Episode 87: Fusebox Festival 2020 - Virtual Edition - An Interview with Ron Berry & Anna Gallagher-Ross

Scott David Gordon — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 06:30:00 -0500

For over 15 years the Fusebox Festival has been delivering an amazing array of curated performances and artists from all over the world and bringing them right here to Austin. Since the festival will not be able to go on as planned as a live event, the organizers had to pivot the whole event online into what they are calling the virtual edition. Join me for a conversation with Executive & Artistic Director Ron Berry and Associate Artistic Director & Curator Anna Gallagher-Ross to talk about how that played out and what we can look forward to experiencing this year.

www.fuseboxfestival.com

Instagram @fuseboxfestival

Youtube

Below text courtesy of the Fusebox website

The Festival

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, it is not possible to hold Fusebox Festival as we originally planned.

Our Festival isn't canceled, it's re-imagined as a virtual space where our community, both local and global, can come together to experience the work of Fusebox artists and participate in an exciting array of virtual events and activities.

Fusebox Festival 2020: Virtual Edition is a weekend-long broadcast taking place April 24-26.

Think public access TV meets international block party meets live performance! We see this as a platform to explore what it means to gather together and celebrate adventurous art, online.

This Virtual Edition will feature:

Live-streamed performances

Conversations

Artist Studio Visits

Interactive Activities

Happy Hours

Cooking Shows

Exhibitions
   and much more!

Please mark your calendars for April 24 – 26, follow us on social media, and we will be in touch soon with our artist lineup and schedule. Thanks to you, our Fusebox Family, we are able to bring our artists and community together in a much needed time for celebration. We appreciate your support!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 23: Ron Berry - Fusebox Festival

Scott David Gordon — Sat, 07 Apr 2018 20:30:00 -0500

"Within our festival there’s space for really different kinds of expression of art, and some of those are perhaps harder immediately to relate to. But we’re holding space for those artists to challenge things, to experiment, to tinker. To help us as people, as artists, think about things in new ways, and give us things to chew on. I love things that have mystery to them, that I don’t understand."

The annual Fusebox Festival aims to allow for a meaningful exploration and exchange between varied art forms and art communities by making space for what might only be possible in a live environment with other people. Each year Ron Berry and his team curate and paint onto the canvas that is the festival, a rich cross section of artists from different backgrounds and geographies into a diverse set of live event situations and performances. It is a platform for local, national, and international artists to have their work seen and it fosters an exchange between them and with the audience as they share combinations of theater, dance, film, visual art, music, and literature.

Beyond the event itself the intention of Fusebox is to take something typically ephemeral, and keep it alive in relation to the city of Austin year round. The arts are not separate from life and as the city grows and changes how can he and his team play a role in keeping the dialogue about housing, space for artists, and other issues, moving forward and allow for community engagement, inclusivity, and thinking about solutions while staying in tune with the rhythm of the neighborhoods they aim to serve.

Ron’s leadership style allows for and encourages contributions from others and is driven by curiosity, a desire to learn and grow, and the use of doubt as an impetus to crack things open and find new answers. Over the last 14 years, since the festival started, Ron had traveled all over the world, has experienced 100’s of performances, and has built a vast network of artists, curators, organizations, and collaborators to work with. Even though the line between his personal and professional life is blurry he finds much inspiration and is fed artistically as the festivals Executive & Artistic Director.

Ron is such a generous and wonderful guy and our conversation was really fun for me. It’s hard not to be excited and inspired by what he and his team are doing every year. If you have ever attended the festival you know how fantastic it can be. Not to say that it is easy to relate to all of the work and that some of it will not challenge you in new ways, but if you are open to it the rewards can be very memorable and thought provoking.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Ron’s background
Festival origins
Separation of art forms
The live experience
Creating each year
thinkEAST
Festival missions
Community engagement
Leadership
Curatorial approach
Free model
Going full time
Relationships
Ant Hampton
Local/national/international
Relating to challenging work
Themes and threads
Evening of art
2018 festival details

FUSEBOX Festival 2018

April Tue 17th - Sun 22nd, 2018

Office: 512-800-3066
2023 E. Cesar Chavez
Austin, TX 78702

Image banner courtesy of the Fusebox Festival featuring Tania El Khoury تانيا الخوري, Justin Shoulder, Erin Markey, and Charles O. Anderson.

Links:

Austin Art Talk - Episodes Tagged with “Fusebox Festival”

Episode 87: Fusebox Festival 2020 - Virtual Edition - An Interview with Ron Berry & Anna Gallagher-Ross

Episode 23: Ron Berry - Fusebox Festival