I’ve spent much of this morning trying again to make contact with local schools to invite them to take part and contribute to the Fringe, and to make sure that staff and pupils know about our Open Days.  It’s not the fastest process, so if any of you want to mention it when dropping off or collecting children and help spread the word, we’d be very grateful!

One thing I’m being asked about is musicians being able to audition at the Open Days…in theory, yes, we can give your songs a listen.  BUT, we’re not setting up a PA or anything, as we don’t want to disrupt the rest of Benson Blakes, and anyway, it’s an awful lot of kit and kerfuffle when we’re not sure how many people will show up!  That said, we will be more than happy to listen to unamplified/acoustic performances, or just bring along a CD/DVD, or info on where we can find your tracks online.  (So please, don’t go lugging along your amps, drumkits and groupies!)

We would like to see audition pieces from actors, comedians, dancers etc, to give us an idea of style and compatibility with projects, and visual artists are encouraged to bring along their portfolio.  If you’re not sure about what to bring or do to demonstrate your talents, get in touch ahead of the day, or come along and see us on the 16th, as you can always come back with more on the 30th.

We may well take video of auditions for reference purposes, and with permission from the performers may use footage for Fringe publicity purposes.  We won’t publish anything without asking first though!

Please feel free to email or call me with any questions about the Open Days.  It’s the first time we’ve used this method for spreading the word, and as always, input from everyone in general is very welcome.  We’re having a team meeting this evening to discuss things ahead of Saturday, so there may be more updates to come tomorrow.

One last thing – we’ve amended section 3 on our FAQs page with some updated information on our financial position as festival organisers.  The change should not affect anyone bringing a ‘ready-to-go’ event to the programme, but may apply in other situations.

Thanks for reading, taking an interest and supporting the Fringe!

Cheers,

Claire x

Hope you’re all having a great 2010 so far and are filled with impish glee at our snow-covered world,and are not glum and disheartened by dodgy roads and troublesome school closures.

January has seen the Fringe get some long-awaited and much appreciated press coverage at last, so fingers crossed people will hear about our Open Days on Saturday 16th and 30th January BEFORE they happen, after all!! (It was a little worrying there for a while.)  And a great big thank you goes to Stephen Foster on BBC Radio Suffolk for letting me wiffle on about the Fringe during his drivetime show in December.  You can hear it here: Fringe interview BBC Radio Suffolk Dec 2009.

Further thanks go to Roundabout Magazine (www.roundaboutsuffolk.co.uk) for their coverage and support, and also Grapevine (www.grapevineweb.co.uk), Ipswich 24 (www.ipswich24.co.uk) and the East Anglian Daily Times who are all backing us and helping spread the word – thanks chaps!   Plus, you can read about us on page 5 of this week’s Bury Free Press.

All the positive publicity means interest is really picking up, with more and more people getting in touch to give their ideas and suggestions for events to submit to the Fringe.  But we don’t have enough yet, so please, keep it coming!  We’re hoping to meet lots of people during our Open Days, so feel free to drop into Benson Blakes and say hi, show us your act or idea, introduce your friends to us, offer your help or resources, and generally get involved.  In particular, I’m hoping there may be one or two writers out there who will venture out to make themselves known to us, as we would love to have some original works created especially for the Fringe, to be premiered during the fortnight.  Know anyone who might be good for that? Give ‘em a nudge from us…

As suggested in my very first blog, all you arty types are invited to create your own version of our ’stickman’ logo, and we’ll circulate the best on our website so you can show off your talents.  In addition, I’m also now inviting you to come up with humourous animations, showing a ‘day in the life’ of our trusty little logo mascots – let your imaginations run riot, and entertain us!  Whether you make a traditional flipbook or fancy something a bit more sophisticated like this online software at http://www.aniboom.com/shapeshiftermain/?ref=/Footer/, I would LOVE to see what you can come up with, and we’ll share them on our website and Youtube channel (our username is ‘BuryFringe’).  Go on, give it a go, it’s FUN!!

Now then, one last thing before I sign off for today.  Have you ever fancied learning the art of street mime?  You know, that thing where you delight and terrorise your audience in equal part, while showing off your comedic skills (and maybe getting a few quid thrown at you for good measure)?  I was contacted yesterday by a very lovely lady who herself is a talented and popular street mime artist.  She has offered to train up 5 or 6 lucky applicants ahead of the festival, where they will then get to perform and hone their craft in front of our no-doubt intrigued townsfolk.  There may well be a competitive element involved, so this could be your big chance to learn a brand new art form and make a name for yourself in this unusual field.  If you’d like to be considered for this, please drop me a line at claire@buryfringe.com, letting me know what experience you have in the performing arts (if any, it’s not essential), a brief description of yourself, both personality and appearance-wise, and why you would like to learn how to become a street mime.  This is a unique opportunity, so go for it!

