Hockley just ain't ready...
Described by co-producer Gareth Morgan as starting with a “back of the fag packet conversation”, FONT Fest will promote Nottingham artists and performers across four local venues - Lee Rosy’s, The Lofthouse, Lord Roberts, and Rough Trade. Events will include Daniel Nicholas’ Reverb (The Love Story of Terrance the Crocodile and Julia the Mannequin), an open discussion forum about nurturing theatre in Notts, and the return of The Gramophones’ End to End show. Hazel Ward spoke to Gareth about the festival’s aims...
Promoting Notts talent
“We wanted to create a platform for professional and aspiring companies working and creating work in Nottingham, to give them a chance to perform their work in the city. It’s about the knitting together of contact books and casting the net a bit wider. We can get everyone who’s making work in that bracket and get some bits on at the end of May, so we can demonstrate that Nottingham really is punching above its weight.”
Organising venues
“We want to show venues the high quality work that’s being performed. That way, when we’re not in the festival circuit, we can operate a bit of an admin fee for being a mouthpiece. We can talk to all the artists we’re working with, or even artists who want to come on board next year, people who are developing work. We can then go to the people with the purse strings and the power and say, ‘we’d love you to host a night here’.”
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Where ya gonna go...
Facilitating funding
“I’ve come across some really interesting people through hearing about their work or reading something about them. I’ve been able to come to them with full pockets and say ‘I really like your work,’ and I’m able to facilitate a platform for them that gives them income as well. It’s not going to be a lot because the tickets are only £6, but all of the money goes straight back to the artist. That’s part of our philosophy.”
Helping artists
“They put in time, blood, sweat and tears, and miss gas bill payments. We want to put them at the centre. That’s why they’re getting the full financial gains of this. A lot of them have been incredibly helpful already and said ‘Ooh, we’ve got this’ or ‘We’ve got a lighting rig you could use’. It’s like a skills and equipment swap-share system. We’d like to facilitate that local help system.”
FONT Fest runs from Wednesday 27 - Sunday 31 May 2015. See website for full listings and details.
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