May 18, 2021 – North Bay, Ontario
The On The Edge Fringe Festival is receiving support from the Government of Canada to help with it’s operations from 2021-2024.
The Honourable Anthony Rota, Member of Parliament for Nipissing-Timiskaming says, “I am happy to see this organization getting the assistance they need so that they can put together this wonderful festival that allows aspiring and professional artists from Nipissing-Timiskaming and around Canada to have a platform to perform their talents. It is important to celebrate our arts and culture, this becomes especially evident during a pandemic.”
The On The Edge Fringe Festival will receive $66,000 in total over a four-year period. The funding comes from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Canada Arts Presentation Fund Program.
Festival Administrator Tara Windatt says, “It is going to help us keep going this year.”
“It will help offset staff cost and it will help offset artist fees. Even just our organizational day-to-day expenses will be helped with this funding and so this is really great news.”
Windatt and Artistic Director Kelsey Ruhl are part-time staff that run the festival, while a grant from Canada Summer Jobs will help in hiring for other positions, with the festival taking place August 10th – 14th 2021.
Ruhl says, “the Festival generally runs out of the Capitol Centre and so we are waiting on some announcements to make sure we can follow their safety standards act. However, last year we pivoted online, and we found that some people who might not normally be able to come to the festival were tuning in.”
“That allowed us to reach a new audience and so that’s why that no matter what happens, we do plan on keeping some parts of the festival digital.”
Windatt and rule also organize two other annual events: Duality a multi-arts incubator that runs in tandem with the Fringe Festival, and the Sun Dog Theatre Festival which takes place in March.
Associated Links:
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61O7tX3w13A&t=7s
