2011 ‘Nextfest’ showcases local emerging artists
By Lacey Morris
- Director of Nextfest, Steve Pirot, talks a bit about the 2011 festival before presenting awards to a few of the outstanding emerging artists at Edmonton’s 16th annual Nextfest opening ceremony at the Roxy Theatre on Thursday, June 2, 2011. The ‘Nextfest’ festival is designed to promote up and coming local artists. Photograph by Lacey Morris.
EDMONTON — Edmonton’s 16th annual ‘Nextfest’ kicked off Thursday evening at the Roxy Theatre with a vibrant musical performance by members of the New Edmonton Youth organization, Global Youth Assembly and the quirky stage antics of festival director, Steve Pirot.
The festival first began in 1996 under the direction of an artistic associate of the Edmonton Theatre Network, Bradley Moss. What began as a workshop for aspiring local playwrights turned into a full-blown event to mentor, promote and celebrate artists of various disciplines, including:
• Theatre
• Dance
• Film
• Music
• Visual Arts
“It’s always been an emerging artists festival dedicated to providing professional opportunities to artists at the time in their careers when they need it most—when they’re emerging,” said Pirot.
The festival runs from June 2-12, providing art enthusiasts plenty of time to check out the vast array of talent that will be showcased. In total, Nextfest 2011 has over 50 events, featuring the work of 400 artists from in and around Edmonton.
The main goal of the festival is to provide a platform for the next generation of local artists to use as a steppingstone towards professional careers in the arts, and future opportunities to display their work at larger venues, said Pirot.
High School Talent
Among the applicants are high school students, and although Nextfest has had a high school program for the majority of its years, student talent was always lumped in with the other festival programs. This year, Nextfest has high school specific programming and a venue based solely on the talents of the students—the Azimuth’s Theatre Living Room Playhouse. The organizers have also expanded the high school program to cover all artistic disciplines.
- Mike ‘Donatello’ of the Global Youth Assembly introduces the upcoming musical acts in his ‘morph’ suit at the 16th annual Nextfest opening ceremony at the Roxy Theatre on Thursday, June 2, 2011. The ‘Nextfest’ festival is designed to promote up and coming local artists. Photograph by Lacey Morris.
“We kind of have a mini-multidisciplinary festival for high school students within Nextfest,” Pirot said. “We are referring to it as ‘Next Nextfest’.”
Making Connections
The connections that artists make at an event like Nextfest are priceless assets when it comes to thriving as an independent artist.
“We’re fostering relationships between artists of different disciplines and creating a common ground for them to learn from each other and collaborate,” said Pirot.
Pirot and partner, festival manager Murray Utas, hope that by drawing people in from specific audiences—be it theatre, dance, film, visual arts or music—they will be encouraging people to take an interest in the other art forms that are being showcased.
“You can come down to a night at the Roxy and probably on every night you’ll be exposed to three or four different art forms without even moving or turning your head,” Pirot said.
The Roxy Theatre, located at 10708 124 St. is one of four venues that the Nextfest events will be taking place at. For a complete list of venues along with an event schedule and ticket information, visit the official Nextfest website.
