FIND YOUR MATCH FESTIVAL REVIEW
THANKS TO THE VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL VOLUNTEERS AND STAFF FOR THEIR IMMENSE CONTRIBUTION TO THE FESTIVAL!
FOR SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITIES, PLEASE CONTACT: Gareth Duncan Director of Sponsorship and Development gareth@vancouverfringe.com
PHOTOS BY: Michael Sider MyCity Photos Susan Knight Studios Christache April Alayon Sandie Chen Hilary Currie Caitlin Bauman Ana Garza Shantini Klaassen ILLUSTRATIONS BY: Zuzia Juszkiewicz
2
VANCOUVERFRINGE.COM
TABLE OF CONTENTS 5
FESTIVAL OVERVIEW
6
THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS
9
MARKETING INITIATIVES
11
OPENING NIGHT
12
THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FRINGE-FOR-ALL
13
FRINGE ONSITE
15
FUNDRAISING INITIATIVES
17
ST. AMBROISE FRINGE BAR & THE BAREFOOT WINE & BUBBLY STAGE
18
ARTISTS’ CABARET
19
FRINGE AWARDS NIGHT & THE PUBLIC MARKET PICK OF THE FRINGE
20
PLANS FOR 2014
VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL
3
Festival Demographics Attendance:
35,000+
Volunteers & Staff:
500+
Artists:
200+
Social Media: Newsletter Subsribers
18,000+
Facebook Fans
5,200+
Twitter Followers
7,000+
Age: 18 and under
1%
19-25
13%
26-35
23%
36-45
17%
46-55
15%
56-65
15%
66+
9%
Gender: Female
65%
Male
33%
Transgender/Gender Neutral
2%
Income: Less than $20,000
25%
$20,000-$40,000
18%
$40,000-$60,000
13%
$60,000-$80,000
6%
More than $80,000
14%
Rather not say
25%
Geography:
4
VANCOUVERFRINGE.COM
Metro Vancouver
80-90%
Suburbs and beyond
10-20%
FESTIVAL OVERVIEW Thunder and lightning lit up the sky and shook the buildings—and the Fringe Festival was off to another wet and wild beginning! The first day is always a little crazy. There’s no way to ease into 700 performances in 11 days. Getting all the venues up and running with volunteers, tables, and tickets is inevitably a kind of gong show—and this year it was echoed and amplified by the rolling thunder and bucketing rain. But the show went on inside the theatres and outside, too, as our intrepid Onsite performers handed out umbrellas and played to brave sold out houses! As is the case with site-specific theatre, the heavens provide moments that would take millions of dollars to recreate indoors— like a rainbow over the ocean at the end of your play (which happened for My Hole Life). The days that followed were just as surprising with scorching hot sunny summer days. But rain or shine, the real action was on the stages, be they indoors or out. We were blessed with an exceptionally talented group of artists who wowed audiences. Popular artists who had been touring the circuit finally got their chance to show Vancouver what the rest of the country had been raving about: shows like N.O.N.C.E. (a spoken word piece about teaching poetry in maximum security prisons), Threads (escaping war-time Vietnam while nine months pregnant), 6 Guitars (a virtuosic exploration of six different characters and their musical styles), and The Adversary (a real life story about navigating the reality of Victoria’s homeless addicts). Our homegrown talent also had its chance to shine. Against Gravity (a whole new world of shadow puppetry), Hockey Night at the Puck and Pickle Pub (a rollercoaster of a hockey ride), and Unpossible! (a beguiling magic show) all showed audiences how our artists have matured over the years into the unique performers they are today. These are just a few of the 89 shows that took to Fringe stages in 2013! The energy and the party that celebrated all this theatrical fusion was also exceptional. Fueled by food truck delights, coffee, chocolate, beer, wine, and each other’s company, we connected on a deeper human level through theatre. We came to know artists through the stories they told on stage and off. We spent countless hours with hundreds of volunteers who would otherwise be strangers to us and to each other. For 11 days, theatre brought us together, helping us to know more about what it means to be human—what makes us laugh, what makes us cry, what outrages us, and what makes us stand up and applaud. For 11 days, we cared deeply about theatre and, knowing more about ourselves and each other, we cared deeply about each other. I saw brilliant shows at the Fringe this year—some of them moved me in unexpected ways. I saw people caring for each other during the Festival beyond everyday expectations. I am so proud of everyone—board members, staff, volunteers, artists, donors, funders, and sponsors who came together to show that they truly are a community. The pages that follow will show you images and words that prove theatre really is for everyone! —David Jordan, Executive Director VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL
