Avant-garde chic returns to Auckland in 2010

Media Release: 25 June 2010

Avant-garde chic returns to Auckland in 2011

After the overwhelming debut season in 2009, bringing something a little “left of center” to Auckland audiences, THE EDGE and Auckland Festival once again construct a platform for all things “fringe-based”… with the announcement of the 2011 Auckland Fringe!

The inaugural fringe served as an open access platform for performing and visual artists which ran alongside the Auckland Festival, allowing anyone and everyone a chance to perform all over the city; be it at last year’s “hub”, The Basement, on the street or in a variety of found spaces.

The veritable smorgasbord of weird and wacky, strange and unusual, indie and thought-provoking acts in its first year included a pirate-themed burlesque and cabaret, laser light shows on the iconic Lions Rock in Piha, the life and times of “the James Dean of Jazz” Chet Baker, comedic overdubbing of old movies and local television, and even a one woman piece involving milk being poured over herself – Auckland Fringe allowed anyone to do what they want in the name of art.

And as the envelope was pushed very far in its debut outing, so was the number of attendees to the season; 10,000 paid ticket buyers watching 75 shows performed by 900 artists involved, with an estimated 30,000 people accounted for in non-ticketed events, thus proving that the festival was not just for fringe audiences but for all Aucklanders.

Auckland Fringe 2011 looks to eclipse those figures with bigger numbers attending more shows and a plethora of new performers putting into action ideas that have been breeding in the past twelve months – with artist registrations opening mid-August and the programme announced January 2011, the festival can only get bigger and better.

Auckland Fringe Director Sally Barnett says "I was thrilled with the overwhelmingly positive response from artists and audiences to the inaugural Auckland Fringe in 2009. Fringe is by definition unpredictable - one of the joys of an open access event - but given the amount of interest shown already for 2011 I am sure we will end up with a programme just as diverse, entertaining and challenging next year.

2011 also sees two new initiatives take place – an opening weekend event at Myers Park on February 26th to kick off the festival, and an awards ceremony at the end of the festival; elevating the stars of the Fringe with recognition both nationally and internationally.

Key AUCKLAND FRINGE DATES:

August 13 2010 – Artists registrations open
October 15 2010 – Artists registrations close
January 21 2011 – Fringe programme and website launched
February 25 – March 13 2011 – AUCKLAND FRINGE
February 26 2011 – Auckland Fringe opening event

www.aucklandfringe.co.nz

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