‘A FRESH SET OF EYES’
Orlando Fringe gets new ideas from unique University of Florida class
When your professor is a fan of the Orlando Fringe Festival, you don’t know what your next assignment might be.
But this summer’s classwork could lead to innovations for Fringe-goers at next May’s annual festival — courtesy of University of Florida students.
How does a bar just for kids sound? Or an interactive walkway filled with unexpected Fringe experiences and engaging fun?
Both are ideas that came from the 20 students enrolled in the summer semester of UF’s Project Development Studio at the Gainesville-based university’s Orlando CityLab, an off-campus School of Architecture program that specializes in urban design and interdisciplinary collaboration.
What connected an educational program like that with the Fringe? Steven Grant, the program director, is a huge fan of the Fringe Festival, the annual celebration of creativity through two weeks of short plays, concerts, dance performances, art displays, children’s activities and more in Orlando’s Loch Haven Park.
“I’m an obsessive theatergoer,” said Grant, professor of practice-themed environments Integration.
“I love theater.”
So when he had the idea of giving his students a real-world assignment, the Fringe came to mind. He reached out to leaders of the festival, where Grant — who spent nearly three decades creating themed environments for Walt Disney World and Disneyland — is a member of the Club Fringe VIP-donor program.
Fringe officials were excited to “get a fresh set of eyes” on the festival, said Brian Sikorski, the organization’s marketing director. The Fringe also got helping hands — as students volunteered at the festival, helping set up, clear up and even pick up trash from the park as part of the festival’s “Green Team.”
They also watched shows to understand the artistic bent of the festival. A student favorite? “The Frogpig and Friends Variety Hour,” about a drug-addled puppet and his showbiz friends, Grant said. The professor preferred “Ain’t Done Bad,” a dance work about a gay man’s journey to happiness.
A lecture by Sikorski provided the Fringe’s history, the festival provided the practical experience — and the students provided the new ideas.
“Some were out there,” said Sikorski, such as replacing the Loch Haven Park parking lot with an open-air food hall.
“If we take even one parking spot away, they’ll have our heads,” Sikorski recalled thinking.
But others had more practical merit, such as installing a kids’ juice bar near the children’s activities, with fun drinks like “Bear Hugs on the Beach.”
And some, such as increasing promotional efforts along Mills Avenue near the park or emphasizing that the fest’s final day falls on a holiday, Memorial Day, seemed obvious in retrospect.
“I just put my head in my hands and said, ‘Why did I never think of this?’ ” Sikorski said.
Students in the class, taught with adjunct professor Brittany Gacsy, split into five teams to design their projects.
“I didn’t know what I’d get,” said Grant, who was pleased the students “came up with some really neat ideas.” Because it’s an interdisciplinary class — with students who have studied hospitality, interior design, planning, architecture and civil engineering — the teams approached the assignment from different angles.
Student Alex Sansolo’s team proposed the interactive FringeWalk, which could connect Loch Haven Park to a new venue should the festival expand.
“Through a series of installations, experiences and improved wayfinding, our proposal intended to create an interactive and historical experience that would help unify and activate the expanding festival,” Sansolo said.
Both the Fringe and Grant agreed the collaboration would continue next year.
“It was so much fun,” Grant said. “And there’s an infinite number of ideas.”
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