5
THANKS, PARTNERS! Our sponsors help elevate the Festival in unique and powerful ways! Strategic cash and in-kind support from returning and new Partners raise us from a great Festival to an unparalleled one that is memorable to all. Whether it was at the St. Ambroise Fringe Bar, the Fringe Box Office, Opening Night, the Fringe-ForAll, special VIP events, the Volunteer Centre, or Festival-wide through a number of initiatives, you make the difference. We extend a huge welcome back to our returning sponsors: CMHC Granville Island, the Georgia Straight, car2go, CTV, McAuslan-St. Ambroise, Mac Station, Camino, Speedpro Imaging, AGRO CafĂŠ, Origins Organic Coffee, RBC Foundation, Blenz Coffee, Edible Canada, Dockside Restaurant, and PrintPrint.ca. With so many combined years backing the Festival, you form a key pillar of our success and we thank you for joining us once again. In particular, car2go and McAuslanSt. Ambroise stepped up their investment and the impacts were clear in our two outdoor Hubs, which were busy, exciting, and the place to be in 2013! Our new Partners were no slackers, either, providing everything from essential libations and cocktail sampling, to radio and social media presence, to core support for the Get Lucky Festival-wide Raffle. Enormous thanks to: Saint Bernadine Communications, The PEAK, Motorino, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, HootSuite, G Adventures, The Great Jamaican, and My City Photos, who helped us capture and share the special memories of the 2013 Festival. A special shout out to Saint Bernadine, who gave us our new logo, new website, and Fringe Toast!
6
VANCOUVERFRINGE.COM
BECOME A SPONSOR Businesses like yours form a key part of the success and growth of the Festival, enabling the Fringe to take the Festival to the next level. As the Fringe adds to its audience base and enhances their experiences, new and renewed strategic partnerships with sponsors play an indispensable role. In turn, when companies sponsor the Fringe, they reap the benefits of associating their brand with a high profile event while developing a meaningful relationship with our large and diverse audience. With an attendance of over 40,000 and an additional 350,000+ Granville Island visitors during the Festival, the extent of your reach can be huge! We invite you to become a Fringe sponsor. We pride ourselves on tailoring sponsor relationships to embrace each partner’s unique vision and goals. To give you a sense of what is possible, below are some highlights of what you, your company, and its VIPs can enjoy. Tailor-made Sponsorships may include: • Exclusive venue or event co-branding with the Fringe and associated marketing • Category exclusivity • Site activations (e.g., the Fringe Bar; Box Office Hub; within events) • Sampling or branded merchandise distribution (in addition to, or as part of site activations) • Venue naming rights and curtain speech recognition • Festival-wide and/or Pick of the Fringe/Pick Plus curtain speech recognition • Profile at our Opening Night and other special events, with podium recognition and other associated marketing • E-newsletter feature article and/or advertising (18,000+ recipients) • Contest opportunities • Focused social media co-promotion • Micro-activations with related advertising • Product/Services endorsements • Tickets to Opening Night, Pick of the Fringe, and special events All Sponsors enjoy: • Logo placement in Festival Program Guide, on Partner Recognition Boards, website, and in select print ads and posters • Social media interaction (5,200+ Facebook fans & 7,000+ Twitter followers) • Advertising in Festival Program Guide (30,000 printed; 48,000 online visits • Tickets to Mainstage performances • Invites to VIP and sponsor meet and greet events
VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL
7
8
VANCOUVERFRINGE.COM
MARKETING INITIATIVES It was a banner year for the Festival’s public presence and marketing. Our theme this year was Find Your Match, and thousands of people found their theatrical match among the 89 shows at 20 different venues. Festival attendance held strong, and the turn-out at our free performances on the Barefoot Wine & Bubbly Stage at the St. Ambroise Fringe Bar was stronger than ever. Thanks to our friends at St. Bernadine Mission Communications, we had a brand new modern logo and a new website that attracted record numbers of visitors. Our popularity on social media continued to grow, reaching over 5,200 Facebook likes and over 7,000 Twitter followers. Our new sponsor, HootSuite, helped us