Last month, when I joined the first session of the Knight Foundation’s Journalism Advisory Council, I had the chance to attend a three-day conference all about audience engagement hosted by Knight in Boulder, Colorado, with more than 100 media colleagues from around the country.
Innovation…and sharing innovation
We talked a lot about what constitutes “innovation” in media outlets today, but something that really got to me was a layer underneath that. If we do achieve success through some kind of innovation, what are we doing to share that with others in the industry, so they can succeed as well?
I also wondered about how and whether we’re doing enough to make that work transparent not just to our industry colleagues, but to our audience. So in that spirit, and in a nod to the last two weeks of the Fringe Coverage Friends Drive campaign, I’m going to lift the curtain on our process for Fringe coverage, which you deserve to understand if we’re asking you to fund it!
How do we narrow down hundreds of shows?
The Philly Fringe (September 8-27 this year) usually has more than 300 different shows across dozens of venues in every corner of the city. There’s no way a single editor, or even two, could properly cover all of that. So we work closely with the writers.
In July, I gather that year’s Philly Fringe cohort by asking our full list of writers (about 230 people) who’s interested. We typically end up with about two dozen writers. I create a centralized online document for everyone. It has background on the festival, PR contacts, links to photos and festival websites, and instructions and resources for writing Fringe reviews. I also give everyone a spreadsheet.
Then the writers get to work perusing the festival, deciding what they want to write about. In August, they return their spreadsheets to me, filled out with their top five shows. It’s a big job for everyone, narrowing hundreds of events down to just five. But curation is an important part of the job for any arts journalist. I trust our writers’ tastes and interests.
The year’s biggest project
Then I get to work again. I build an editorial schedule of dozens of reviews throughout the three-week run of the festival, based on the writers’ requests. This schedule is like Jenga tower, and it’s one of the biggest projects I do all year at BSR, taking many hours. I also need to search the Fringe lineup for myself, and write up my recommendations for you, our readers. As I plan and assign our coverage, I draw on my 20 years’ experience of attending the festival, which helps me figure out what’s new, notable, and wonderfully weird.
Then we request press tickets to all of the shows we’re covering, with the help of the Fringe’s communications reps. And almost before we have time to breathe, it’s opening night of the festival.
The next three weeks are a mad dash for me, and the time I am most grateful to work from home. I wake up, edit reviews, and then go out myself to see a show or two. Often I am back to my desk again before bed. On Saturdays and Sundays, I will often see two or three shows back-to-back. There are no days off until October.
Why do it?
For many years, BSR has provided the most comprehensive coverage of the Philly Fringe that you’ll find anywhere in the region. It’s an exciting time when artists are experimenting and launching work that could go beyond Philly and even tour internationally. Both in terms of the artists and the work, the festival is a pipeline that will shape our cultural scene for decades to come.
Last month, we brought you my conversation with veteran Fringe artists Lee Minora and Chris Davis, who shared honestly about what it’s like to get reviews as indie creators, and how BSR reviews in particular were the springboard that helped them take their work abroad.
This year, we need an extra boost from our readers to support this intensive work. If we can add 11 more new Friends of BSR (an annual gift of $72 or $6/month) by August 31, that will ensure a full roster of Fringe coverage. Will you join the readers stepping up to make that happen?
