Upcoming Harrisburg Fringe Festival performers share their stories and how their art aims to break down barriers

• Aniya Faulcon
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Aniya Faulcon is The Spark Host/Producer for WITF. She has a passion for shining a light on unique people, experiences, and perspectives within the community.
  
  Previously she worked as the People and Social Trends Reporter/Video Anchor for LancasterOnline | LNPNews. During her time there, she created video packages, provided Facebook Live coverage at community events, and wrote data-driven stories with census data and feature stories on local leaders, non-profit organizations, events, and people with unique talents and experiences within Lancaster County.
  
  Aniya also worked at WMAR ABC 2 News as a Sales Assistant and at the AFRO American Newspapers as an Executive Assistant and Media correspondent. Aniya interned at WEAA Gospel Grace 88.9 and worked at her alma mater’s radio station, WWPJ at Point Park University, where she gained skills and a passion for radio.
  
  Aniya grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended the Baltimore School for the arts for high school with a concentration in acting. She continued to hone her skills and passion for storytelling and later graduated from Point Park University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Broadcast Reporting. Aniya is eager to continue her journey with storytelling in her role with WITF, as she aims to shed a light on real people and real stories within Pennsylvania in a variety of mediums.

 Screenshot of Harrisburg Fringe Festival website

Harrisburg Fringe Festival

Airdate: January 30, 2023

For the first time, The Harrisburg Fringe Festival, that is known by its tagline “Do Something Weird”, is coming to town in July. On The Spark, we learned what a fringe festival is and how art is used, during these events, to break down barriers and limitations.

Chris Gibson, artistic director for the Harrisburg Fringe Festival, Nick Werner, pianist and composer featured in the Harrisburg Fringe Festival, and Reglynn Heywood, multidisciplinary artist featured in the Harrisburg Fringe Festival joined us on The Spark Monday to share their stories and work in the festival.

According to The Harrisburg Fringe Festival website, the event aims to connect artists, venues and audiences by empowering artistic expression in a spirit of community celebration. The festival will include dance, spoken word, theatre, comedy, drag, music, puppetry, painting, and any other forms of artistic expression. Gibson said, all artists that submit their work are invited to be a part of the festival on a first-come, first served basis and their work does not have to be censored, as there will be categories designated for kids and families. All proceeds from this event will go directly to the artists.

“Harrisburg is a community and nobody needs to convince people that Broadway shows are worthwhile. We tend to deify national shows and ignore the fact that here within our own communities, there’s culture and often times it’s overlooked or looked down upon because it’s local and we’re trying to do the exact opposite,” Gibson said. “It’s necessary for people to understand, who live in Harrisburg, that we are a community that includes incredible artists of all disciplines and the Fringe Festival is going to prove that. We want the people who live in Harrisburg to take pride in the fact that they have these artists in their community.”

For more information about the Harrisburg Fringe Festival visit hbgfringe.com.