the fringe is upset!!!

[toddvarious]

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/The-Fringe-tax-performers-charged.4095837.jp

[Stephon]

Dear God, it sounds almost. . .organized.

I've only worked the Washington, DC Fringe Festival, and the spirit of the Edinburgh festival may be different, but I paid $400 to get a performance space (I don't know what they did with street performers).

$10 a week or $25 for the run doesn't seem like that much to pay in order to pass the hat amongst one of the largest arts-supporting audiences in the world.

Is there some information that I'm missing?

[Evan Young]

I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.

[gav]

I think this will actually work out well for the chosen acts, but certainly hinders those just starting out.

[lambda]

Stephon: One thing you're missing is that you're getting the exchange rate backwards. £20 is about $40, and £50 is $100.

On the other hand, $40 for a week worth of a great busking venue doesn't sound too bad. If you're serious about busking and not just someone noodling on an instrument you should make enough that the $40 is basically just the cost of doing business.

Something the article doesn't point out is that if you want or get 3 or fewer performance slots, you pay only £5 per slot, so there is a fairly low barrier to entry for people starting out as long as they only want to do a few shows. There are also a few slots which will be randomly allocated to walk up acts, so some folks who don't register in advance will at least have a chance to get a slot.

I think on the whole, this will be better for the performers. Knowing in advance when and where your scheduled slots are, rather than having them assigned randomly each morning, is pretty valuable, and quite possibly worth the extra money you'll have to pay to be there.

You can find all of the details here: http://www.edfringe.com/story.html?id=922&area_id=191

[Stephon]

Originally posted by lambda
Stephon: One thing you're missing is that you're getting the exchange rate backwards. £20 is about $40, and £50 is $100.

Oh. Right. Math mocks me and stuffs me in my locker.

Thanks for the link--seems like a pretty sensible arrangement.

[Butterfly Man]

High Volume on High Street

Personally, I feel that the street shouldn't be regulated but I did this festival during the '80's and early '90's and it was one of the best gigs every year until the goddamn bagpipers converged on the mound.

It sounds like something needed to be done and they came up with a viable solution.

... other than this little ditty ...

If you can hold a large circle show lasting 45 minutes you are classified as a Street Performer -otherwise you will fall into the category of Busker

... I have always looked at the meaning of "Busker" to mean one who HAS to do it for a living and "Street Performer" to mean one that does it by choice.

So, I don't get the choice of terminology but otherwise the whole thing makes sense ... in light of the high volume of acts anyway.

[gav]

B man
I think you've got the meaning of busker wrong.
Busking is the act of entertaining on the street and asking for money from your audience.
It has nothing to do with having to or not.
Surely you've been out busking before without having to. If so, at that moment you are a busker.
All buskers are street performers.
Not all street performers are buskers.

This discussion is probably for another thread which already exists somewhere no doubt.

[tel]

it will get worse

This tax plus the new Immigration requirements to enter the Uk - is it worth it

[Evan Young]

this "tax" is meaningless. If you need to make up for the money spent you can stay in from the bar for a night.

[Rex Boyd]

There are certainly going to be some people who will complain about the changes but I can see why they are doing it. You need to put Edinburgh into the context of all the other international Fringe festivals that have always charged a fee in exchange for a set show time - Edmonton Fringe being the prime example. I don't know if things have changed but Edmonton did used to have an unscheduled "street" element that went alongside but unscheduled and apart from the paid for scheduled pitches. I am assuming that the mound in Edinburgh will still be there. Yes the infamous JUNGLE. That's the real street and it's damned hard to play but that's the price of a popular festival with lots of acts that want to play there.

Yes, the changes go against the "ethos" of the street, but the same thing happens at any normal pitch like Covent Garden or Pier 39. Some kind of system has to be arranged to accommodate all the performers. I suppose you can either decide to play along with the new rules or of course go start your own pitch or festival somewhere else and enjoy it on your own for a while until the rest of us find out about it and the process starts all over again. Oh well, c'est la vie...

Rex

[Butterfly Man]

Ngaio said it best:

C'est la vie
C'est la guerre
C'est la pomme de terre

translation:
Such is life
Such is war
Such is a potato

[livingspace]

i make myself sick but most of make me vomit.....

[livingspace]

oops thats most of you
its been awhile since i poke iglish

[Rex Boyd]

¿Que pasa Gringospace?