Cyprus Mail 20 August 2020 -
Against all odds, the annual Buffer Fringe Festival aims to take place this year despite the ups and downs the cultural scene is facing due to the pandemic. Adapted and carefully thought through, the performing arts festival will begin with its online format this September and conclude with the physical festival on December 3, 4 and 5.
As a yearly event dedicated to celebrating and honouring the arts, the Buffer Fringe team recognised the need to support the creative world so adapted its programme to overcome the challenges arising from the Covid-19 crisis. This year’s theme? Displacement.
The Buffer Fringe, the only Fringe Festival in Cyprus, started its journey in 2014 with the aim of breaking all physical and mental barriers through the transformative power of arts. 2020 brings the 7th edition of Buffer Fringe and with it a new set of challenges for artists around the world and in Cyprus: mobility is restricted to a large extent, festivals are being cancelled and funding options drying up.
“We have chosen to rise to the challenge of the times, and innovate through the crisis,” the team said. Leading up to this year’s online element, Buffer Fringe shared five things audiences need to know about the 2020 edition:
Shaping online and offline audiences
The festival will not only host the work of the artists in early December 2020, but also showcase their creative process online via the Buffer Fringe blog. This is what September’s online format will entail. Artists and artist groups will present, on a weekly basis, their creative process to be shared by Buffer Fringe blog hosts from around the world and on social media. Starting at the beginning of September and lasting for two months, artists will share online the thinking process of their pieces, the ideas that form it and how they go about realising it. Occasionally, a live stream will take place while a global conversation will happen online, aiming to build to a live festival on December 3-4-5.
It’s all about collaboration
The festival inaugurates an innovative programme of collaboration entitled Thinking Partners through its partnership with IMPACT, a global platform for the ACCT (Arts, Culture and Conflict Transformation) field. Seven groups of participating artists at Buffer Fringe 2020 are each assigned a Thinking Partner, an accomplished individual in their field, who will be by the side of the artists as an advisor throughout their creative process.
Spread over three cities
Collaborating with its partners Mitos Performing Arts Centre and Mağusa Kale Pasajı, the festival will also take shape in two locally curated programmes in Famagusta and Limassol, featuring local artists and creative methodologies, and the ‘relationship’ between the two cities. A centralised (local and international) festival in Nicosia will also take place, in spaces on both sides of the divide, with performances and installations, established through an Open Call.
Buffer Fringe 2020 had over 200 applications
Of those, 25 per cent were from Cyprus (a 400 per cent increase from 2019). Overall, applications were from over 45 countries across the globe, with brilliant ideas and proposals. The selection process resulted in performances from various disciplines (including interactive installations) from seven countries, including Cyprus, Ireland, India, Australia, Switzerland, USA and more.
Approaching Displacement with a global perspective
Artists of Buffer Fringe 2020 explore the theme of Displacement through various angles ranging from climate crisis to identity, from fashion to migration, under the shadow of the Covid-19 crisis and restrictions in mobility and exchange.
More information about the festival can be obtained from the website of the Home for Cooperation, www.home4cooperation.info, and/or www.bufferfringe@home4cooperation.info
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