Culturally Appropriating Space through Festival Identities

When inferring an identity for the Toronto Fringe, it can be argued the festival organizers’ shared vision is directed through their five step Strategic Plan, which states visibility, sustainability, leadership, innovation, and diversity are their main foci (Fringe 2015). Whether intended or not, festivals allow for the cultivation for personal and shared identity as they situate people with common aspirations into a specific space (Bennett & Woodward 11). However, the temporariness of festivals such as the Fringe tends to exploit communities through the “cultural appropriation” of the local space (Bennett & Woodward 18).

Traditionally, cultural appropriation has been linked to fashion at festivals like Coachella, where patrons dress in traditionally Indigenous garb such as feathers or headdresses (Chattopadhyay 2017, Avins 2015). I will be discussing the ways in which space should also be included in the discourse. Andy Bennett and Ian Woodward discuss the way “consumptive engagement” of festivals’ communities is both exploitative and a decree for cultural education (18). With Toronto Fringe’s decision to locate their central hub in the Alexandra Park neighbourhood comes a responsibility to engage the community and help preserve its culture. In the neighbourhood, 31% of households are low income, and on average, fall 30% below the city average (“Neighbourhood Census” 2014: 5). In a festival such as the Fringe which boasts “visibility” and “diversity” as part of their mandate, organizers have done little to integrate the neighbourhood’s inhabitants (Fringe 2014). In a discussion with Fringe’s Outreach Coordinator Kevin Matthew Wong explained how initiatives such as Scadding Court Community Centre’s Teen Fringe, and community performance groups bolster the organization’s relationship with the locals (Wong 2017). The organizers are considering certain conditions of reception such as “review discourse”, however the racial makeup of festival events such as the Fringe Tent do not correlate with the neighbourhood’s 40% visible minority population, meaning organizers’ actions have done little to produce results (“Ward 20”, 2014: 8).

The problem in the Fringe is rooted in the lack of profound community integration that allows residents to freely mingle within its events. In reality, an appropriation of Alexandra Park’s hockey rink is allowing artists to form an exclusive identity through the consumption of “boisterous activities” like Steam Whistle beer (Bennett and Woodward 11). When examining the entire park, I witnessed multiple homeless people displaced outside the park’s gates, steps outside the Fringe Tent. Woodward and Bennett assert that festival space can arise both organically and by design, depending on the conditions of productions (18). It is clear, however, that Fringe organizers must critically analyze and discuss the use of community space through resident interaction in formats such as town halls to situate a central hub that does not restrict the identity of the festival to the predominant group of elite theatre artists (Bennett & Woodward 11).

Works Cited

Avins, Jenni. "The Dos and Don'ts of Cultural Appropriation." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 20 Oct. 2015. Web. 16 July 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/ archive/2015/10/the-dos-and-donts-of-cultural-appropriation/411292/

Bennett, Andy , and Ian Woodward. "Festival Spaces, Identity, Experience and Belonging." The Festivalization of Culture. Farnham, Surrey; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2014. 11-25. Web. 16 July 2017.

Chattopadhyay, Piya. "How wearing a headdress to Coachella ignited a debate about the line between shaming and educating." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 26 May 2017. Web. 16 July 2017. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/outintheopen/public-shaming-1.4132574/how- wearing-a-headdress-to-coachella-ignited-a-debate-about-the-line-between-shaming- and-educating-1.4132578

Hauptfleisch, Temple. "Festivals as Eventifying Systems." Festivalising! : theatrical events, politics and culture. Amsterdam; New York: Rodopi, 2007. 39-45. Web. 12 July 2017.

Knowles, Richard Paul. "Theory: Towards a materialist semiotic." Reading the Material Theatre. Cambridge University Press, 2004. 9-23. Web. 12 July 2017.

Melvin, Joshua. "Avignon festival: Why it might not happen." The Local. 24 June 2014. Web. 16 July 2017. https://www.thelocal.fr/20140624/frances-biggest-festivals-at-risk

"Neighbourhood Census/NHS Profile: Kensington-Chinatown." City of Toronto. Oct. 2014. Web. 16 July 2017. https://www1.toronto.ca/City%20Of%20Toronto/Social%20Development, %20Finance%20&%20Administration/Neighbourhood%20Profiles/pdf/2011/pdf4/ cpa78.pdf

"Ward 20: Trinity-Spadina." City of Toronto. 2014. Web. 16 July 2017. https://www1.toronto.ca/ City%20Of%20Toronto/City%20Planning/Wards/Files/pdf/W/Ward%2020%20NHS %20Profile%202011.pdf

Wong, Kevin Matthew. DRM398 Seminar #2. University of Toronto, Toronto. 6 July 2017. Seminar.