Danish Artists Foster International Collaboration at Edinburgh Fringe

While the Edinburgh Fringe Festival has returned and is ending it also marks a launching pad for new cooperation and creativity. The Fringe has long been renowned for uniting performers and audiences from many nationalities and walks of life. International cooperation and communication is at the heart of this festival. This year at The Fringe has proven that it is even more pertinent to foster international collaboration to overcome challenges in the performing arts industry.

#DANISH, presented by the Danish Arts Foundation and WILDTOPIA has harnessed international cooperation to provide mutual benefits for their productions and other international showcases. Through joint collaboration with other national production companies and showcases, #DANISH has been able to elevate Danish performing arts onto the international stage at The Fringe, as well as demonstrating the necessity for the strong international community within the arts industry.

WILDTOPIA, spearheaded by Karen Toftegaard, has driven this strategy of international cooperation at the Fringe, organising multiple joint initiatives and workshops with a number of different international organisations.

By uniting forces with Swiss Selection and the Korean Showcase, #DANISH has carried out a successful marketing campaign with a joint team of energetic flyerers, representing the show on the streets of Edinburgh.

Karen from Wildtopia says, "Edinburgh Festival Fringe is huge and it can feel overwhelming for everyone. It has been an uplifting experience to collaborate with other showcases at Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year. It brings me hope and reinforces my faith in the rich creative environment Edinburgh is so known for - even when we're facing a time of crisis. Working together makes it possible to rise together - strengthening the courage, exchanging perspectives and joining forces so you share the actual work that needs to be done. This way we release energy to have a more sustainable working practice and moral - and you get to know each other better."

She added, "From the very beginning in 2017 when Wildtopia did the research in Edinburgh - it became clear that cooperation would be the way to approach the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We reached out to From start to Finnish and began a Nordic collaboration in 2018 - focusing on supporting the Nordic artists at the EdFringe. During the pandemic we kept connected with the Edfringe community of artists and producers from Scotland, UK and the rest of the world. Here in 2022 cooperation seems more important than ever - in order to find and establish ways together. Our motto has all the time been - we either find a way or create one. And creating a way in cooperation's often have more impact. Therefore, we are collaborating with several other showcases at EdFringe this year:

• Cooperating on a flyering-team level with Swiss Selection and Korean showcase - we have a joint team of great, energetic people who flyer for the works. This creates better working-conditions for the flyerers and they can have more hours - we support each other with help and good staff.
• Cooperating with Taiwan Season regarding a symposium about sustainability - the Danish company sisters hope shared their original perspective on sustainability in the symposium about sustainable practice. The Danish showcase helped promote the event.
• Cooperating with Horizon showcase with workshop for newcomer's day (people never having played at EdFringe) and Horizon's bursary artists (Kate Craddock mentioned this as an example of concrete collaborations with other showcases at their breakfast). Connecting Danish and UK artists and producers is essential - and sharing perspectives on what working internationally actually means today where the world and the national realities are changing deeply. How to humbly and with a faith in the value of cultural exchange, work internationally.
• Collaborating with From start to Finnish since 2018 regarding Nordic presence at EdFringe - actually the Scottish government is opening up a Nordic/Baltic office in Copenhagen in late August."

Speaking about the new collaborations that have been developed during the Fringe Gitta Malling, Chair of the board of the Danish Arts Foundation and Chair of the Committee for Performing Arts Project Funding said, "It is of great importance to us that we continue to build and strengthen the cultural bonds between audiences in the United Kingdom and Denmark- and how better to do that than through artistic encounters." Her point was echoed by Karen Toftegaard of Wildtopia who described their work as "connecting human beings from all over the world through the arts."

#DANISH shows

Rocky! Return of the loser
WALK-MAN
This is not swan lake
Tuesday Night Sleeping Club
Granhøj Dans
STONE-FACE-BOOK
This is not swan lake...
BOLERO- EXTENDED
An Eve and An Adam

The Danish Arts Foundation

The Danish Arts Foundation supports and promotes Danish Performing arts internationally by coordinating the Danish presence at relevant events and Projects abroad. The foundation facilitates residencies in Denmark and abroad as well as visiting programmes for international performing arts professionals in order to increase awareness of Danish Performing arts.

The Danish Embassy in the UK

The Danish Embassy in the UK aims to ensure the highest possible quality and best visibility for Danish arts and artists, including securing the right partnerships with British cultural institutions, artistic collaborators and stakeholders.

WILDTOPIA

WILDTOPIA is a creative production and promotion company with a mission to connect art and human beings - unfolding the values in international meetings and collaborations. Since 2020 WILDTOPIA has been producing the #DANISH showcase at EdFringe. In 2018 the company initiated the first Nordic collaboration at EdFringe. 2021 the company founded the digital first festival RE:LOCATIONS as a response to a world where old ways of working internationally weren't possible and needed to change. WILDTOPIA is committed to continue exploring and manifesting new ways of producing and working more sustainable in the international fields.

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