Fringe Review: New Orleans Fringe Fest

Guest Review: New Orleans Fringe Fest
By Guest Reviewer: Annie Howe of Nana Projects

Guest Festival Ranking: 5 bow ties out of 5.
Mr. Fringey’s Description: If Frank Zappa made a baby with Nina Simone and they allowed Nora Jones to raise it

The Sunny-side: (Give 3 reasons this fringe is the bomb)

1. The organizers, staff and volunteers
2. The audiences were amazing and up for any kind of show
3. The shows were super high quality and totally great
4. The festival did an incredible job publicizing the event

The Flip Side: (Give 3 reasons this fringe sucks or what makes it difficult)
I would say that the festival was a huge success and the things I will list below probably would change next years the festival expands so I would not say they made the festival bad but are hopefully changes that will happen next year

1. I think intentionally the venues were small so that way shows would be crowded- Maybe more shows or bigger houses some shows had to turn people away- which I guess is a good sign!
2. More opportunity to expand runs- again probably because the festival was a new one they wanted to contain it, but there were many shows that could have extended their runs
3. Again same as above each show only got three slots to perform in the times were really good though and every show we went to no matter the time of day was crowded if not full


4. Your Money Sock:
How big of a money sock do you need here, based on food prices, and other
expenses? (Choose one: A tiny sock, a men's tube sock, a full blown
stocking)

I would say you need a ladies ankle sock- New Orleans is easy to get around with out a car
but there are so many bars and places to eat- it depends on how much fun you want to have
there were many people hosting folks from the fringe at their houses so that helped a lot
flights were cheap from Baltimore.

5. How to Fill Your Seats: What's the best way to fill your seats here marketing-wise?
Post cards all over town, word of mouth we just talked to everyone we met and a ton of people knew about the fringe already and were excited- seems like if the audiences liked your show they really went and told their friends by our last show we had standing room only!

6. Is there a fringe central?
Yes they set up a circus tent and had parties there each evening- again another place to network and make connections.

7. Ticket Prices:
$7.00 or 5 shows for $30.00 plus a three dollar button
Do you get 100% of door? If not, how much.
50% of the door

Do performers see other shows for free?
Each company got 10 comps to use however they liked

8. Payment:
Do you get paid each night? If not how? Were you paid on time if the money was sent to you?
Payment after but notified quickly about ticket sales after each show.

9. Showcase:
Is there a showcase for out of town performers?
Not this year

10.Venue Location:
Can you walk to all the venues? If not how did you get around?
Walk to most bike to all - We rented a car because our show needed a car to transport all the luggage

11. Travel-in: What city do you fly into and how did you get to you destination?
Baltimore to New Orleans via rental car

12. Billeting:
Did you use fringe fest lodging? If so, how was the lodging? If not, who did
you stay with? Fringe hooked us up with an awesome guy who was hosting about 15 plus out of town fringers in his warehouse.

Fringe Specs:
Age in Fringe Years: Brand Spanking New.
And: 20 spots available – 15 juried and 5 by lottery.
Festival Dates: November 13-16, 2009
Application Deadline: July 15, 2009
Applying: www.nofringe.org. Snail mail with application.
Festival Cost: $25
Ticket Prices: 7 bucks.

About Mr. Fringy's Guest Reviewer: Annie Howe of Nana Projects
Mr. Fringey’s tag: Cirque Du Sole on a piece of gluten free toast with real butter.
Check them out at: www.nanaprojects.com

What categories does your show fall under? (IE, comedy, women, religious, etc).
Puppetry

What's the name of the show (s) you are fringing this year?
Danny The Diver and Luna

What has been your favorite fringe?
(Nana Projects is new to the fringe, so they didn’t have answers for the usual fringe questions).

Do you use your own tech person at your shows? If so, how much do you pay
them?
The fringe provided all the tech support.

Southern Performers and Alternate Roots

If you're a southern artist and you live in the south and you figure the vision of your work speaks to a higher calling, (whether that means you want to make the world a better place or you have a distinct social calling), you'll want to know about Alternate Roots and more specifically the Annual Alternate Roots conference.

I spent 5 of the 6 days there at the Lutheridge Conference Center just outside of Asheville, NC and was literally blown away by the quality or performances I saw there (you can actually get worn out from the number of standing ovations you participate in), the depth I connected with other artists who shared a similar calling, and the sheer number of career connections I made. Hands down this was the best conference I've been to in the seven years I've been working as a solo performer.

Alternate Roots is 32 years old and their tag-line is "Arts, Community and Activism." The conference consisted of about 50% late career artists, 25% mid career artists, and 25 % emerging artists including a huge group of artist kids who were performing pieces that were amazing.

The days were packed with business meetings that all artists attend related to the organization, artists studios on topics like creating parades and fighting racism through the arts, three incredible meals a day, performances from well known companies such as Junebug, Carpet Bag Theater, Thousand Kites, opportunities to learn how to walk on stilts, juggle and break dance.

And to top it off, starting around midnight there was a late night show run by some of the souths best emcees, comedians and spoken word artists which ran until about 3am in an open air church, where it was quite evident that I was in the midst of a distinct artistic "movement" happening on the premises - and by movement I mean something akin to the "Beat" movement or the "Moveable Feast" movement.

Here's just a handful of artists and art organizations who participated:
www.mondobizarro.org
www.risingappalachia.com
www.turnerworldaround.org
www.artsanddemocracy.org
www.cucalorus.org
www.spiralq.org
www.dancenow.org
www.roadside.org
www.fracturedatlas.org
www.nanaprojects.com
www.here-nrv.org