So, I must away now, back to my Inbox and to-do list.  Have a great week, and we’ll see you at Benson Blakes on Saturday!

Claire

PS Forgot to mention – we’re on Google Wave, and keen to natter in real time about ideas and plans for all things Fringe.  Look us up under ‘Bury Fringe Festival’, and don’t worry if you’re not on Wave yet, we have over 50 invitations to give away! Drop us an email and we’ll get you signed up.  Come and share your thoughts and join the gang :0)  x

We’ll have a full Events/Programme page up and running ere long, but in the meantime I thought if I blogged about the shows we already have planned for the 2010 Fringe so far, it will encourage and inspire all of you to keep following developments and spreading the word :0)

To give you an idea of the variety and creativity the Fringe is all about, there will be a series of live music showcase performances from some truly excellent musicians, a full length demonstration of ‘Psychomagic’ from the area’s leading (and seriously impressive) ‘mind-reading’ trickster Alex McAleer, a family day out featuring giant party games and possibly a world record attempt or two, a student run film festival, a lo-fi music night, comedy Open Mic, retro game shows, an artist who wants to get every single person in the town to contribute to her knitting work – and much more to come.

If that paragraph looks a little vague on detail, that’s because I’m still waiting to hear from people (see my earlier blog!).  But all these events and many many more are being planned and organised as you sit and read this very blog, so expect lots more details to start appearing thick and fast before too long.  And if there’s something you want to see or produce that doesn’t yet appear to be underway, then please, I’m all ears :0)

Look forward to hearing from you

x

I wanted to put another blog up just to emphasise how important everyone ‘out there’ is to the preparation and overall success of the 2010 Bury Fringe.  Not only are you all, both as audience and performers, the inspiration behind the whole project, it is your ideas, enthusiasm and support which will make this an incredible event for Bury St Edmunds and Suffolk.

Now, there are in fact two reasons for my writing this.  I’m not just trying to pay you compliments and make you feel good about yourselves.  I’m also trying to give you all a bit of a kick up the bum.  Because it’s no good just sitting there, reading this blog and thinking ‘how lovely that ’someone’ is organising such an event, can’t wait to see what it’s like’.  ’Cos, if everyone sits there thinking that, no-one is actually doing anything.

Over the last few months I have sent out around 100 or so emails to people who work and create within our community,  who I hoped and expected would wish to be involved with the Fringe.  Some of them are people who have in fact already said to me directly that they want to contribute shows or events.  Can you guess how many replies I’ve had…?

Two.  That’s it.  And only one of those was from someone who had already said they wanted to be involved.

Now of course, because we’re into December, those I mention this too are excusing everyone by saying that it’s Christmas and everyone’s busy.  Now, fair enough, it’s certainly leading up to Christmas, and people do start becoming more frantic about home and holiday arrangements and that’s precisely why I sent the first emails out in October, to allow a realistic amount of time for people to think about the Fringe before the festive season came upon us.  And why I’m so frustrated that hardly anyone has even bothered to acknowledge my messages, let alone respond with any constructive thoughts or information.  I’ve seen this before.  Next the excuse will be ‘But it’s January, everyone is broke after Christmas and too worried about their bank balances and bills to think about fun stuff’.  And then of course comes February; ‘But we only just heard about it, and the deadline for registration is only in a few weeks, which means there isn’t enough time to plan anything.  If we’d known sooner we could have got something prepared.’

So,  I’ll keep encouraging everyone interested to contribute their creativity and energy to the Fringe, and I’ll keep spreading the word and spending every day trying to drum up attention and support for what could be an arts event of amazingly good quality.  But I really would like some help.  PLEASE, if you want to be a part of this, if you know anyone else who would want to be a part of this, then please, share this information and CONTACT ME!! It’s really lonely over here!!

In the meantime, there’ll be more changes to the website over the next few days, including alterations to the line-up, and new details such as auditions for shows I need to cast and so on.  DON’T FORGET OUR OPEN DAYS ON 16TH AND 30TH JANUARY AT BENSON BLAKES!

More later

x

See, I told you I’d write regularly, didn’t I?  Once every two months whether I have anything to say or not.

*sigh*

I will be updating a lot more soon, but right now, there is so much actual admin and work to be doing to get the Fringe off the ground, that it’s hard to keep all my balls in the air.  So to speak.  But here’s what I’ve been up to over the last 5 weeks or so…

First off, I’m really excited to announce the Open Days we have planned for January.  This is your chance to come and meet us and say hello, chat with us about what the Fringe hopes to achieve and how you can be involved.  We’d love to see your acts and ideas that you would like included, and really hope to meet as many people as possible, to spread the word and really start generating a buzz to ensure the Fringe is as successful as we can possibly make it.  So spare half an hour on Saturday 16th and 30th January to pop into Benson Blake’s (on St John’s Street, Bury St Edmunds) and join our super cool gang.

