In the News

Competing necessary in arena of the arts

August 26, 2009
Winnipeg Free Press
By Morley Walker

It is an article of faith among arts types that competition is a bad thing.

The arts are about truth and beauty, don't you know, not beating someone else to the finish line.

But all artists have a competitive instinct, and a good rivalry works wonders for everyone.

Check out the results of this Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival, where thanks to an ongoing rivalry with the upstarts at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, they smashed their ticket-sales record by more than 10 per cent.

Free Press theatre critic Kevin Prokosh reported several times during our fringe in July that Winnipeg aimed to surpass Edmonton's total from last year. And we did, selling a record 81,565 compared to Edmonton's 77,800.

But Edmonton struck back big time. The final sales tally of their festival, which concluded Sunday, was an amazing 92,270.

Veteran Winnipeg performer Alan MacKenzie was in Edmonton for the first time this year with his comedy troupe ImproVision. He reports that the Alberta capital's fringe-goers were well aware of us breathing down their necks.

A few days after their arrival, in fact, they were even interviewed on the subject by Edmonton's CBC Radio there.

"The reporter framed it this way," MacKenzie says. "Nobody here wants to be beaten by the Slurpee capital of Canada."

A more gracious interpretation of our cities' fringe rivalry comes from an Edmontonian who commented online about a Prokosh article Saturday.

H. Lamar thanked everyone associated with the Winnipeg fringe, including the patrons.

"Thanks to the success of your fringe, ours and all the others are getting better too," Lamar said.

"Between us, we've created viable summer jobs for hundreds of formerly starving artists, giving them motivation, money, and purpose to impress."

The ratio of "stinkers" on the fringe circuit, says this Edmontonian, is now much lower than it used to be.

"Live theatre is alive in the North of this continent now, and that Winnipeg is helping to lead the way, far ahead of larger, closer Calgary, is no surprise. ...You have a long history as a cultured city."

Well, you have to admit, that kind of rhetoric is easier on the ears than references to "banjo-picking inbreds," or whatever you hear in other disciplines.

In truth, Edmonton and Winnipeg have much in common. We're both provincial capitals with large working-class populations and a history of Eastern European immigration.

We're both river cities, marked by cold weather and geographic isolation, the factors that led to both of us being self-reliant in so many areas, not just the arts.

Thanks to Alberta's oil, of course, Edmonton is now much richer and bigger, with a population of more than one million to our 700,000.

A top fringe ticket there has risen to $14, including a $2 surcharge that goes to the fringe's organizing body. Here the top ticket is $9, and one can imagine open revolt if fringe-goers had to pay more than, say, a first-run movie.

General admission at a SilverCity movie theatre in Winnipeg stands at $9.99. In Edmonton it's $12.50.

On the fringe circuit, Edmonton's Old Strathcona area, a combination of Osborne Village and Wolseley, flanked by the University of Alberta and the University Hospital, is the only site that arguably surpasses Winnipeg's Exchange District.

After his visit, MacKenzie tallied these positives about Edmonton's fringe:

Winnipeg might do well to look at some of Edmonton's positives, especially that free bus service to satellite venues.

The competition is not over yet.