Thursday, July 9, 2009

Arts Funding and Fringe Fun

I am a little annoyed to find out how funding is doled out to arts groups in Canada...a good friend of mine and I are suspicious this has to do with politics...i.e. don't bother giving money to groups who won't vote for you.
Very Woodward and Bernstein - does that make my friend "Deep Throat" I wonder?
Check it out for yourself and be prepared to be outraged....for example $38,500 to the Edmonton Jazz Society..a pittance!
Hillside and Ottawa Folk - $60,000...sad...while some very small time and new organizations get the same amount...
On a happier note saw a great production, a one man show at the Fringe today " Jem Rolls - Leatest Flops". That's him in the photo (vancouverfringephotos - flickr creative commons). He describes himself as a "performance poet" which means there is no real job description, no boundaries...what a verbal hurricane . I couldn't believe what clever permutations and combinations he came up with.
Speaking of such things as tourists (hilarious) and being a "clanger" I think that's a British term for being socially maladroit. That poem included some of the best lines "I am the hedgerow clippers on the parasols of politeness...(think that's right) and also "I am the moles on your croquet lawn of niceness"!!
Then there was the lesson in British history - we won, we won, we won, we won, we won, we won - repeated rapidfire. I can't even put INTO words how he weaves and warps and wends...oh, I guess I just did.
Please go to his show!! I can't say enough about it..he's likely coming to a Fringe near you across our great land this summer. (He loves the fact he can do so many festivals in one country).

1 comment:

Susan Dunn, M.A. said...

Very interesting and I'd sure like to go see him. Also distressing about funding for the arts. Always a concern.