Jun. 27, 2012 - Issue #871: Edmonton 2012
Prevue
Found Festival
» Art to be found! / Zvonimir Rac
Presented by the Common Ground Arts Society
Various locations, $5 per event, $15 day pass, $30 festival pass
Schedule at commongroundarts.ca
Adventure and discovery can be as close as your own backyard if you're willing to look for it. This long weekend, the Common Ground Arts Society is reinventing the way Edmontonians see their surroundings with the Found Festival.
The festival is the first of its kind for the city, and artistic director Elena Belyea, a graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts program in Theatre and Creative Writing at the University of Alberta, says the festival is a way to give other aspiring creatives a chance to showcase their work in an accessible and affordable way.
Belyea says one of the hardest aspects of being an emerging artist, particularly when it comes to theatre, is being able to afford a venue. This festival features more than 40 up-and-coming artists specializing in theatre, dance and visual art, and serves as a reminder that art can be displayed anywhere.
"Doing it outside is a gift. It makes it that much more exciting," she adds.
The Old Strathcona district, which plays host to the festival, is one Belyea says the public is very familiar with, but through this event, she thinks the public's perspective can open up to reveal new possibilities for what can be done with public spaces.
"We're doing things in areas where you know, maybe you've walked by it a thousand times and haven't given it a second glance, whereas we're hoping to do things where you'll be walking with a group and something flies out of an area that maybe changes your perspective on it," Belyea notes.
Visitors of the Found Festival can check out a roving Shakespeare play called Midsummer's Lucid Dream hosted by Accent Lounge, which requires the audience to physically follow the actors as they perform; the #PATIYOLO Electric Dance Party outside Wunderbar; Rigor Mortis, a choreographed piece at Southside Memorial Chapel, to name a few.
Belyea hopes that groups of festival pass holders travelling together can also get to know one another and interact more than they would on an everyday basis.
"It's kind of going to be like if you accept a carpool to Calgary and you don't know anyone else in the car and you go, 'Well, we've got three hours, I guess we're going to get to know each other,'" she adds. "You're going to get to know the audience. The audience will be sort of its own little pack." vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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