StreetFest: An abridged (and ongoing) history
By Liz Lepper
A clear, sunny summer day on Churchill Square. Birds circle high above the plaza. Families lounge in a stolen patch of shady grass and partake in a picnic of elephant ears. Teens seeking tans line the steps along the Square’s periphery. Children, shrieking gleefully, splash in a fountain. Businessmen and women, lunchtime office refugees, remove suit jackets and let the sun warm their crisp, white shirts. A cabbage hurtles overhead. A man in a kimono spins a glob of pearly, golden toffee on a stick into an intricately detailed dragon. A woman in a poodle skirt wobbles on a plank balanced on a cylinder while juggling two flaming batons and a knife. Across the square, a tattooed, muscle-bound man stands on one arm, while the hand of the same arms grasps an equally-muscled-and-tattooed man’s head. A lanky fellow in plaid polyester pants positions himself beneath the falling cabbage, lancing it triumphantly with the spike-gilded motorcycle helmet he’s sporting. Several crowds go wild with laughter and applause.
From Humble Beginnings
For 10 days each July since 1985, The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival, over the years lovingly dubbed ‘StreetFest’ has seen a similar spectacle unfold in the city’s downtown core, the vision of a man named Dick Finkel. As StreetFest’s co-founder and longtime producer, Finkel laid the foundations for a world-class annual event celebrating the art form of street performance, presenting the highest caliber professional street artists, from dancers to puppeteers, stilt-walkers to musicians, jugglers, clowns, acrobats and performance artists of every stripe in more than 1500 outdoor shows. In remaining true to the roots of busking, these performances are in the “pass the hat” tradition; audience members, grinning and giggling, happily plunk coins or bills, at their discretion, into the artists’ hats at the end of each show.
When Finkel retired from the festival, the first of its kind in Canada, in 1999, he left some mighty big clown shoes to fill. Finkel had unwittingly built one of the most popular interactive events among “Festival City” audiences, and one of the most popular events worldwide among street artists, based on the simple premise of treating its performers with respect. Several of the artists who debuted at StreetFest have gone on to successful international performance careers, and they credit their achievements to Finkel’s passion for the art form and his talent as a mentor.
Onward and Upward
Enter Shelley Switzer, filler of the vacant clown footwear, fiery redhead and intrepid StreetFest producer since Finkel’s graceful exit. No stranger to street performance, Switzer came to the position from her posting as General Manager at Theatre Direct Canada in Toronto; prior to this, she was StreetFest’s Volunteer Stage Manager and Coordinator from 1989. Under Shelley’s stewardship, the festival’s innovative and creative programming has continued to grow, and, in turn, its worldwide reputation and popularity.
Switzer remains committed to encouraging the evolution of the street performing tradition, navigating field and stream, city, country and jungles of all manner to handpick the very best international and local talent for this entirely curated festival. On travels throughout Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and across Canada, Switzer scouts talent, assembling a menagerie of acts that will appeal to adults and children alike, as well as forging cultural exchange programs with producers of similar festivals in these countries. These exchanges not only provide StreetFest audiences access to a range of international artists, but also see Canadian artists programmed at festivals and events worldwide. StreetFest is also a founding member of CONFAB, a street festival association whose members are producers and presenters of events across Canada and the U.S.
While StreetFest has become a big walker on the international tightrope, the festival remains committed to the development of local artists and programming, as well as the community as a whole. The festival commissions local artists, both established and emerging, from various disciplines, to develop new street acts; John Ullyatt, Annie Dugan, Heather D. Swain, Lynette Maurice, Jeff Haslam, Leona Brausen, Davina Stewart, and Freshly Squeezed are but a few of Edmonton’s finest who’ve provided the festival with novel and innovative street programming.
For more than two decades, the festival’s ticketed theatre- and cabaret-style events, Late Night Madness, Women In Comedy and Vaudeville Revues, provided local actors the opportunity to try their directing and producing chops onstage, as well as street performers the chance to collaborate with their counterparts on all-new, one-of-a-kind improv, stand-up and variety-act material. In 2007, Shelley moved these two adult-oriented events from the indoor stages onto Churchill Square and formed the Troupe Du Jour series, which now rounds out each festival day at 10pm. The cast for the shows comprises a different mix of street performers every night, providing eclectic family-friendly entertainment for pass the hat admission on the Square.
In 2000, StreetFest initiated programming partnerships with the Spruce Grove Street Performers Festival, the Grande Prairie Summer Sizzling Street Performers Festival, and, two years later, the Red Deer CentreFest. In addition to providing Edmonton’s StreetFest performers with an additional 21 days of work, the partnerships share StreetFest resources with the community and introduce new audiences to an art form they might not otherwise experience. StreetFest also engages local street artists in the off-season by helping to produce for conventions, parties and special events.
Comedy Cares, a program that sees StreetFest performers bring the healing power of humour to patients, families and staff in local hospitals and long-term care facilities, is a long-time component of the festival which also expanded in 2000. Using highly-specialized forms of clowning, improvisation, character work, music and comedy, the program brings laughter to those who don’t have a chance to seek it outside care facility halls. Artist development is essential to this specialized form of entertainment, and StreetFest provides its performers with regular clown-therapy workshops led by internationally renowned professionals, including Dr. Bernie Warren, Paul Kalina, and Jana O’Connor. StreetFest has extended its Comedy Cares visits to the off-festival season, touring throughout the Edmonton area, Alberta and British Columbia year-round.
As StreetFest continues to grow, so too will its need for new talent. To this end, and to the delight of legions of future street artists, the festival has added Kids’ World and Be Your Own Busker to the festival’s programming. Kids’ World provides size-small StreetFest audience members tools and tricks of the trade, helping them make the instruments, music, costumes necessary for a long, successful career in the street arts. Young audience members (of all ages) can also hone their plate spinning, diabolo, juggling, face painting and hip-hop dancing skills with Be Your Own Busker. Are the Kids’ World and Be Your Own Busker shameless StreetFest artist recruitment initiatives? Maybe. Do they provide participants with an arsenal of party tricks, if not career-building skills, as well a lot of laughs? Definitely.
And into the future
Someone once said, “You can’t please everyone.” The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival is making great strides towards proving that someone wrong. StreetFest has seen its audiences grow exponentially, as long-time fans and first-time visitors from near and far make their way to Churchill Square for their annual dose of mirth, merriment and magic. The event has helped make once-unlikely Edmonton an internationally renowned festival Mecca and has given the city a world-class reputation among traveling artists. The hospitality, development opportunities and all-round good time StreetFest affords its performers has street artists everywhere seeking a spot in the festival line-up. Volunteers are also treated with the same respect and hospitality shown the artists and audiences, and many volunteers have been with StreetFest for more than a decade.
Like a clown in a fat suit on stilts, the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival has the versatility and energy to continue to expand in all directions and into its next chapter…
Festival by the numbers
Edmonton-area population
In 1985:
In 1998: 800,000
Present: 1 million
Audience
In 1985:
In 1998: 180,000
Present: 220,000
Performers
In 1985: 20
In 1998: 60
Present: 65
Outdoor shows
In 1985:
In 1998: 1000
Present: 1500
Staff (year-round)
In 1985: 1
In 1998: 1
Present: 2
Staff (contract)
In 1985: 0
In 1998: 3
Present: 7
Volunteers
In 1985: a handful
In 1998: 150
Present: 225
Operating Budget
In 1985:
In 1998: $400,000 CDN
Present: $800, 000 CDN
Year moved to Churchill Square: 1987