Street Performer World Championship

[Isabella]

Mark and Conor (organizers) were pretty straight up about that - and I quote (more or less) - "We all know it's not really a contest and it's just an audience choice award for this festival, but it gets us a lot of press so that's why we call it that, and it's nice for you to put on your websites."

[Butterfly Man]

Alright then just the Japs

Fair enough.

[Isabella]

And don't forget Christchurch

[Butterfly Man]

Sonny Holiday is so wrong

Thank you Isabella,
I have no problem with organizers using the word "world” for their respective events ... there is no contest at the Jodifest in ChCh.

But I take umbrage when festival organizers advertise a “worldwide competition” (a la Dublin & Shizuoku)… just because some performers live in different places on the earth doesn’t make any contest between them a world-class event.

But what really pisses me off (other than asinine expressions like "when you've seen one juggler, you've seen them all") is when one individual art form is compared and rated with another… such one-dimensional comparisons annoy me.


P.S. I don't test well either.




How could a man be satisfied with a decision between such alternatives and under such circumstances? No more than he can be satisfied with his hat, which he's chosen from among such shapes as the resources of the age offer him, wearing it at best with a resignation, which is chiefly supported by comparison.
- George Eliot

[Rachel Peters]

I think the Olympics should follow suit and have every sport compete against each other. Long Jump against Figure Skating, against Skeet Shoot.
See who's the best...thing.

agreed.

[Dan Holzman]

I understand why Mark and Conner call their festival "The World Championships" Like Isabella said they found that by having a contest format it was easier to get sponsership. The idea of performers coming from all over the world to decide who is best sounds better then the idea of them just getting together to provide entertainment and make some money in the hat.

That being said, the contest is pretty unfair. Since the audience gets to vote a lot depends on how many people get to see you perform. Having the larger pitches in prime time someone like "Space Cowboy"(who I thought was a very nice guy and a great street performer) has a huge advantage over someone working a street spot getting 5 times less people to see their show.

Shizuoko has a different, and I think more fair approach. All the performers have a show on the main stage where they are judged by a selected panel, of course they are still judging different types of acts against each other, but at least it is a more level playing field.

Dan

[Butterfly Man]

Judge not lest ye be Jodi or Shelly or Kim or Mark or Connor or Yamaguchi san

True, so true ... sponsorship dollars are the key to any festival's success but when I watch some performers go to any lengths to win these prizes it makes me quite ill (e.g. Halifax '88).

Peoples Choice Awards are just as bad as panel judges ... they are both doing the same thing ... exploiting not enjoying the various talents.

There are no such comparisons in nature.

Still, hats off to organizers who give people work to make people laugh ... like I said, it's all good.

[charliekarl]

Hey USA Breakers.

Lovely to get to know you guys in Toronto.

The Dublin festival is amazing, and the only drawback is that the rain potential is high (while the hidden sunbeam is that the crowds will show up anyway and appear, watch and cheer for full shows in pretty serious downpour).

It would not be a surprise to me if you end up doing your favourite festival show of your life there. In fact, I'll bet you a beer right now that will happen.

Mark and Conor are sweet guys with a rare combination of smarts and an ability to listen to performers.

Have fun, I'm looking forward to next time I can do it.

Cheers
--
Charlie

https://www.catchmagic.com

[Juggalicious]

I have to agree with Dan on this one... people getting different sized pitches isn't fair at all as far as the voting goes.

I have heard great and wonderful things about the festival itself - but as far as voting goes - everyone should at least get the opportunity to perform on the same pitch - which still won't guarantee the same size crowd depending on the time of day.

a panel of judges does seem like the fairest method of picking.

Alex