Fringe Benefits, part 2

As Old City’s out-there arts festival enters its fourth year, artists, merchants and funders talk about what the Fringe has achieved — and where expectations are still falling short.

by Fern Sternberg

part 1 | part 2

Cheap Chic

If artists are largely happy with the Fringe, what do festival-goers think? Just ask around. That’s what the Fringe did last year. Questionnaires were sent to 460 randomly selected ticket buyers about their perceptions of the festival, their viewing habits, demographics and more. (And to make it all a little less dull, a crayon was enclosed for filling out the form.) Maxwell Associates, an independent consulting firm, helped the Fringe to create the survey and evaluate the responses.

Among the findings? Sixty percent of those surveyed thought the festival was very good. In describing the festival to a friend who’d never attended, the most frequent descriptions were "interesting/ exciting/ unexpected experience" (24 percent) and "fun/ entertaining/ good time" (19 percent). Judging from responses like these and the fact that attendance rose from 25,000 in 1998 to 27,000 in 1999, audiences seem pretty pleased with the Fringe.

The survey also revealed that more than half of that audience lives in the city and 40 percent in the surrounding suburbs, South Jersey and Delaware. Which means the Fringe is not only fun, it’s worth driving I-95 for.

But just because people come to the city to see the Fringe doesn’t mean they spend their money here — except to purchase tickets or park.

"I don’t sell any art. It’s a crowd that’s interested in art, not a crowd that buys art," says Becky Kerlin, director of Gallery Joe and a long-time Fringe supporter.

Like Kerlin, many Old City retailers and restaurateurs say they haven’t really felt financial benefits from the Fringe.

"It’s good to have around. People get better acquainted with the neighborhood, but I don’t get anything out of it," says Ralph Paschall, owner of Anthony’s Philadelphia Olde City Pub at Second and Market.

At Serrano, on South Second Street, co-owner Rich Macklin had a similar take: "I get a certain amount of increase [in business] but it’s not as strongly felt as First Friday."

And many local retailers say they are not affected at all, according to Cynthia Philo, Old City Special Services District executive director, who has verbally surveyed businesses about the effects of the 2000 Republican National Convention and the Fringe Festival.

But the Fringe is trying to change all that. One way is with the Fringe Button Project. Fest-goers can purchase one of 10 collectible buttons ($5 each) and can wear them to obtain discounts at participating restaurants and retailers. (In previous years Fringe buttons meant discounts on tickets; this year they will not.)

According to Stuccio, the buttons are an opportunity for artists to create, a way for the festival to generate income and a discount mechanism that’s also good for local businesses.

So far the Button Project doesn’t seem to be working out as planned. When asked about the Project, Paschall, whose restaurant is on the list of participators included in the official Fringe Guide, said he’d heard nothing about the project but would have participated if he had. Stephen Starr’s assistant was emphatic that the Continental was not participating, yet his popular establishment is also on the list. Stuccio says he has contracts for all the participants listed in the Guide.

The X Factor

If the festival isn’t yet a windfall for the Old City hospitality industry, it still gives a small boost to other segments of the city economy. Last year, according to Stuccio, the Fringe spent $33,000 at area businesses to purchase, rent and repair technical equipment and construction materials; $40,000 dollars in labor costs for a technical director and crew; and $25,000 for site rentals. Box office sales generated $120,000 (70 percent of which went to pay artists’ fees). Five year-round salaried jobs, two partial year position, three seasonal and 15 fest-run positions have been created.

But the larger benefits for the city are harder to quantify — and it’s those intangibles that have attracted local funders. "The arts activity of the Fringe connects artists and audiences. We think that’s a really valuable experience for the general public," says Olive Mosier, arts and culture program analyst for the William Penn Foundation. The festival’s biggest supporter, the foundation last year awarded the Fringe a grant of $198,000 over a two-year period for general operating expenses.

The Samuel S. Fels Fund has offered its support in the form of $7,500 grants each year since the Fringe’s inception.

