Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Using autoethnography as a framework, this paper documents the attempts to produce the first fringe festival in the town of Colchester due to take place in May 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed these plans forcing multiple postponements and then to the festival taking a new shape. The #ShopWindowTakeover was an Arts Council England funded project born out of the conditions and restrictions put in place pandemical society in the United Kingdom. It saw a range of ‘fringe acts’ perform behind glass in shop windows and/or outside to mostly unknowing audience members. By investigating a range of multi-disciplinary art organisations and organisers through a series of original interviews and my own personal first-hand experiences, this study analyses the curation and selection process within a festival format, in order to unpick the social, economic and ideological factors at work. Ultimately, this study asks the question if fringe festivals are a productive environment for artists to present their work and help further their careers. Applying resilience theory as its methodology, this paper allows the reader to understand my own personal trials and tribulations as a creative producer, and the key decisions and reformations born out of COVID-19 global health crisis in 2020.