And now a word from our amazing Support Director. Take it away Lex!

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Hi Freaks!

Your loyal Support Director, Alexa here. If you stopped by Fringe Central last year and saw a batty looking girl with two computers open in front of her in the lobby, that was me. Smiling blankly, but happy as kitten in a field of cat nip.

I hopped on the Fringe wagon about two years ago when I was still living in Chicago. I thought it’d be cool to help out with booking acts, learning about the festival and.. you know, volunteering. Not really having any idea what the festival would be like, it’s goals, or the dreams it had been developing for three years, I started emailing and futzing around with ideas, and by the time I moved to LA, I was knee deep in support and sucked into the beautiful vortex that is Hollywood Fringe.

So – Support. Support!

You know when you have a question and you email [email protected]? Those come to my ever growing inbox! I review each and every one of your questions, concerns, or problems, and either help you out myself, or enlist whichever of the HFF’s many talented staff members can best be of service.

If you have a question or problem that the site itself can’t answer (note: Ben’s blogs and the Learn section are REALLY great resources!), send it my way. Every single member of the staff wants your Fringe experience to be as fun and hassle-free as possible, and it’s my job to ensure that you walk away with the confidence of questions answered.

I am delighted to be a part of Hollywood Fringe again this year, and I can’t wait to see what 2011 brings.

And please, if you see me behind a desk at Fringe Central this year, come up, break my tunnel vision, and say hello!

Keep on keepin’ on,

Alexa

And now an important message from our volunteer coordinator, Liz Steele…

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Hey Fringers!

As many of you know, we had our first town hall of the year last week marking the beginning of the Fringe season. The energy was contagious at Theatre Asylum and carried over to the Three Clubs. Even with three months left to go before previews start, we’ve had such a great response regarding volunteers. Today, I’d like to inform you of a rather specific volunteer opportunity.

Last year, approximately half of our shows were from outside the Los Angeles area and 20% were international artists. For the practical minded of you out there, I’m sure you’re thinking something along these lines, “Artists, huh? Flying across the globe, even driving from the middle of the country, that doesn’t sound cheap.” And you’re right. But for a lot of artists, this festival provides very unique opportunities they can’t take advantage of elsewhere. So they plan and save and work their butts off to get to Los Angeles every June.

One of the kindest things a person can do is to open their home to a stranger. As you can imagine, when an artist is able to eliminate housing expenses from their visit to Los Angeles, this greatly lessens the stress that money can bring. This is an amazing opportunity for our volunteers though. It’s not just international artists that are looking for lodging, but also Americans from all over the country. We do a need for immediate housing for some international artists.

Just like with all of our volunteer opportunities, there are many factors that are very flexible. The lengths of stay vary and we’re dealing with artists so a few of them aren’t opposed to crashing on couches. So if you’re interested, please respond with the availability of your space followed by a brief description of the lodgings, is it a guest room, an air mattress, a couch, etc. Feel free to contact me with the information at [email protected].

This is one of the coolest opportunities we provide. It’s a wonderfully hands-on way to enjoy and experience the Fringe. Also, for those of you with 9-5 jobs whose hours of free time come rarely, this is a great way to volunteer for the festival and still have time to see shows.

So we look forward to hearing from you and fringe on!

Best, Elizabeth Steele
Elizabeth Steele
Volunteer Coordinator
[email protected].

Thanks again to everyone who attended the Town Hall this week.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, we have included the following audio track for your listening pleasure.

It begins with a rousing introduction by Matthew Quinn of Theatre Asylum (our host venue for the evening), followed by about 35 mins of announcements, and 90 mins of Questions & Answers.

Give it a listen!

Thanks to all the new faces, known faces, and fun faces who attended the Town Hall & Mixer last night. Lots of excellent questions from brilliant and inspired people.

We are working now on the audio recording of the Town Hall for those who missed it. Expect that up and available very soon.

Venue bookings continue as we approach the April 1 deadline. If you have any follow up questions, please contact us at [email protected].

Fringe on!

Ben

Let us all give a hearty fringe welcome to our Director of Special Programs: Mr. Jon Armstrong…

Greetings Fringlings,

You might remember me from the first Fringe fundraiser at Three Clubs, or if you may have seen my little card magic show at the inaugural Hollywood Fringe Festival. After Ben learned about my experience producing with the Orlando Fringe Festival and other worldwide fringes, I was brought onto the team to be in charge of special programs like Fringe Family, buttons, and organizing the entertainment in the tent. Basically everything that doesn’t fall within the normal prevue of my other team-members is probably my responsibility.

Fringe Family is a brand new addition to the festival this year. If you haven’t read the article introducing Fringe Family, you should. By showcasing family-friendly programming we are hoping to help families find shows that are more appropriate for a younger age group, as well as give producers of family/children’s theatre a chance to showcase new works.

This year there will be fringe buttons. The details about the program will be rolled out soon, but the button design is pretty awesome and you are going to want one.

In addition to the new stuff, this year we are improving the fringe common areas and will be tenting the parking lot at Art|Works. The tent will be entertainment central, complete with a bar and a small stage perfect for a variety of acts. There will also be postcard holders, a main schedule board to help you find a show, and fringe polls which will be a centralized place to plaster your posters and promotional material.

There is lots of new stuff and ideas coming to this the 2011 festival, so keep your eyes open for more updates. If you have any questions about anything I mentioned above or something else, please contact me!

Happy Fringing!

Jon Armstrong

P.S. Did I mention I’m a pretty famous magician?

editor’s note: he really is a famous magician.