At the beginning of this year Forest Fringe made the decision that we would not be returning to the Edinburgh Festival, in order to give us the time to focus on some new projects and to reacquaint ourselves with the breathless feeling of attempting to do something we don’t yet know how to do. Since then we have started a monthly art club at Somerset House in London, run three new residencies in Edinburgh, Melbourne and Jakarta, and started formulating some plans for a big new project we hope to begin in 2018.
As we said at the time, we recognise however that the absence of Forest Fringe at the festival leaves a hole at the margins of the festival, a space where once there was an alternative idea of what the festival could be and how it might be run, and we want to do something to try and help support someone else to come and do their own thing, if not in our place then at least in the same spirit. A passing of the torch maybe.
This summer we ran a fundraising party at the Cameo Cinema where a succession of our favourite artists sang songs, bopped around a bit and were generally absolutely disgusting in the best possible way. We have combined the money raised there with other donations generously given to us via our website, a contribution from Live Art UK, the UK’s live art network, and some additional money from our own savings to create a new grant of £2500 to help support one or more new projects to happen at the Edinburgh Festival this summer.
The Pass the Torch Fund
If you have an idea for a project that you want to make happen in Edinburgh next summer that challenges the festival’s conventional economic model or creates space for artists who might not otherwise have a home there, be it a venue, a gathering or something else entirely, then you are welcome to apply.
Anyone is eligible.
To apply send us an outline of your project in no more than 600 words, including:
- Who you are
- What you want to do
- What the current status of the project is (i.e. if you already have some support in place, a venue secured, etc.)
Deadline is January 20 2018. The project or projects that we decide to fund will be announced by the end of January.
If you have any questions about the fund and to apply please email us – passthetorch@forestfringe.co.