STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

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Street Artists in Europe
Namur or Ghent in Belgium, Oerol in the Netherlands, x.trax (Manchester) or Brighton in the
United Kingdom, Tàrrega or Valladolid in Spain 77 .
The principle behind showcase or marketplace festivals is that all artists are performing
especially for visiting programmers as well as to the public. Significant efforts are made by the
festival organisation to attract programmers. Detailed guides to all performances are supplied to
all attending, along with companies’ contact details 78 . 200-300 programmers may be regularly
found at the larger festivals in Europe.
Nevertheless, festival/venue directors, union’s representatives or policy-makers are not always
enthusiastic about marketplaces. For them, these places don’t help street arts sector to improve
the quality of shows, since there is no selection to participate (or barely, e. g. Italy). In several
European countries, professionals state a showcase festival is a place artists are not paid to
present their work: they do not release from benefit which they can invest, partly or entirely, in
their artistic productions. Thus, the notion of “marketplace” or “showcase” is not the same in
United Kingdom or in Belgium.
6.1.2. Annual programme of street arts
It is clear both from festival organisers and artists that there exist few opportunities for
professional companies to get work outside of the festival (summer) season 79 . In Britain,
interviewees observe now a significantly higher use of street artists for traditional festive
occasions – Easter, Halloween, Christmas and New Year (again, usually at a festive occasion) 80 .
France is a pioneer in the presentation of street shows throughout the year, especially connected
to the creation centres and other residencies. This is partly in order to spread the number of
working months for which artists are able to get paid work, and also to encourage audiences to
come to see different street arts shows outside of a festival context. Networks of promoters and
artists are being established in hubs around towns and cities, whose aim is to maximise the
opportunities for artists to tour around a locality, establish a workshop activity and hold
interventions in local towns and villages.
6.1.3 Street arts/community arts
In several countries, community arts (defined as artists working directly with communities on
creative projects of interest and relevance to those communities, rather than to an artists’
agenda) is thriving and growing. Respondents to the questionnaires describe spending part of
their year working on projects in a variety of media with local people, including developing
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‘Showcases play a big part for us in creating new contacts, as well as meeting promoters at “normal” festivals’
(Artist, United Kingdom).
‘Companies need to be as clear as it seems practical about how they would best be seen and programmers make
efforts to get as close to what is requested as possible. I think I’m a bit more ambiguous about this; it’s very
difficult to have that kind of frank conversation with programmers – especially when a pedestrian street might
be all they have to offer and you are desperate for another gig!’ (Federation Representative, United Kingdom –
interview).
‘This is institutional problem for artists working in outdoors – underproductive winter waiting for grants to be
agreed, then all projects start together and massively overcommitted.’ (Independent Producer, United Kingdom
– interview).
‘Street arts outside of festivals are performed usually in specific periods during the year such as carnival,
summer cultural events which are not necessarily conceived as festivals, and last but not least around Christmas.
In this case they are either funded through regional funds obtained by the single company, which must be
matched with public money from single towns, or also by local public administrations or by private enterprises.’
(Director and Artist, Italy – interview).
PE 375.307