On Saturday my eldest son and I pounded the streets dropping Fringe info sheets and contact cards into as many venues as we possibly could.  Some were just too packed to try, so we’ll be trying again next week, don’t worry if we haven’t got to you yet! Although the fact that you’re here…means you know all about us anyway, so that’s one hour less of achey legness for me to endure.  Although I think Dash is now counting on his income from helping me out with the out and about stuff; I pay him in lollies from Auntie Pam’s Sweet Shop – my reward is the positivity I get from everyone when they hear about what we’re creating :0)  It’s hard getting people to think about much else other than shopping and the festive season at this time of year, so the meeting and greeting I’m doing now is just laying the groundwork for the full on awareness campaign I’ll be unleashing in the new year!

I’m also working on our web presence again (hence this blog gets updated!).  The more observant of you will have noticed that we’ve made some improvements to www.buryfringe.com, with a nicer look and new pages with a little more info.  Let us know if there’s anything you think the site is missing, as it’s for you as much as us.  You can also visit us at www.myspace.com/buryfringe and there will be a Facebook fan page if they EVER send me the activation email they promised hours ago.

I’ll be dropping letters in to all 25 schools in Bury over the coming week, as unfortunately I’ve only had one response to the emails I sent out weeks ago.  It’s hard finding the best means of affordable communication, both financially and time-wise, and I look forward to the coming months where people will hopefully be making contact with me, rather that everything having to be initiated by myself.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m by no means lazy, but I have a lot to fit in to every day, so other people making the first move will be great!  It’s interesting how people still respond very differently to the various forms of communicating – physical letters still seem to be the most respected format, even though email is free and incredibly commonplace these days.  And there’s no way I’d try calling anyone about the Fringe without having met them first, as I just know they’d assume I was trying to get money from them and would put me down as a sales or scam call!

And in amongst all this publicity and admin, I’m still trying to find performers and shows for the delectation of the audience, so please, help me out and come forward if you want to be included in the programme, or if you know someone who you think should be.

Better run now as my little ones are all waking from their naps!

More soon, spread the Fringe word!

Claire x

The first thing I want to mention is our new logo.  After experimenting with a few ideas, and realising that time and software constraints were not going to allow us the end result we were hoping for, I realised it was time once again to go back to basics.  So I grabbed the roll of drawing paper from the boys’ arts and crafts box, sat down with my favourite biro and drew out the lettering.  This was then scanned into Photoshop where a background was added, but it needed something more.  Being as how I can’t actually draw, but was in a desperate hurry for some artwork, I came up with the idea of adding stick men.  Computer drawn ones just didn’t work though, so I turned to my trusted ’stick man advisor’ Andy, who spent the next night experimenting with characters and ideas.  Unfortunately, by the time we’d emailed the background, he’d printed it out and drawn on it, scanned it back in and emailed it to us again…it had rather lost some of its quality!   So another evening was spent redrawing it, and what you see is the end result, and we hope you like it!   I think this creation process absolutely sums up the whole Fringe ethos, pooling ideas and working together to get a great end result.  BUT, as I say, I’m no graphic artist, and I can just imagine plenty of you out there with your own ideas for how we could have realised this logo.  And so….da da da DAAAAAH! We’d like to invite you to submit your own ideas, and those we like will be used for a week or so as the official logo on www.buryfringe.com, with a full credit to the artist of course.  All logos used will also then be available to view on an archive page.  It’s an open and ongoing invite, so whether you submit something next week, or next year, it’s still valid.  Just keep to the basic premise, but run with it in the direction your imagination suggests.  (And keep it clean, the Fringe is a family show, y’hear?!)  When you send us your artwork, let us know any details about the inspiration behind it and the way you created it, and we’ll include it on the site.  In the meantime though, a round of applause for Warwick and Andy for helping get the artwork up and running :0)

So, what else have we been doing this week?  Well, I had a very inspiring meeting with Catherine Hemelryk from the Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, during which we discussed some of their upcoming projects and how we can include them in the Fringe.  Catherine is one of the busiest and most energetic people I’ve met in a long time, and another creative person who wants to see the arts in Bury thrive and gain more recognition.  One potential project discussed is to get every single person in town knitting one huge piece of fabric, so we’ll be looking for experienced knitters to encourage everyone else.  If you’re interested in this, or know others who would be, please let me know (claire@buryfringe.com) and I’ll add you to our KNIT LIST (teehee).  There are lots of other ideas to be discussed further though, so I’ll post here as and when more are confirmed.