"From a foundation point of view, that’s where the money belongs — in helping new talent find a voice and a place," says Helen Cunningham, executive director of the Fund.

The Independence Foundation has kicked in $150,000 over three years (through 2000) and the Pew Charitable Trusts chalked up $38,000 through its Dance Advance program to support Fringe commissions of work by Eric Schoefer’s Corymb and Jorma Elo’s The View From Over Here. The Fringe also has a number of corporate sponsors, including Fox Philadelphia, SmithKline Beecham and City Paper.

But that support is by no means a given. PECO was a major sponsor last year but decided not to renew its sponsorship (an anticipated $40,000) just a few months before the 2000 festival.

"PECO feels [the Fringe Festival] was a superb event. We were happy with it and our exposure through the event," says Ben Armstrong, PECO spokesperson. However, Armstrong added that due to a "re-evaluation of our sponsorship portfolio," PECO decided not to sponsor the Fringe this year.

What will the Fringe do without the expected funds?

"We have no choice but to spend the money. We’ll just have to find new sources between now and December," says Stuccio of the loss.

Helping him find new sources is City Councilman at-large James Kenney, a member of the Fringe advisory committee. Kenney, who met Stuccio several years ago through the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, is currently trying to convince the Delaware River Port Authority to contribute to the Fringe.

"The Fringe Festival is creating a cultural climate that is worthy of them supporting it," says Kenney.

The Fringe has tried to use portions of the Ben Franklin Bridge — the first year for Eric Schoefer’s Icarus and this year for Griftheater’s Dilapidating — but due to safety concerns the DRPA rejected both proposals. Now Kenney is trying to convince the DRPA, which has given a large sum of money to the arts this year — including $2.5 million for the construction of the Kimmel Center — to share the wealth with the Fringe. Kenney hasn’t got the DRPA onboard just yet, but he says he’s not giving up.

Future Yields

Perhaps the strongest argument for support of the Fringe — and its biggest potential contribution to Philadelphia — is that it can alter perceptions of the City of Brotherly Love.

That’s the hope at least of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation. As part of a marketing grant program, GPTMC awarded the Fringe Festival $15,000 in 1998 and again this year for the purposes of marketing the festival outside of the region. In 1998 the Fringe used that money to promote the festival in New York with ads in the Village Voice and the New York Times. But Stuccio says the ads didn’t really benefit the Fringe. "We just didn’t have the reputation to support it yet."

So the Fringe didn’t apply for the grant in 1999. But this year the Fringe is ready to try again, says Stuccio, only a little closer to home. While they’ve still taken out ads in the Voice and the Times, they’ve put more focus on places like Allentown, Reading, Wilmington and Baltimore.

In addition, GPTMC helped publicize the Fringe by spreading the word through their quarterly newsletter, which is sent to 3,000 national media organizations.

GPTMC research reveals that special events like the Fringe are what motivate many visitors to come to Philadelphia. "Without events, there doesn’t seem to be any urgency to coming to Philadelphia," says GPTMC President and CEO Meryl Levitz. "We felt that the Fringe Festival supports the build-up of Philadelphia’s image as a center for the visual and performing arts."

And Levitz isn’t alone in her thinking.

"We as Philadelphians have a reputation, in comparison to New York, as stodgy," says Helen Cunningham. "The Fringe shows we have performers and audiences that are not wedded to the past."

Fringe means future? That may be as good a reason as any to pin one of those buttons on your lapel.

The Button Project: Dissentia Curatorial Services’ Fringe Buttons feature original works by 10 artists: Kyle Cassidy, Nick Cassway, DCS, David Gerbstadt, Deborah Katon, Marc Manning, Tom Mazzullo, Brian Petro, Hiro Sakaguchi and Chris Wilson They cost $5 each and provide discounts when worn to various Old City establishments. Contact the Fringe Box Office for details.

part 1 | part 2