After three successful years in Kingston, Ontario, one of North America’s largest online live performance festivals, Festival of Digital Art (FOLDA) is set to launch 13 live performances & events, June 10 – June 13, 2020, streamed from Toronto, New York City, Montreal, Los Angeles, and Kingston, via FOLDA.ca.
Co-Curators of FOLDA, Adrienne Wong, Sarah Garton Stanley & Michael Wheeler have been gathering artists, innovators, and art enthusiasts for a week-long festival at the Isabel Bader Centre For The Performing Arts “to create theatre for the future” says Garton Stanley. “What happened with COVID-19 is that the future arrived unexpectedly early.”
“Our initial desire to create this festival was that we saw this huge influx of work, on the internet and we wanted to have a place where we can come together and see how it is changing performance,” says Wheeler who is an incoming Assistant Professor at Queen’s University. He continues, “Live streaming expertise is in high demand. My phone has been ringing constantly during the shutdown looking for advice on how to keep creating.”
With support from key partners such as the City of Kingston, officials are pleased to see innovation & art continue during the pandemic. Mayor Bryan Paterson explains, “As a city, we’re always looking to embrace innovation, art, culture, and technology. They are at the heart of inspiring new and exciting ideas. We’re proud to support FOLDA as one of Canada’s largest online live performance festivals,” says Mayor Paterson. “This collaborative initiative is a demonstration of resilience and innovation coming out of Kingston at a time where the cultural industry around the world is struggling.”
FOLDA is a good news story within the arts & culture community and also innovation & technology. FOLDA is also a safe way to enjoy live theatre during the pandemic. “Theatre is a social form. The internet is good at connecting people,” Wong says. “I don’t know if this is so much about bringing people to theatre as it is about bringing theatre to where people are.”