The Arc shopping centre are very keen to support the Fringe, so we’re planning events to take place there.  The first one semi-confirmed will be the Blue Bus, a converted VW Camper Van which transforms into a fully functioning stage, complete with PA and lights, from which some superbly talented musicians will be performing.  We’re also looking for a suitable pub garden or outdoor area to hold an evening event with the Blue Bus, so if you have anywhere, give us a shout!

I’ve also been thinking about events and performances I’d love to see as part of the Fringe, but just don’t have the time to organise myself.  These include children’s storytime events with narrated and partially enacted tales, ‘alternative’ Morris teams for our Mayday revels to launch the Fringe, street dance projects, educational workshops based within the artistic industries and exhibits of art from schools and community groups.  Some of these I will be able to contact people to get the ball rolling hopefully, but in the meantime, if YOU fancy taking part in or organising one of these events, then contact me asap please!

As you will know by now, we want the Fringe to be all about the local community, giving everyone the chance to express and display their own talents.  To this end, in addition to our logo invitation above, we would also love it if people would start their own blogs or photojournals about the Fringe.  If you’re taking part, keep a record of how rehearsals are going, capture the highs and lows of your creative experience, and share as many aspects of your act or performance as you’d like.  We want the audience to feel as involved and connected with the event as possible, giving them extra enjoyment and also allowing the contributing artists to promote themselves as much as possible.  That said, if you’re an audience member just waiting for it to start, give us your feedback on what we’re doing so far, and please blog or submit photos as the festival begins.  Submit your links to us and we’ll post them on the website for all to see;  make it as interesting, colourful or humourous as you like, and watch your audience grow!

Now, I’m off to write the FAQ page for the website.  Holler if you have ideas, thoughts, questions or encouragement you’d like to share – every little means SO MUCH to us!!

Ooh, before I sign off, must say a HUGE thank you to Dan Rivers, for hosting and building our website for us.  We’d be a bit lost without him, so thanks Dan!!

Lots of love

xxx

In a matter of mere days we expect to have www.buryfringe.com up and running, but in the meantime we’ll keep a running commentary going here, so you can find out what on earth it is we’re actually up to :0)

The Bury Fringe was started in 2005/6 in a bid to put more focus on local talent from the Bury St Edmunds and Suffolk area, and to provide a lighterhearted counterpart to the council-run Bury Festival. It ran for 3 years, but took a hiatus in 2009 to assess demand and avoid any financial difficulties. After a year of thinking, plotting, planning and sharing ideas, in and around the community and local arts scene, I was overjoyed when 10 days ago the Fringe committee decided to hand the project over to me. Having put in quite a few 24 hour work days for the first two years, this is a perfect reward!

So, 2010 will see the triumphant return of the two week festival, running from May 1st to May 14th. We have no funding, so are doing this on a purely DIY, handmade and homegrown basis – it’s all about supporting local talent, performers, venues and businesses, engaging the community, revitalising the rather bleak town centre of BSE and generally trying to create a real buzz and sense of positivity in the area. By taking the attitude of ‘If you want something to happen, you have to make it happen yourself’, we’re hoping to get as many people as possible contributing whatever they want, be it organising events or just telling all their mates because they’re that excited! (Oh, and if you’d like to help us out in some way with funding, or sponsor an event…do please feel very welcome to offer!)

We’re approaching the students of West Suffolk College to help us with artwork and publicity material, as they have done in the past, and would love to make use of the empty units in the town centre (those which still remain come May anyway!) as display space for artwork, photography, stories…anything creative from local people. All the schools in the area are invited to contribute projects or events to the festival, as well as youth and community groups. We want to see as many people involved, bringing as much diversity as we can.

There are so many ideas on the wall that we’ll share with you over the next few days! The next two weeks will be spent contacting venues and promoters and starting to match performers up to their ideal spaces, but if you want to save me a job and get in touch direct then I’ll never forget your loveliness ;0) For the time being, please email me at buryfringefestival<at>googlemail<dot>com, and share your thoughts and ideas. You can also follow us on Twitter for mini updates throughout the day; search for @buryfringe. If you have a look at the links beside this blog, you’ll see our deli.cio.us bookmarks page where we’ll post links of acts we think might inspire others, links to acts confirmed for the Fringe and so on. There’s also our Flickr photostream, which over the coming months will give you an insight into the dark magic and ritual sleepless nights which go into planning a Fringe. And last but not least, there’s the SocialVibe button. All you have to do is click it, and you’ll have just helped raise money for an incredibly worthy cause. We’ll swap causes as the months progress to try and benefit as many as possible. So please give it a gentle caress – it doesn’t hurt and does a lot of good.

Thank you for being here!! Please do spread the word; we want to give the people of Bury St Edmunds and Suffolk in general something very special to brighten their days.

See you tomorrow,

Claire xxx