get the word out, providing a social media workshop to our artists. What’s more, the good folks over at Stratford Festival Reviews did a survey of Canadian Fringe Festivals—and found that the Vancouver Fringe had the best social media of any Canadian Fringe Festival, as measured by their Klout score. It’s great to see our increasing investment in social media pay off! We benefitted again this year from our long-standing partnership with Blenz Coffee, which served as the primary distribution network for our program guides. In 2013, 30,000 program guides were printed, and the guide received another 57,000 online views. We continued our sponsorship with the Georgia Straight, who provided us with eight advertising insertions over a 6-week period—and once again, Georgia Straight readers voted the Fringe Festival Vancouver’s best Performing Arts Festival! Additional print advertising partners included Xtra!, Beatroute, Discorder, Pacific Cinematheque, and the Arts and Cultural Guide to BC. We maintained our outdoor marketing presence with 12 city-wide transit shelter posters for a 4-week period, a 6-week run on the outdoor electronic billboards at Robson and Granville Street, and city-wide poster distribution throughout August and into the Festival. For the first time, the Fringe ventured bravely into the world of online advertising. Through a combination of text-based and display advertising, the Fringe received over 1.5 million impressions through this initiative, and exceeded industrystandard performance rates by a factor of three to four—an encouraging start to this program. The Fringe’s e-newsletter continues to be extremely popular. With over 18,000 subscribers, we provide the Fringe fan base with regular doses of news on all the latest happenings with Fringe artists and the theatre community at large. Our large and loyal readership makes the newsletter an attractive choice for advertising to The Cultch, the Jericho Arts Centre, Simon Fraser University, and many others. In addition to our advertising and promotional campaigns, the Fringe remains popular with the media, with extensive publicity from Vancouver’s major media outlets, including CTV, Shaw, CBC and CBC Radio-Canada, the Georgia Straight, the Vancouver Sun, and the Province, as well as numerous niche media outlets, popular websites, and blogs.
VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL
9
10
VANCOUVERFRINGE.COM
OPENING NIGHT Opening Night: Va Va Voom! That’s how we began the 2013 Fringe Festival at Performance Works—with a big, sexy smooch to start our 29th Festival in loving style! As they entered, guests each received a sparkling glass of bubbly from Barefoot Wine & Bubbly and salmon canapés from Dockside Restaurant to help them explore the Silent Auction tent, supported by over 100 local businesses, most from Granville Island. Dockside and The Keg Steakhouse & Bar (Granville Island) provided fantastic hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, while La Siembra (Camino) and car2go kept the sweet tooth satisfied with a chocolate fountain and celebratory cake, respectively. Barefoot Wine & Bubbly treated us to samples of its varietals and bubblies and, with McAuslan/St. Ambroise, kept the bar well-stocked with libations for all. Our VIP table guests received additional benefits with special appetizers from Edible Canada. They also went home with gift bags filled with treats from Sugar Cookies & Confections, The Great Jamaican, Camino, and other supporting businesses. CTV host, Aamer Haleem, welcomed us all to the evening and our Live Auction was one of our best ever, with support from Motorino, Edible Canada, VIA Rail, WestJet, Nk’Mip, and other prominent businesses. Along with a very successful Silent Auction and great showcases from some of this year’s Festival Artists, the night was a perfect opener for another banner year!
VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL
11
THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FRINGE-FOR-ALL For a crazy third year in a row, the Fringe-for-All was the place to be to kick off the Festival! Over an epic couple of hours, 46 Festival Artists claimed the stage with two minutes each, revealing part of their shows or otherwise promoting themselves to the undecided. New this year, three-year sponsor, car2go offered the new car2go Show award to the six previews that its panel deemed best. The instant voting, Ă la The X Factor, injected a new frenzy into the already-enthusiastic crowd and car2go promoted the winners to its own Fringe-inexperienced fan base. Once again, it was a sold-out, racuous, and successful fundraiser for the Fringe!
