fresnocentric

So the local university newspaper did a little video asking students a question about the Rogue.

“Would the Rogue Festival be more popular if held on campus?”

I haven’t even got to the responses and I am already bewildered. What the hell kind of asinine question is THAT? A relevant question might be “Do you know about the Rogue Festival?” Or “Have you seen any Rogue Festival shows?” or even “What do you think of the Rogue Festival?”

But to ask if it would be more popular if held on campus smacks of a very insular viewpoint, and is really more than a little naive. It seems to stem from an assumption that the university campus is, or should be, the end-all, be-all of culture and arts in the community.

Still, for the sake of argument, let’s just assume that the person (or persons) who thought up the question didn’t put too much thought behind it and really meant it to be objective and merely thought-provoking.

Let’s get to some points brought up in students’ responses.

The Tower District, where a majority of Rogue activities are held, is not a safe place to be. At night. It’s… like… scary.

To paraphrase something a friend said when discussing this idea… “What… are you a pussy?”

I am a single, 38 year old woman. I have a 13 year old daughter. We walked several blocks of the Tower District last weekend going from one show to another. We were unescorted. It was dark. By the time we were done, it was quite late; well after 11 p.m. At no time did I feel uncomfortable. The only people I saw were fellow festival patrons waiting in line, walking from place to place, riding in pedicabs from one show to another. Everyone was friendly. No one appeared to be even remotely threatening.

I’m not a big girl. I’m not tough or intimidating. I had no problem walking all the way from the Starline down to Dianna’s South. Alright. I did have one problem. I wore the wrong shoes and ended up with an annoying blister on one heel.

If there is any time during the year that the Tower District is most safe, it’s probably during the Rogue Festival. There are always people out and about… good people. Nice people. People who like the arts. Show times are staggered such that there are ALWAYS people about on the sidewalks, smiling, chatting, recommending this or that to total strangers.

I think it is unfortunate that we have come to the point that people are afraid to go anywhere that doesn’t resemble Main Street USA in Disneyland. (Not that there’s anything wrong with Disneyland. I LOVE Disneyland for what it is. But I don’t want to live there.) A true, semi-urban environment is immediately suspect because it isn’t uniform and squeaky clean. And the Tower isn’t really all that urban. It’s more a ‘local neighborhood hot spot’.

The people and businesses of the Tower are real. The restaurants and nightspots are fun. They’re authentic, not pre-packaged (with the exception of Starbucks and Blockbuster, maybe.) There are alleys with dumpsters, people locking up their stores at the end of the day, and yes, sometimes Pops will come up and ask you for seventy-five cents so he can get a cup of coffee.

Oh. Horrors.

Interacting with real people in a real environment is scary.

Next point.

The Rogue Festival would be more popular, or well-known, if it were held on campus.

Um… JUST how insular is life on a college campus?

More popular or well-known? We ARE talking about the same Rogue Festival, right? You know, the largest fringe-style festival WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI??? That one that is LARGER THAN THE SAN FRANCISCO FRINGE? (And that’s not to discount the Frisco Fringe. It’s well-known and very cool, too.) The festival bigger than the BOULDER FRINGE? (Boulder. That’s in Colorado.)

We’re talking about the Rogue Festival that draws performers from all over the country… actually, from all over the world. It IS internationally known. Fresno is a destination listed on Frommer’s online, as well as British Airways, BECAUSE of the Rogue Festival.

Performers come to the Rogue because they find they have a decent turnout and appreciative audiences. They enjoy the atmosphere and the welcome they always receive. It’s actually getting quite the buzz on the “fringe circuit” as a good place to come.

Just because YOU don’t know about it doesn’t mean it isn’t already successful. But now you do know about it. Why don’t you check it out?

Oh. That’s right, I remember. That brings us to the next point.

It would be more convenient if it were on campus. You wouldn’t have to travel the few miles it takes to get there.

Let me ask this question. If you were a student at… say… NYU, would you refuse to attend cultural events in New York City because they weren’t held on campus? If you were a student at Stanford, would you never leave campus to catch shows, visit art galleries, find some great live music in San Francisco?

Is the typical college student now the sort of person that really just cannot be bothered to leave campus at all? How spoon-fed have we, as a society, become?

The point is valid, that it WOULD be more convenient for students to attend activities on campus. They’re already there, so it wouldn’t even require much thought to just stop in and check it out.

It would also be convenient if the local restaurant would just send a cook to my kitchen to cook for me when I’m hungry. It would be extremely convenient if an employer would just provide me with everything I needed to do the job in my home. I’d never have to go anywhere, for anything!

That would be GREAT!

Wait… this is real life. Or, at least, life outside of college is real life. We actually have to make an effort for things out here in the real world. Things don’t just show up outside our door for us to sample if we feel like getting around to it.

I’m not really complaining about the viewpoints of the individual students that answered the question posed to them. From their perspectives, their opinions are very valid. Unfortunately, their perspectives seem to be very narrow and somewhat uninformed.

It’s a glaring example of the disconnect between the local university culture and the greater local arts and entertainment culture of our community. There really does seem to be this attitude among university students that if it isn’t happening on campus, it isn’t worth caring about. It’s a crying shame. It really is. We have a very rich, diverse, vibrant arts community in this area. College students could both benefit greatly from being exposed to the many facets of local arts, not to mention the contributions they could make for the good of Fresno as a whole.

Whose fault is this? Why doesn’t the university care about the community’s arts contributions, when the community is expected to care so much about the university’s arts contributions? We should support university theatre and music, but… do they promote anything else?

It is interesting, and a little dismaying, when you consider that no less than HALF of the founders of the Rogue Performance Festival are CSUFresno alumni.

But… hey… just because THEY graduated and left the campus doesn’t mean anybody ELSE should leave the campus.