Fringe Benefits for Leeds

Creating a top class event from scratch is nigh on impossible, but it’s the challenge the founders of Fringe: Leeds have set themselves. They want to launch a new festival of theatre in the city to re-invigorate Leeds acting community, attracting significant interest from across Britain and beyond.

The aim is to create an event similar to the Edinburgh Fringe or the Brighton Festival Fringe, mixing community theatre, emerging West Yorkshire talent and national headline performances on the same stage in Leeds.

But what exactly are its objectives and how did this festival, due to launch in 2012, get off the ground? I met two of the founders Lucy Meredith and Steve Diello to find out how achievable this ambitious project is.

Steve Diello said, like many good ideas, it started as a chat in the pub and developed into a serious plan of action:

“The original thought was to create an event to bring together Leeds community theatre groups and showcase them in the city.

“There are a number of good professional Leeds based companies across the city like Acting Up, Urban Sprawl, Unlimited, The Paperbirds and Slunglow, but they aren’t widely seen outside their own postcode. The event would be a way of making the work accessible to a wider audience.”

Lucy Meredith, a freelance actress who also works for Urban Sprawl, a homeless outreach theatre group, explained the Fringe: Leeds is much more than a community theatre project.

“Expanding the remit to include national and other professional theatre groups was a natural step to take. We want to create an atmosphere like the Edinburgh Fringe but with a more inclusive community feel.”

“It actually costs a lot of money to go to Edinburgh and promote a show and the aim is to enable any theatre group to perform at the event whatever their budget. It will generate an exciting and creative mix of styles and give a focus to theatre groups in the region.”

It is one thing to set the vision and another to deliver. Talking to Lucy and Steve, it is clear that a great deal of planning has already gone on to shape how this festival is going to work.

While many details may change ahead of its launch in 2012, the basic premise is to have three performance hubs. These would be around the Millennium Square, Holbeck Urban Village and the area by the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Leeds College of Music. A mixture of spaces from the large stage to street performance will enable virtually endless performances. Spaces will be filled on a quota basis, making sure community groups rub shoulders with headline acts.

The Fringe: Leeds will stage a warm-up event in the city in 2011 to test how well the event structure works and to whet the appetite for the full launch a year later.

Lucy believes getting the right, mix is important: “Whilst getting leading national performers to Leeds is great, we still need to ensure there are opportunities for Leeds groups. We’re also looking to provide graduate opportunities for theatre students.”

“This isn’t a business venture. It is being run by a committee passionate about theatre and our enthusiasm allows us to put in the hours of unpaid work needed to set up the event. This year is busy and next year will be even busier.”

Steve added: “We had an open event in September to gauge support and whether there were others who could get involved in the idea. The backing was unanimous and whilst others had had similar thoughts, they hadn’t been able to put in the hours to make this kind of event a reality.”

“We see ourselves as curators rather than organisers. We’re setting up a structure to enable people to take ownership of their own projects and are already looking at integrating the Leeds Festival Fringe music event.”

“By trying to get communities in street performance, film, musical theatre and visual arts to organise their own genre, we can integrate them into the programme and better understand their requirements.”

“Just imagine part of the Chapeltown carnival being re-enacted in the city centre. It would bring people into the city, promote the community event and be an amazing experience.”

2012 is a busy year and Fringe: Leeds is cautious about treading on the toes of existing events but wants to be included in the Cultural Olympiad in the run up to the Olympic Games. The vision is to create an event where you can’t escape turning a corner in the city centre and finding something fantastic going on. Can you imagine it? I can, and can’t wait.

The final word goes to Steve: “One person has already said this could change the cultural landscape of Leeds forever. It will help the local economy by bring people into the city and it is down to the people of Leeds to make it happen.”

For more information, go to http://www.fringeleeds.co.uk/ or follow @FRINGEleeds on twitter.