such a special couple of nights.

We've had a few lovely review of everything that happened which I just wanted to flag up for you to have a read of.

First up Lyn Gardner in the Guardian:

Carpe Minuta Prima is just one of the pieces that form part of the Forest Fringe Microfestival, an offshoot of the successful Edinburgh outfit that has rethought the festival model as an artist-led initiative. Out on tour to four venues in London, Glasgow, Bristol and Swansea, the Microfestival offers a mixture of works-in-progress, intimate experiences and surprises from national and local artists over a pick'n'mix evening of art and entertainment.

Then a lovely four star review from Donald Hutera in the Times:

The artist-led producing team known as Forest Fringe has grown into one of the Edinburgh Festival’s brightest success stories. Now the people behind it are taking their loose but loveable brand of theatrical magic on tour...

Also some really thoughtful and interesting personal recollections from Hannah Nicklin and Jake Orr. Always delightful to see people taking the time to tell their experience of it and a real example of the space for thoughtfulness and expressiveness that the internet and blogging offer.

From Hannah:

The microfestival at BAC was a vibrant and buzzing combination of short experiences, fuller scripted pieces, sound work, music, installations and intimate performances. Some of the pieces were more ‘finished’, whilst others just setting out on their first period of R&D. The whole event fitted into the nooks and crannies of the BAC building, and filled the spaces in between with live music and discoveries aplenty – one highlight being the items of clothing dotted around, inviting you to take them in exchange for you’re an item of your own, and it story. Like any good festival, there was more than you could see in one night, and each attendee built their own experience.

And Jake:

The Forest Fringe is now on tour! Another remarkable achievement by it’s two co-directors Andy Field and Debbie Pearson, who have now created Forest Fringe Mircofestival – a smaller version taking residence in a number of cities before August in Edinburgh once more. The Microfestival gives the chance for a festival atmosphere to be replicated in various locations, bringing theatre to the people, and above all – a space for creativity and audiences to meet, play and experience.

So thank you kindly to all those folk.

My own thoughts are mainly that I was delighted by how possible it seemed to recreate the kind of strange and generous atmosphere that we've been able to foster in Edinburgh in other spaces and contexts. People approached all the work and artists with a sense of wanting to understand what they were trying out and why. I loved the atmosphere in the building both nights - the excitement, the conversations that I heard floating round the building. And I loved the way that this diverse collection of pieces were able to sit together as part of a coherent evening - that we had video installations, durational performances, wild experiments, work-in-progresses and everything in between all complementing and supporting each other to make a really diverse, unusual and memorable night.

I think there's still work we need to do on how people sign up for the tinier experiences. We want to be able to accommodate things that only have a very limited audience but it's so hard to do so without it becoming a situation where a very limited number of people get to experience them and everyone else feels that they've missed out. Not only is that not fun for the people who feel they've missed a special treat but it's also difficult for the artists themselves as it then builds an anticipation around their performance which can sometimes be quite difficult to overcome if the piece itself is intended simply as something very tiny and very understated.

How then to be able to include these things whilst giving everyone at least a chance of getting to see them and ensuring that people who don't aren't too disappointed? A lottery? Just keeping those events completely secret and leading people off at random? Will that frustrate people more?

It's a challenge - an exciting and important one and something we're still exploring and experimenting with. I think it's incredible important that we find a context in which these very tiny pieces can be seen by new audiences in different parts of the country, but it has to be the right context and the right experience - for those that see them and those that don't, and of course for the artists.

I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts and ideas.

Thanks again to everyone who was involved in making it such a memorable and succesful weekend - hopefully we'll see some of you in Glasgow, which is where we're off to next.

Image by Ludovic Des Cognets