This past July, there was a new addition to Cleveland’s packed schedule of summer festivals, as well as its growing number of festivals showcasing the area’s thriving cultural scene.
The BorderLight International Theatre + Fringe Festival offered more than 100 performances in five days at 11 locations around downtown Cleveland. It partnered with numerous local theater groups to present both local artists and performances from Syria, Israel, Bolivia, South Africa, South Korea, Canada, Mexico and Ireland, and from ten states in addition to Ohio. Most performances were modestly priced, and some were free.
BorderLight just released some figures about its first event and made a major announced about its second. It says the festival attracted more than four thousand ticketed attendees and more than 10,000 overall, coming from 26 states and England.
Given the amount of effort, planning and resources such a festival requires, BoderLight has announced that the festival will be biennial rather than annual, and that the next one will take place in July 2021.
“It’s our intention to use the year ahead to create a robust organization, one built to last,” says the organization in its press release. “We will do this by expanding the strategic plan for the next several years, strengthening internal systems, seeking financial stability, honing our processes for programming and curation, and building our board. By adopting a biennial model for the near future, BorderLight will position itself to be impactful in the long haul.”
The summer of 2021 should be a big one for the arts in northeast Ohio. This change means that the second BorderLight Festival will run concurrently with the second edition of the FRONT International Triennial, giving arts lovers an even more powerful reason to book a trip to Cleveland.