What Is a Fringe Festival? It’s SO Rochester!

I’ve learned that there are benefits to living off the beaten path. Because when the path is finally beaten, the result is never quite the same as anywhere else. Take my home—Rochester, New York—and its fringe festival. What is a fringe festival?! We’ll get there.

Let’s start the story in 1947 in Edinburgh, Scotland. That year, uninvited guests showed up to perform on the periphery of a curated arts festival, the so-called festival fringe. Over time, the fringe festival itself would become the main attraction.

Meanwhile, in the late 1940s, Rochester, New York, was thriving. The city had yet to reach its peak population of 332,488. Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch + Lomb were firing on all cylinders, and the subway system was going strong. In a few years, the Rochester Royals would win their first NBA championship.

The next 70 years were times of great growth—and contraction. The Edinburgh Fringe blossomed, eventually becoming the largest arts festival in the world—think 50,000 performances, 450 venues, and almost an entire month. Rochester, on the other hand, shriveled, at least by some measures. The population bottomed out at 210,565. Kodak declared bankruptcy, and Xerox and Bausch + Lomb moved their headquarters out of town. The subway and the NBA team became ancient history.

If Rochester were ever on the beaten path, it would have been an aquatic one, i.e. the Erie Canal. Regardless, by the second decade of the 21st century, the city was lost in the woods with no trail markers in sight. It had morphed from almost mainstream to decidedly quirky, or perhaps just weird.

In other words, it had become the perfect city for a fringe festival.

Planning began in 2008, and the Rochester Fringe Festival debuted in 2012. The visionary planners were, of course, privy to the silver lining that comes with being in the middle of nowhere. Stated another way, they knew that Rochester, despite its hiccups and bruises, remained a creative powerhouse. (The Flower City has subsequently been ranked the eighth-best US city for music lovers on a list of 200 and the 12th-most creative US city on a list of 331.)

Since its debut, the festival has flourished. Worldwide, there are about 250 fringe festivals, with approximately 50 being in the US. The Rochester Fringe Festival is now one of the largest in the nation, spanning 12 days, 600-plus shows, and 30-plus venues. It is the largest multidisciplinary arts festival in New York state, no small feat given that the same state has another not-so-small city.

In fact, even the New York Times has taken note, recognizing the festival as one of the country’s more prominent multidisciplinary events.

And that gets us back to the initial question. What the heck is a fringe festival anyway? According to the US Association of Fringe Festivals, the event should be:

• Performing arts-focused. The potpourri can include theater, comedy, dance, music, and the spoken word. Film and visual arts sometimes make the cut.
• Uncensored. Profanity and nudity occasionally make an appearance.
• Accessible. Fees for artists and audiences should be low, and the art should span the spectrum from amateur to professional.
• Multi-everything. Multidisciplinary, multi-day, multi-venue, and so on.
• Rapid-fire. Technical requirements are often minimal, and acts are usually under an hour.
• Original. It’s all about creativity and originality.

 

If the words random and eccentric come to mind, you get the idea. Rochester is, after all, that place where one camera frame can include a Tesla and a tractor, snow and a school bus, ultra-conservative and ultra-liberal, or corn and a skyscraper.

In keeping with that spirit, the Fringe lineup can range from Colin Jost (of Saturday Night Live fame) to A Nerdy Gay Juggling Show to belly dancing to a ton of stuff whose description I don’t actually understand.

The bottom line: While there’s comfort on the beaten path, the one less traveled comes with serious perks. Sorry, fringe benefits.

 

Reference

Rochester Fringe Festival Official Festival Guide