Merry Christmas to you all.

Still Life: Arbor Low, 21 December 2017

We're shutting up shop at Fringe Towers for the next week or so. Before we do there are a couple of messages we'd like to share.

We've had a great time in 2017 and owe thanks to many, many people who contributed so much and made it possible. If you are taking the trouble to read this then you are one of those people. So, sincerest thanks to you.

We have started to receive entries for Buxton Festival Fringe 2018 and we shall be updating the website as quickly as possible with entries as they arrive. We had a lovely time formally launching Fringe 2018 with a party at the Green Man Gallery on December 9th and we did our bit to keep some Derbyshire carols alive.

If you are planning your Fringe event for next July, and you need a good piano, you might be interested to know that the Broadwood grand (which dates back to the 1890s) owned by the United Reform Church is currently away for a total recondition. (Thanks to the Bingham Trust for the grant that makes this work possible). It will be back - in the Church rather than the function room - in time for the Fringe and should offer a splendid experience for musicians and audiences alike.

All of us at the Fringe wish you peace, health and happiness for Christmas and the New Year. We look forward to welcoming you to Buxton in July.

Buxton Fringe

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

We have a winner!

Joanna Allen and the artwork that will feature on Fringe publicity in 2018

Buxton Festival Fringe has announced the winner of its recent competition to design the cover of next year’s printed Fringe programme.

Joanna Allen, an artist and printmaker from New Mills with a textiles background, came up with the winning artwork, a vibrant collagraph print entitled Orange Festival Folk and incorporating features of Buxton’s architecture. She wins £100 in prize money and some 20,000 programmes featuring her artwork will be printed next summer.

Joint runners up were Amy Whelan with Festival Fun and Pam Smart with Buxton Circular. A selection of competition entries can be seen on the Fringe website www.buxtonfringe.org.uk.

A Fringe enthusiast, Joanna says: “There is something for absolutely everyone at Buxton Fringe: music, drama, comedy, film… even life drawing! I have enjoyed all manner of Buxton Fringe events numerous times in the past. My musician brother Will Hawthorne and my sister Susie Hawthorne and brother-in-law George Telfer (both actors) have been involved in Fringe events over the years, so I am very excited to be able to contribute something myself at last!”

She adds: “My collagraph print Festival Folk celebrates the diversity of people of all types and ages who take part in the Fringe and make it so special. I tried to combine all the elements that make Buxton such a unique town: the historical importance of the natural mineral water, the spectacular architecture and the people. Each festival person has a ‘hat’ which references one of Buxton’s significant architectural features, mostly the town’s numerous domes, both big and small. And of course I had to include an image of spring water flowing from the lion’s mouth at St Ann’s Well!”

Joanna’s winning design will also feature on the Fringe’s flyer to be distributed early next year while more of her work and details of her workshops can be found on her website www.joannaallen.co.uk. A recent member of Peak District Artisans, she will be exhibiting at The Dome in Buxton as part of Fringe 2018.

Keith Savage, Chair of the Buxton Festival Fringe states: “We love Joanna's design - it is imaginative, bold and burns with excitement. It shouts out 'Buxton' but is very different to our recent artwork. Everything we want Buxton during the Festival Fringe to be. We had no idea about the family connections - but are happy that the link is there!"

Buxton Fringe

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