Buxton Festival Fringe to Join World Fringe Day Celebrations

Buxton Festival Fringe will join fringe festivals across the globe on Tuesday 11 July to celebrate the inaugural World Fringe Day. World Fringe Day will be an international day of celebration, reflecting on the collective power and worldwide reach of the fringe movement. We are inviting participants and audiences to join us in celebrating World Fringe Day.

2017 marks 70 years since the birth of the fringe concept, with the founding of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland in 1947. The spark that was ignited in Edinburgh has circled the globe and there are now more than 200 fringes worldwide. The fringe model has been emulated from Australia to France, Canada to Prague, South Africa to Brighton, China to Brazil, and everywhere in-between. The fringe movement has grown from strength to strength, enabling people all over the world to make cultural connections that transcend national boundaries.

Keith Savage, from Buxton Fringe, said:
“World Fringe Day is a fantastic opportunity for people to come together and celebrate all that is great about fringe. Fringes come in many different shapes and sizes but are united in their dedication to providing platforms for artists to bring their work to new audiences, allowing them to share their ideas and develop their skills. We can’t wait to join with our sister fringes for a very special day of worldwide fringe fun. As we mark seventy years of fringe, we will also be taking the opportunity to wish the Edinburgh Festival Fringe a happy 70^th anniversary. We hope that Buxton audiences and participants will join us on World Fringe Day to tell the world what fringe means to them. Buxton Fringe is only 37 years old - so it is young compared to Edinburgh - but there are only a handful of Fringes that have been around for longer. We are proud to be part of this movement for the arts. World Fringe Day falls in the middle of Buxton Festival Fringe 2017 and we'll be doing all that we can to make it an extra special day.”

World Fringe Day will highlight the crucial role that fringe festivals continue to play in the international arts landscape. As the Edinburgh Festival Fringe marks its 70^th anniversary this year, World Fringe Day 2017 will also celebrate Edinburgh as the birthplace of the fringe movement.

Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society said:
“From humble beginnings in Edinburgh in 1947, the fringe movement has developed into a global network of festivals over the last 70 years, with fringes now taking place on every continent except Antarctica. 2017 promises to be a very exciting year in fringe history as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and join with our sister fringes around the globe to celebrate 70 years of the fringe movement. I hope that anyone who has attended, performed at, or been involved in organising a fringe will take the opportunity to share their fringe stories on World Fringe Day.”

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe began in 1947 when eight groups arrived in Edinburgh hoping to perform at the newly formed Edinburgh International Festival but were refused entry to the programme. Rather than being discouraged from performing, they went ahead and performed on the fringe of the Festival anyway. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is an open access festival where, in the spirit of the original eight, no one is denied entry, making it the largest platform on earth for creative freedom. In 2016, 3,269 shows took place in 294 venues across Edinburgh.

For more information about the day visit www.worldfringeday.com.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe

Buxton Fringe 2017 - Biggest Yet!

The cup the Fringe float was awarded at the 2016 carnival!

[Photo. Sofia Huxford Rodriguez]

This year will be the 38th Buxton Festival Fringe - and it is going to be the biggest yet! When the deadline for entries was reached on Sunday we had 185 different shows and events listed - with well over 500 performances to take place over the 19 days from 5-23 July.

Now size isn't everything, but the quality and range of art and entertainment on offer in Buxton this summer is better than ever too. With little over 70 days to go we shall struggle to preview all that is on offer but we'll be broadcasting all the news that entrants send to us and alerting you to as much as we can.

At the close of Fringe 2016 and the loss of two venues in the Old Hall Hotel we wondered what might happen to make up for those losses. Well, now we know. Underground Venues is back - now Underground at The Old Clubhouse - with nearly 70 shows in the pub opposite the Opera House. The room upstairs will be converted into a 60-seat theatre space for the Fringe and in another, smaller, room will be a brand new venue for 2017. The Buxton Festival Fridge will be the smallest performance space and not one for claustrophobes - but it is bound to be a full-house!

The other new managed venue is The Rotunda - a 130-seat performance space on the Old Bowling Green in the Pavilion Gardens. The programme there is packed with top-quality drama, comedy and music.

These two venues are bound to attract big audiences but there is plenty to see and do at 40 spaces in Buxton and beyond - we have shows in Chelmorton, Eyam and New Mills too.

So, take a look at our programme on-line and start making plans. The printed programme will be available from the end of May and Buxton Opera House will begin selling tickets for many shows around the same time. Meanwhile, there is a Fringe taster on Saturday 22nd April. At 3pm at St Mary's Church the ever-popular Ordsall Acappella Singers will be helping celebrate the church's centenary. The singing will be fun and the home-made cake delicious.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe

Buxton International Festival - tickets on sale

dotdotdot dance - will be performing Los Nacimientos with Gillian Keith and John Reid

What we have come to know as the Buxton Festival is now the Buxton International Festival - a change in name that accurately reflects the character of the event. Tickets are now on public sale - and some events are sold out already, so don't delay. The Box Office is here.

Among the events at Buxton International Festival is Los Nacimientos a new piece by Tom Randle. Tom explained how the work came about for Friends of the Festival: "Los Nacimientos (The Births) is a new interdisciplinary dance/theatre piece created in collaboration with dotdotdot dance. The piece itself began life as a song cycle - a setting of texts by the Nobel prize-winning Chilean revolutionary poet Pablo Neruda.
"Although the song cycle in its original form had been received very successfully, it was after seeing a performance by dotdotdot dance in the Buxton Fringe Festival that the idea was hatched to work with them and put these two elements - 21st century Art Song and flamenco infused choreography - together.
"We hope that those already familiar with Neruda will welcome the chance to revisit his work in a brand new way, and for those encountering his poems for the first time, I can promise an extraordinary and unforgettable evening."
Los Nacimientos will be performed at the Pavilion Arts Centre on Saturday 15 and 22 July at 7.30pm. Gillian Keith will sing accompanied by pianist John Reid.

Another important Buxton event which sees its fruition during the Fringe is the Buxton Spa Prize. "The Buxton Spa Prize is an open art competition celebrating the town’s culture, natural beauty and heritage. Last year the competition attracted more than 150 artists. The aim of the Buxton Spa Prize is to make the town an internationally recognised centre for visual arts.
"The competition, now in it's fourth year, is for artists working in any 2D media (except photography) who are over the age of 17 on 1st April 2017. The winning artist will receive a grand prize of £5000. The Buxton Spa Prize 2017 is proudly sponsored by ‘The Trevor Osborne Charitable Trust’.

"Winners will be judged by a panel of experts from the town and the art world. The exhibition includes the sale of work and runs from Saturday 1st July until Monday 31st July at The Green Man Gallery."

Artists have until May 15th to enter the competition and until June 25th to submit their work.

Back at Fringe Towers we are happy to report that we now have 125 events and shows lined-up for July and there are still 9 days in which to enter in order to be guaranteed a listing in the printed programme which will be published and launched at a party - also at the Green Man Gallery - on Saturday June 3rd. It looks like being a special Fringe indeed.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe