“A Terrible Show For Terrible People” producer James Carroll (L) and creator, producer and star Bonnie He attend Fringe ArtSpace’s grand opening ahead of performing during Orlando Fringe’s Winter Mini-Fest this past weekend. (Photo by Jeremy Williams)
ORLANDO | Orlando Fringe opened the Fringe ArtSpace Jan. 11, providing a space for artists to share their work with the rest of Orlando. They hosted their first event, the annual Winter Mini-Fest, in the new space this past weekend.
“Fringe ArtSpace is incredible so far. I mean, just opening it, just now with Winter Mini-Fest has been a really fantastic experience to date. We’ve exceeded all expectations, we’ve exceeded ticket sale goals, the audience reaction and artist reaction has been overwhelmingly positive,” Orlando Fringe executive director Alauna Friskics says.
Fringe opened the ArtSpace to fill a need for venues within Downtown Orlando’s art community.
“There’s not a lot of opportunity for emerging or smaller groups to get in. This is an opportunity and we’ve already filled it,” Friskics says. “We’re looking for unique ways to utilize the lobby, come out onto the plaza in front of the space, utilize empty storefronts downtown. I think there’s a lot of opportunity that we’re going to be exploring as we go into the future once we really get this up and running.”
Fringe’s annual Winter Mini-Fest showcases curated shows the Orlando Fringe has found and deemed the best of the best. The four-day festival shines a spotlight on shows that Fringe wants to share with their audience. It’s smaller than Fringe’s May festival and provides an opportunity in between May festivals for Fringe supporters to come out and support the shows.
“I think what Mini-Fest offers, because it’s a curated festival, is an opportunity to see a tried and true show that we’ve sort of put a stamp on it and said we know it will be good,” Friskics says. “There’s hanging out and socializing and the true Fringers can come and hang out. It’s a more intimate experience.”
Performer Erika MacDonald has been driving to Orlando from her home in Kentucky to attend May’s Fringe festivals and Winter Mini-Fests since 2014. She performed her one-woman show, “The Barn Identity,” at this year’s Winter Mini-Fest.
“I think it’s helpful that the Fringe controls this space so they can really do what they think is best in terms of the layout and all of that. It’s been a really good experience,” she says.
MacDonald attends different Fringe festivals across North America throughout the year. She’s on tour from May to September performing at Fringe festivals and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She adds Orlando Fringe is the biggest and most well-organized Fringe she’s worked at.
“At this point, Orlando kind of feels like a second home. Our hosts are so wonderful and the audiences here are pretty game. They’ll come along, they’ll at least give something a try. It’s well worth coming down,” she says.
Orlando Fringe volunteer and performer Melanie Bailey moved to Orlando seven years ago and has volunteered at Fringe since her move. Upon moving to Orlando, she realized that there wasn’t a real place for art and culture to be shared in downtown Orlando. She says the Fringe ArtSpace fills that need for artists.
“I think the ability to bring art and culture to downtown Orlando again, and to make it accessible for everyone, is amazing. I am so excited to be here in ArtSpace and I can’t wait to share what we’ve built as a community with the rest of Orlando now here which I think is going to be so much easier to do downtown,” she says.
Although it’s been open for less than a week, the ArtSpace has already served its purpose of providing a space for Orlando artists. Friskics says that she wanted the space to feel like a home for all artists and she has already seen that happen this weekend.
“There was a woman who was a young person who was sitting on the bench in between shows. There was no one else in the lobby and I walked by and she had big headphones on and was crocheting. She was creating art in the lobby while listening to music, just in the corner by herself, and I looked over at her and just had this moment of, ‘This is exactly what this space is. It’s what we wanted it to be,’” she says.
The Fringe ArtSpace opens its spring season Jan. 26 with “VarieTEASE GENESIS.” Upcoming events can be found at OrlandoFringe.org.
