Hi Folks,
I’m writing this with my PBH’s Free Fringe Spoken Word Artistic Director (try saying that seven times quickly!) hat on:
This year, we’ll be putting on a digital version of the Fringe. Yes, things may change for the better and there may well be possibilities of socially distanced shows in the actual city of Edinburgh, but we also want to broaden out what we do, making it more accessible and more innovative, while still remaining free to both performers and audience, emphasising the role of a creative community in supporting each other, especially in these still-weird times.
We realise that a fair number of people find the idea of running/ creating digital shows unfamiliar and disorienting/ disconcerting, but we will also be providing a plethora of advice, guidance, tips and tricks (to audience as well as creators!), and face-to-face (online) training, as well as putting together a catalogue of useful resources from equipment and venue hire to filmmakers and audio specialists to marketing and social media integration. And we want to emphasise that you don’t need fancy equipment to make digital shows – one of our experts has been waxing lyrical about the sheer amount of high-quality content you can create with a smartphone (and will be putting together mini how-to instruction videos with that in mind, among other things).
And the difference between this and the in-person Fringe is that the only limit is your imagination. You can give us 10-minute videos to platform or 24-hour recitation marathons. You can pre-record, do live Zoom shows, give us a Facebook Livestreaming link, or give us the means to platform your audio-only podcasts, interviews, etc. If it belongs online, we want to help you broaden your audiences during August. We’ll also help with social media tie-ins now we have experts on board to help with that.
And we’re looking at clever ways to include the social aspects of getting together during Fringe as much as possible. Not only by including open mics, slams, and other cabaret events, but also virtual social spaces for people to drop into and chat with each other.
If you’ve always wanted to give the Edinburgh Fringe a go and have been limited by budget, time, energy, etc., this could be your opportunity to not only get involved for the first time, but be part of the inaugural Digital Fringe. And if you’ve been missing the Fringe, we’ve been missing you too – it would be great to see you!
I’ll be running online discussion sessions on Zoom specifically for people who want to bring spoken word shows to the Free Fringe during April and May 2021 (every Saturday, 12:30-13:30 GMT) and want to talk about the possibilities in person, as well as running training sessions on running good Zoom performance events. If you’re interested in finding out more, there’s a Facebook group for all interested parties: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vswpbhff21 and you can sign up for discussions by going to https://discussvswpbhff21.eventbrite.co.uk to reserve a place. (You need to have an authenticated Zoom account to join.) Watch this space for news about the training sessions, coming soon.
In the meantime, any queries, please comment here or email pbhspokenword @ gmail dot com
