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Brian Paisley, the founder of the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, has passed away at the age of 79. He died in Mexico on July 2 following a pneumonia-related illness.
Paisley founded the festival in 1982. He had received funding from the City of Edmonton to create a summer theatre project in Old Strathcona. It started with five venues and more than 200 live performances.
The festival now brings artists and audiences from around the world. It is North America’s largest, oldest and longest-running fringe theatre festival.
“We lovingly have named Brian, ‘Father Fringe,’” said Murray Utas, artistic director for the Fringe Theatre in Edmonton. “As the human who brought this whole wild journey to us from the very beginning.”
Utas said Paisley often laughed about how little faith he initially had that the festival would survive.
“He didn’t think it was going to work,” he said.
Brian Paisley during a performance at the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival in an undated file photo. (Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival)
Everything changed during the festival’s second year when Paisley stepped into the heart of Old Strathcona and saw audiences staying between performances.
“He saw people mellowing around and was like ‘oh my, I’ve got to come up with reasons to keep everybody around here,’” Utas said. “I love that he didn’t think it was going to work and it turned into this worldwide phenomena that people have a hard time describing.”
For Utas, who became artistic director in 2013, Paisley evolved from a legendary figure into a mentor and friend.
“There’s so much more I need to learn from you and I want more stories,” he said.
Paisley’s influence reached far beyond the festival. Utas said his commitment to artistic freedom gave independent artists a place to create without gatekeepers deciding whose stories deserved to be told.
“If you look at just the sheer voracious volume of independent work that happens during the year outside of the festival, there’s a direct relation from being able to take that risk at the fringe cause we subsidize a lot of it. I think that kernel spirit is what drives an entire indie community,” said Utas.
Brian Paisley with members of his family. (Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival)
That influenced Edmonton’s independent theatre community, with companies such as Shadow Theatre and Teatro La Quindicina tracing their roots back to the Fringe.
Longtime theatre critic Liz Nicholls, who first met Paisley during the festival’s second year, described him as “a theatrical character” with a personality matching the festival he created.
Nicholls said Paisley’s greatest contribution was changing how theatre was made in Edmonton.
“It put Edmonton on an international map,” she said.
She added that the Fringe emphasized imagination over large budgets while breaking down barriers between artists and audiences.
“The budget didn’t rule. It was ingenuity and in its informality, it broke down the traditional barriers,” said Nicholls. “It asked artists, what do you want to do instead of artists being told what to do?”
Utas said Paisley acknowledged the early groundwork he laid before moving on, but he had no idea the festival would expand far beyond his expectations.
“It’s like a snowball rolling down a hill. Once it got going, it just kept picking up momentum,” he said.
The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival will celebrate its 45th anniversary in August. The festival will honour Paisley with a drop-in gathering where the community can come together, raise a glass and share stories.
