The theme of this year’s Wanstead Fringe is ‘We Are Here’. At one level, it’s merely a statement of fact, but it’s also about taking inclusion seriously, writes festival director Giles Wilson
The cover of this year’s Fringe programme features, in vivid neon green, one of the familiar sights and sounds to people living here: a parakeet. Inside the brochure there are stag beetles, hedgehogs, foxes, squirrels and pigeons, living alongside each other, whatever their plumage, with 100 other species beside. Only one of these species has their eyes glued to their phones.
But if we put our urban wildlife to one side and think just about the people who live here, our make-up echoes that of the animals. There are all kinds of us, and the gift we have received is the chance to live in a community together. Sadly, there are those now who are prepared openly to argue in favour of less cohesive communities.
As Camille Leadbeater writes on page 26, those of us who put the Fringe together each year believe that experiencing things together changes the experience and indeed ourselves. It’s not just about the Family Fringe; this goes for listening to music together, watching a play or a film, going to the comedy – even going on a guided walk together. The arts and culture are good for the community, and good for the person too.
This is the 16th Fringe. One thing has dramatically changed since we started – Wanstead doesn’t really have a newspaper any more. For one glorious moment not so long ago we had two. How can a community be truly coherent if important things happen without anyone knowing about them? Where are the shared values found? There are honourable exceptions (the Wanstead Village Directory, of course, and my own website, Wansteadium), and social media such as Wanstead Community Hub have great reach. But none can be a real substitute for having dedicated reporters whose job is to investigate, report and keep tabs on what’s going on.
This is going to be the topic of one Fringe event – The News From Wanstead – where local historian Greg Roberts will give us a taste of what we know about Wanstead’s past thanks to the newspapers, and media guru Nic Newman, who will guide us through the changes which have hit local media so badly. Can anything be done? Can we as a community find a solution as some other places have done?
Be in no doubt that we are a community here. From the local businesses who are again sponsoring the Fringe, the venues which are hosting events, the organisers who are coming up with ideas for events, the volunteers who act as stewards or check tickets, the committee which brings things together, and the legion of people who buy tickets, we’re all here.
For more information on Wanstead Fringe events, visit wansteadfringe.org
