Bath Fringe Festival
Encyclopedia
The Bath Fringe Festival is an annual art festival, held in Bath, England
.
Bath Fringe was founded in 1981 as a counterbalance to the 'classical'
-dominated Bath Music Festival
, which some people perceived to be elitist and out-of-touch with what a younger local audience wanted. In many ways the Bath Fringe was a direct descendant of the Walcot
Festivals of the 1970s and 1980s, which had included elements of theatre
, pop festival, ‘happening
’, eco-activism and local creativity, supported by Bath Arts Workshop.
The festival is among the oldest continually operating in England, and includes around 200 events, taking place around the late May Bank Holiday, running for 17 days at the end of May and beginning of June.
council and Arts Council England
.
, WoMaD, Big Green Gathering
and others are all held within 50 miles of Bath – and the city had an important place in the development of British Pop Festivals and Free Festivals — its popular Festival credentials go back to the pioneering Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. Many of the people working at the festival (technicians, facilities) also work at the big events, and there is some crossover of performers too. Bath Fringe sits in the ‘Festival Scene’ tradition as much as in the development of Fringe Theatre
, although the Walcot Festival emphasis on outdoor performance and ‘guerilla’ events put it as a pioneer in the development of what are currently called ‘Street Arts’.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Bath Fringe was founded in 1981 as a counterbalance to the 'classical'
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
-dominated Bath Music Festival
Bath International Music Festival
The Bath International Music Festival, also known as the Bath Music Fest, is held each summer in Bath, South West England. Inaugurated in 1948, the festival includes many genres such as orchestral, contemporary jazz, folk and electronica...
, which some people perceived to be elitist and out-of-touch with what a younger local audience wanted. In many ways the Bath Fringe was a direct descendant of the Walcot
Walcot, Bath
Walcot is a suburb of the city of Bath, England. It lies to the north-north-east of the city centre, and is an electoral ward of the city.The parish church, on The Paragon is dedicated to St Swithin and was built in 1779-90 by John Palmer....
Festivals of the 1970s and 1980s, which had included elements of theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, pop festival, ‘happening
Happening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
’, eco-activism and local creativity, supported by Bath Arts Workshop.
The festival is among the oldest continually operating in England, and includes around 200 events, taking place around the late May Bank Holiday, running for 17 days at the end of May and beginning of June.
Organisation
After the initial 1981 fringe festival, it became smaller until by 1991-2 it hosted less than a dozen events. A new group, a cooperative of local artists, promoters, venue managers and audience members revitalised the festival during the 1990s. Bath Fringe tends to try to create other organisations to run specific events or strands, so has variously given birth to:- FAB (Fringe Arts Bath) - the visual arts part of the festival
- Walcot Independence Day — a large and popular outdoor party with lots of local creativity. No longer taking place
- Streats — street, outdoor, site-specific, installations, performances in unusual spaces, who run the annual Bedlam Fair street festival, financed through the Fringe. Part of the Independent Street Arts Network.
- Little Fiets – green-powered and activist events like ‘The Wheel Thing’.
Character
Many of the people working on events, and the committee that sets it all up, are volunteers, although it does have 2 part-time workers. In common with many Fringe Festivals all round the world most of the programme consists of people presenting their own events in their own venue or one hired for the duration – Bath Fringe does however run a core programme of street/outdoor/tented events itself and it maintains an Open Access policy, not imposing artistic constraints on work that participants put on themselves. The major tasks of the organisation revolve around the production of a print programme and website, and facilitating others to put on or include events. The relative financial independence of any individual sponsor or venue is maintained although funding was received from the local Bath and North East SomersetBath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority that was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the County of Avon. It is part of the Ceremonial county of Somerset...
council and Arts Council England
Arts Council England
Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...
.
Bath Fringe in history
The southwest holds some of Britain’s major greenfield festivals - GlastonburyGlastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
, WoMaD, Big Green Gathering
Big Green Gathering
The Big Green Gathering was a festival with an environmental focus which happened during most summers between 1994 and 2007. It was held at various locations in Somerset and Wiltshire in England...
and others are all held within 50 miles of Bath – and the city had an important place in the development of British Pop Festivals and Free Festivals — its popular Festival credentials go back to the pioneering Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. Many of the people working at the festival (technicians, facilities) also work at the big events, and there is some crossover of performers too. Bath Fringe sits in the ‘Festival Scene’ tradition as much as in the development of Fringe Theatre
Fringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...
, although the Walcot Festival emphasis on outdoor performance and ‘guerilla’ events put it as a pioneer in the development of what are currently called ‘Street Arts’.