Affordability and accessibility key at this year’s fringe

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This article was published 19/07/2023 (1153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Chuck McEwen considers himself one of the luckiest people in Winnipeg entertainment.

“My job is putting on a party,” the executive producer of the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival says, about a week before the celebration begins.

After a few COVID-dominated years, McEwen knows a party is exactly what the city needs.

Last year, the fringe had its first opportunity to bounce back from the pandemic. In 2019, during the last pre-COVID festival, the festival played host to 178 companies and relied on the contributions of 850 volunteers.

Last year, the fest was operating at about 65 per cent of those levels.

McEwen calls the 2023 festival “recovery year No. 2,” with 143 companies bringing their original and adapted shows to the city from today to July 30. With nearly 700 volunteers patrolling 31 venues, the festival is expected to be operating at about 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

While the festival hadn’t undergone any major changes, each edition is a little bit different, McEwen says. This year, a large focus has been boosting affordability and accessibility.

With free entertainment at Old Market Square and ticket prices capped at $12 for adults and $6 for children, McEwen says the festival has always emphasized affordability, but with the financial impact of the pandemic still being felt, the festival is trying out a pay-what-you-can (PWYC) model at some of its venues and for select shows.

For all 48 shows at the 300-seat children’s venue at MTYP, tickets at the door will be PWYC.

“So if you have a family of two or three or more, and you can’t afford to pay the full ticket price, you can show up and contribute what you can afford,” he says. “We think that’s going to be very well-received, because there are a lot of families pinching their pennies and stretching their entertainment dollar.”

At the Exchange Event Centre on Princess Avenue (Venue #27), each Fringe Open Mic show is either $12 in advance or PWYC at the door. As in years past, there are 55 shows offering stand-alone performances with a two-tickets-for-$12 deal; check out winnipegfringe.com for more details.

As a way to attract younger audiences, any patron 25 years old and under can get tickets for any of the fringe’s shows for $10 at the door, McEwen says. That’s a new feature for this year’s festival.

Both PWYC and the discounted 25-and-under tickets are options McEwen hopes can become a permanent feature.

When it comes to overall accessibility, McEwen says the fringe has taken steps to make its programming more accessible for audience members with physical, visual or hearing impairments. Of the 31 venues, only four (Nos. 14, 23, 24, and 25) are not wheelchair accessible. Each day, at least one performance has full ASL interpretation, he says; a full list is available under the accessibility tab on the festival website.

This year’s festival program also has an index of shows that are accessible for deaf or hard-of-hearing patrons, audience members who are blind or have limited vision, and those who are new English speakers.

Last year’s Portage Place experiment, which saw two theatres pop up in the downtown mall, is not being repeated, McEwen says. Uncertainty over the mall’s future and possible impending sale led the festival to look elsewhere.

Instead, two venues have been added in St. Boniface at the Théâtre Cercle Molière and the Centre culturel franco-manitobain, each containing two stages. “We’re really excited about having a nice four-venue hub up there.”

The free kids’ stage, which last year was at Stephen Juba Park, is moving back to Market Square Park for this year’s festival.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com

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Ben Waldman
Reporter

Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University’s (now Toronto Metropolitan University’s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben.

Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.