Will volunteering for art. When attending Shad Valley in 1995 I was happily introduced to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Wow: original, struggling artists from around the world to be seen for a few bucks. Years later, my brother discovered the Montreal Fringe Festival and volunteered for it. As my brother and I share similar interests, I went to see a few shows, fell in love with the festival and has been giving it a week of my time ever since.
You see, the Montréal Fringe is really about two things:
- 1) The stage performances:
- Over a hundred different original shows to choose from, be it theater, music, dance, poetry, improvisation or "wtf?". Each show costs less than $10 CAD (plus service charges), and since the selection is made at random (unjuried) often before shows are actually written, performances vary from rotten to superb.
- 2) The volunteers:
- Over 200 volunteers perform various duties during the 10 days that the festival runs. Contrary to some low-paid workers, these fun-loving folks enjoy their work and have a good attitude with the patrons. That's what I've always loved about volunteering: it attracts positive, open-minded humans, all happily working towards a common goal. A rare breed.
(Ok ok, true, there's also the flowing beer, the fun parties and the tons of free shows volunteers get to see.)
Do yourself a favor and give your local non-profit Fringe Festival a visit, most major city has one (or a variation of sorts). It makes for inexpensive entertainment (think cheap date) and fosters diversity. If you've got some time too, try lending some of it for an afternoon or an evening and taste the fun of the fringe, you'll most probably be hooked too.
You'll find a short list of some fringe staff' and volunteers' websites under my friends & Acquaintances page.