Check out www.mayfestbristol.co.uk to see the full programme for Mayfest 2009!  It's a corker...

Check out this piece Matthew wrote for theatrebristol.net:

It is, without doubt, going to be a difficult time for the arts in
the UK over the next few years. It’s increasingly hard for artists to
justify public funding in the face of unemployment and shops closing
all over the place. On top of that, the halcyon days of lottery funding
are drawing to a close and there’s the looming shadow of 2012 creeping
up on us.
So, as we put the finishing touches to the programme for Mayfest
2009, you could forgive us for feeling a little tense about how things
might turn out. The festival has grown once again this year – for the
first time we’re programming events simultaneously, which means we’re
asking more people to see theatre at the same time than in previous
years. We’re returning to Bristol Old Vic, using both the Studio and
for the first time the Theatre Royal. It’s a bigger beast and therefore
just a tiny bit frightening.
There are a lot of questions in our heads. Do people go to the
theatre in a recession? And if they do, do they just go and see work
they really trust rather than a two-week programme of physical, visual
and experiemental theatre? Should our ticket prices be lower? How do we
justify holding a festival when there are people being made redundant
left, right and centre?
Well, we can’t really do anything about the banks or the failing
businesses, but what we can do as artists and practitioners is put the
case that the arts matter, now more than ever. Hard times mean artists
have to fight for a place at the table, and that often means working
even harder to produce brilliant art. Think of the politically engaged
theatre of the 1980s, of the brutal, glittering classical music which
emerged from Eastern Europe in the early 20th Century.
But where does this leave Mayfest? It leaves us quietly hopeful
actually. We have a really exciting programme of work, including a
whole slew of local work over the first weekend, visiting companies
from the Czech Republic, Belgium and New York, commissioned work from
Bristol-based artists and some brilliant work from across the UK. It’s
a strong year, with some high-quality work that will definitely get
people talking. And you can see an awful lot of it for not much money.
We’ve upped the number of free events (including our opening party and
a three-day performance installation), kept our ticket prices low (most
shows are under a tenner), and there’ll be some ticket deals and offers
to make it a bit easier on the wallet.
Most importantly, festivals are exactly what we need right now. In
an interview on Radio 4’s Today programme last week, outgoing Chairman
of Arts Council England Sir Christopher Frayling offered some words of
advice to his successor, saying that in the current economic climate
public subsidy of the arts is even more important. He cited Franklin D
Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration which, as part of the New
Deal in 1930s America subsidized a whole range of new theatre, music,
visual art and writing, and which gave rise to a whole new generation
of American artists. He knew that art lifts morale, improves your
country’s international reputation, and increases employment whilst
offering a little bit of escapism from the economic doom and gloom.
So, come on, YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU! Because without an audience, there is no theatre.

CALL FOR ARTISTS – MAYFEST 2009

BRISTOL-BASED ARTIST SHOWCASE AND MAYFEST MARKET
3 ¬– 4 MAY 2009


Next year's Mayfest is now planned for the 1st – 16th May, and to jump-start the festival we are planning to take over Bristol Old Vic with a jam-packed two-day local artist showcase.
This is a platform event designed to present a broad programme of work which celebrates and promotes the richness and variety of Bristol's performance community in a high-profile and playful context.

There are a number of different spaces available, and we are happy to consider work at various stages of development from early ideas to finished pieces, although production and tech time will be limited, so please bear this in mind when proposing work.

Alongside the live programme, we are also planning to hold a 'Mayfest Market'. Whether you're performing at the showcase or not, we want as many artists and companies as possible to pitch stalls in the foyer of Bristol Old Vic (harking back many years to when the building was a fruit-and-veg market!). You can decorate your stall, promote your work, shamelessly plug future events and generally introduce new audiences, promoters and producers to your work. In fact, you can use your stall for whatever you want, as long as it's imaginative and legal. And once the showcase is done, we'd love you to leave your stalls in situ throughout the festival. It'll be like Albert Square – only without Pat Butcher.

So if you're interested in being involved in the showcase, please send a brief proposal (500 words max) with an overview of your creative practice and an idea of what sort of tech support/space you would need to info@mayfestbristol.co.uk. If you are proposing a performance, please also indicate if you would be interested in having a pitch at the market, and any ideas of what you would like to do with your stall. There will be setting-up time on Saturday 2nd May during the day, so please make sure you are available over this time.

We are also interested to hear from people who are not proposing a performance but who would like to be involved in the event either by having a stall or through some other ingenious way which you're welcome to propose to us.

It is our intention to be as inclusive as possible for this showcase event but unfortunately there is limited space and so we cannot guarantee to accommodate everyone. Please note this is an unpaid opportunity.

PLUS
There are also a couple of potential slots for more full-scale finished work. So if you are a theatre-maker currently based in Bristol or the South West and you have a finished show you would like to propose for the Mayfest programme, please email Kate Yedigaroff on kate@mayfestbristol.co.uk. Please note that priority will be given to work that has not been seen in Bristol before.

Deadline 5pm Monday 22 December.

Mayfest is produced in collaboration with Bristol Old Vic.
www.mayfestbristol.co.uk

Hello,

Read Matthew's Guardian Blog here:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2008/05/bristol_theatre_bounces_back.html

Super - hope to see you at Al Seed, Precarious and FairGround this week!

mayfest

We've just uploaded a few videos from YouTube of Mayfest shows onto the Fan Page Event Listings on Facebook... Click Here

Plus, here's a little mention for us on the
Guardian Blog

Now it's September and everyone has their new school bags, uniforms and pencil cases, the Mayfest action begins in earnest.

We're meeting with loads of people at the moment and we'll be able to confirm dates and venues very soon.

Hello all,

Plans are already afoot for Mayfest 2008.

Next year, Mayfest is spreading its wings even further with a city-wide festival showing the best international, national and local work across Bristol.

Kate and I were in Edinburgh last week seeing work - and are now back in Bristol plotting and planning next year's festival.

We'll be posting updates of all that's happening here, so keep checking this blog for the latest info...

Hope you've had a good summer.

Kate and Matthew
Mayfest Producers
mayfest.bristol@gmail.com