12
VANCOUVERFRINGE.COM
FRINGE ONSITE This was the third year for our mentorship program, Fringe Onsite. Led by The Only Animal, Vancouver’s premier site-specific theatre company, Fringe Onsite gave artists the chance to develop skills in producing site-specific theatre. Now well-established, this program marks a new chapter for the Fringe in which we actively partake in the creation of new work to be presented at the Festival. In a clear vote of support, the Royal Bank of Canada’s Emerging Artists Project continued to help us develop an even more rigorous program. We increased the program length to nine months to give artists more time for their writing and creation process. Over that time artists worked intensively with The Only Animal’s Producing Artistic Director, Kendra Fanconi, and our own Executive Director, David Jordan, to write and stage stories inspired by specific locations on Granville Island and then bring the space to life with actors, costumes, sound, and lights for the Festival. Artists learned about the challenges of working outside the walls of a theatre. 2013 shows took place in a food court, a waterpark, in a grove of trees, on playground equipment, and other unexpected locations. The 2013 edition of the program produced remarkable shows, and one received our Site-Specific Award; Meanwhile gave audience members an intimate walk (one at a time) through a grove of trees and allowed them to contemplate the fragility and beauty of the natural world before sending them back in to the world with a tiny seed in their hands. This program and the shows it creates represent exciting new ways for artists to create theatre and for audiences to experience it.
VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL
13
14
VANCOUVERFRINGE.COM
FUNDRAISING INITIATIVES AND PARTNERSHIPS We have increased Festival and year-round fundraising efforts and given higher and more prolific visibility to those efforts. Rising numbers and solid donor renewal rates show an audience that recognizes and deeply engages the charitable aspect of the Fringe, even taking ownership over the Festival. We continue to develop micro-sponsorship opportunities for businesses to support our fundraising with their products, targeted leveraging, and other means that connect our mutual goals and better engage our growing audience.
CURRENT SPONSOR INVOLVEMENT AND IMPACTS Our Festival-wide raffle receives extensive exposure with in-kind support— this year from G Adventures, The Great Jamaican, and Motorino. For the third year, La Siembra’s Camino products formed a cornerstone of support for our Festival-time fundraising efforts. Each year, we increase the presence and reach of all of these efforts. Year-round, as well as during the Festival, Edible Canada steps up to provide core support for our VIP Stewardship Events.
OTHER FUNDRAISING INITIATIVES AND PARTNERSHIP LEVERAGING/IN-KIND OPPORTUNITIES Spring for the Fringe: Our yearly fundraising in late spring—an excellent opportunity for matching/leveraging. Fringe Bar Outdoor Hub: Camino, The Great Jamaican, My City Photos, McAuslan/St. Ambroise, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly and car2go have shown the great potential for corporate presence here. Raffle: In-kind opportunity for solid multi-channel, Festival-wide exposure; G Adventures, The Great Jamaican, Motorino, and La Siembra benefitted this year. Flaunt Your Fringe: Ticket purchase top-up donation opportunity for matching/ leveraging (approximately 10,000 advance tickets purchased). Pick Plus: This expansion to the Festival presents a curated series—the best of the Fringe from Vancouver and around North America—and draws an audience who want to see the cream of the crop. Plus, its longer marketing period offers ideal exposure for a Partner. VIP Stewardship Events: Ranging from receptions to special insider opportunities during the Festival and throughout the year; Edible Canada, Dockside Restaurant, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, and La Siembra benefitted this year.
VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL
15
16
VANCOUVERFRINGE.COM
ST. AMBROISE FRINGE BAR & THE BAREFOOT WINE & BUBBLY STAGE The St. Ambroise Fringe Bar was the place to be before, between, and after theatre performances. Attendance and sales once again increased by a healthy margin, confirming that we’re doing a whole lot right! Each night local up-andcoming bands and DJs filled the air in the mostly outdoor Fringe Bar Hub with the latest in indie, roots, rock, pop, and dance beats from all eras. On most nights, the Fringe Bar kicked things off with the Fringe Talk Show, where local comedian, Riel Hahn, interviewed Fringe Artists. Add to that the increased sponsor presence and the new Food Truck Feast, which brought a mini-food truck festival to the Hub—and we perfected the recipe for amazing nightly social gatherings. For a fabulous fifth Festival, AGRO Café anchored the Fringe Bar as its central site and also served food and hot beverages. Meanwhile, new sponsor Barefoot Wine & Bubbly supported the free entertainment with the indoor and outdoor Barefoot Wine & Bubbly Stage. Barefoot took advantage of sampling opportunities, introducing Fringe Bar guests to a range of its offerings. On other nights, samples from new sponsor The Great Jamaican showed Hub guests how well Jamaicanstyle ginger beer works as a cocktail mixer. Throughout the Festival, La Siembra (Camino) and Motorino supported Fringe fundraising and the Get Lucky Raffle from the Camino Lounge. With privileged positioning just across from the stage, the lounge offered samples of delicious Camino fair trade, organic chocolate products in return for donations to the Festival. Also within the Fringe Bar Hub, My City Photos proved the variety of potential sponsorship contributions with an incredibly popular photo booth almost every night! Even St. Bernadine Communications, who designed our new logo and website, got in on some fun as guests enjoyed specially toasted Fringe Toast marked with their iconic logo!
VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL
17
ARTISTS’ CABARET Many Fringe Artists know each other well—they tour the Fringe circuit to Fringe Festivals across Canada and the US together and many call Vancouver home. These artists, often the most visible during the Festival, work together to host a cabaret-style fundraiser for the Fringe. On the final Saturday of the Festival, artists and audiences come together in a darkened room. Lit only by audience flashlights, the artists pop up here, there, and everywhere throughout the standing-room-only event, delighting all in this talent-heavy talent show. The night contributes thousands to support the Fringe and it delivers an experience that defies repetition.
18
VANCOUVERFRINGE.COM
FRINGE AWARDS NIGHT Local and international improv comedians hosted this celebration of the best and most popular productions of the Festival. The sixth annual Fringe Awards Night was practically its own bonus show. Many awards provide mentorship and professional development opportunities to our emerging artists. The Public Market Pick of the Fringe winners won holdover slots following the Festival. This event and its promotion also offered great exposure to our sponsors who supported individual awards: CMHC Granville Island, the Georgia Straight, and PrintPrint.ca. Last in the celebrations was the drawing of the Get Lucky Raffle winners. Thanks to support from The Great Jamaican, G Adventures, Motorino, Camino, and the Fringe, they won a 2014 all-access Kick Ass Pass, a chocolate gift basket, a scooter, and the grand prize, a 16-day adventure travel package for two to Costa Rica! Once again, the Fringe and Fringe Artists collaborated with the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society. Artists donated portions of their ticket sales during the Festival and the tickets to the Awards Night itself became a cash donation to the Food Bank. Together, we donated $2,200 to the Food Bank, allowing them to purchase over $6,600 in food for Vancouverites!
PUBLIC MARKET PICK OF THE FRINGE AND PICK PLUS In 2013, we partnered with SFU Woodward’s to help expand the Public Market Pick of the Fringe. The Pick Plus expansion included curated pieces from several local artists, including past Fringe favourites, before and after the Festival. The increased lead time for promoting these extra shows succeeded in drawing Festival-goers and additional audiences in our largest numbers yet. Currently, the Pick Plus is available for sponsor titling.
VANCOUVER FRINGE FESTIVAL
19
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE The Fringe is growing and evolving! We’re always working on making the Festival experience richer for audiences and providing opportunities for artists to create new theatre. We continually seek sponsors whose goals align with ours. We also seek to build stronger relationships with our community, including developing dynamic new Festival site activations. Here are some of the future projects you could be a part of: • • •
Developing a theatre marketing umbrella for independent theatre in Vancouver. This will open up new opportunities for year-round partnerships. Creating new Fringe Awards and enhancing existing ones. These prestigious opportunities make a huge difference in the creative life of Vancouver. Creating a venue specifically for musical theatre at the Fringe.
Partner with us and be part of creating a vibrant and world-class theatre culture through the Fringe!
OUR VISION Theatre for Everyone OUR MISSION To celebrate theatre and create opportunities for performing artists