Amy Blackmore and Patrick Brennan
21 reasons to Fringeby Émilie Charlebois
I recently had the pleasure of loafing and traveling through Western Europe for six months. When you meet new people, especially while abroad, you will inevitably have to ask and be asked: ‘‘Where are you from?’’ Interestingly, it seems like Canadians often have to then also justify why they voluntarily live somewhere so cold. When you’re from Montreal it’s easy: the people, the food, ever-changing bilingualism, the parties, the wonderful cultural mixing, and most importantly, the summer. For three glorious months Montrealers develop winter amnesia as they are distracted by a multitude of festivals. And out of the all the festivities that are about to hit, the Montreal Fringe Festival may very well embody all the best parts the city has to offer.
Within the dark chamber that is the Katacombes on St. Laurent, Amy Blackmore (Festival Director) and Patrick Brennan (Special Events Coordinator) presented the festival’s 21st edition with promises that this year will be bigger than ever. In order to accommodate the increased number of applications they received, Blackmore and her team expanded the festival’s reach with 30 venues, 700 performances and 500 artists. In order to get the word out sooner and draw in greater crowds, this year’s press conference was held two weeks earlier than usual, and Blackmore’s team extended publicity efforts to the South Shore as well as within schools. While the Fringe has a strong community feel and serves as a great place to showcase Montreal talent, it also gets global. This year’s Fringe will host a variety of international artists, originating from South Korea (Probationary Theater Company), New Orleans (Texpatriate Productions) and Australia (Weeping Spoon Productions), to name a few.
