The Melbourne Fringe Festival: An Open Festival for Independent Artists? - Page FourTHE STORY OF A FRINGE FESTIVAL AND THE ARTISTS THEREIN - PART 2Lucy then arrives while I'm on the phone to Margaret, Lucy informs me that 'it is off because the fringe told John (the bar manager) we cant be there', Margaret hears this because I am still on the phone, but offers no explanation, in fact says that is not correct. I end the call with Margaret as it now no longer matters because we can't do the show. All along I was very polite.We go up to the town hall to talk to Douglas, the producer of that venue. We collectively phone the fringe (as John, the bar manager, advised if we needed to find out more) but the office is now closed. Lucy phones Hubert, the Melbourne Fringe Festival independant program producer, on his mobile to find out why we we are not allowed to play at Some Bar and why Hubert told John that. He evades that question, but constantly brings up my (very quiet) website where I ask people to buy tickets at the venue door so we can make more money. At least five times he states "we were prepared to let that slide but now ...". Lucy, the customer service professional, was very polite and concilatory throughout. Hubert also questions "I don't understand why he is in the fringe" and "he's been nothing but trouble" - both are perplexing - we've had nothing to do with them. Hubert, the Independent Program Producer of the Melbourne Fringe, then clearly states that if we take down the material from the website he will phone Some Bar to tell them that we are allowed to play there. Lucy agrees, there is little option but to, we have a show to do in a couple of hours. The next day I take down the offending material from the website - primarily to spare John, the bar manager who was so supportive of us, any more calls from the Melbourne Fringe, I also read the 'Artist Agreement'. There is nothing in it about changing venues, cancelling shows or altering ticket prices. I write several emails asking Margaret to clarify the accuracy of what she stated the day earlier. Initially she avoids that question and the simple question of 'can we change the entry price to donation or free?'. Eventually she states that indeed we are contractually obliged. There are two worrying aspects: A Melbourne Fringe Festival staff member phoning a venue to tell them a show CANNOT play there, then telling the show they can play if they take down factual information from a personal website. Regardless of the taste and the tact of the website surely this is censorship in addition to shutting down an independant show in an open festival. This is really disturbing and if we don't address these things at this level how can we expect society to address it when governments do it? The second aspect is that another Melbourne Fringe Festival full time employee, by their account having no knowledge of the dealings of the other staff member, quoted a non existant clause in a contract to deny rightful service artists - and if we followed her directives, as stipulated by the non existant clause, we would have had no option but to cancel the rest of our shows. Of course we did not do that - we busked the show and those who did buy tickets through the Melbourne Fringe ticketing system (all four of them) we treated like kings and they were happy. What you have read so far in the story is a slightly edited version of the story that I emailed to the Chairman of the Melbourne Fringe Festival board. We felt shattered by the experience and had to tell someone who might be in a position of preventing this happening to other artists. Next Page - The Melbourne Fringe Responds |