COVERING THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL SINCE 1996
Introducing The Edinburgh Festival
TW:Backstage is where we delve into developments and debates in the cultural and creative industries, with news round ups, explainers and interviews all putting the spotlight on the business of culture.
And given we cover the Edinburgh Festival every August via ThreeWeeks, that means we will also be delving into developments and debates around the world’s biggest cultural festival, and covering what’s happening within the Fringe community.
To kick things off, a beginner’s guide to the wider Edinburgh Festival, providing a speedy overview of Edinburgh’s big festival month, and the various festivals, institutions and initiatives it’s worth being aware of.
THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL
What is often referred to as the Edinburgh Festival is actually a number of different festivals that all take place in Edinburgh during August.
That includes:
Edinburgh International Festival: a curated festival of theatre, dance, opera and music taking over some of the city’s biggest theatres and concert halls.
Edinburgh International Book Festival: one of the UK’s key literary festivals presenting talks and debates involving leading authors, writers and journalists.
Edinburgh Art Festival: a programme of visual art presented in galleries around Edinburgh.
Edinburgh International Film Festival: a leading film festival which for many years took place earlier in the year, but is now back in its August slot.
Edinburgh Military Tattoo: a big show presented by the by British Armed Forces in Edinburgh Castle.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe: by far the biggest of the festivals which anyone can be part of, taking place in venues all over Edinburgh.
A VERY BRIEF HISTORY
It all began in 1947 with the International Festival, launched in the post-war era with the aim of creating an event that would, in the words of EIF itself, “transcend political boundaries through a global celebration of performing arts”.
In that first year, eight independent theatre groups that were not part of EIF staged shows on the ‘fringe’ of the main festival, seeking to capitalise on the culture hungry audience that would be in the city during the main festival.
And so the Edinburgh Fringe was born. Each subsequent year more companies joined the Fringe, until the Fringe Festival was significantly bigger than EIF itself.
From the start the ethos of the Fringe was that anyone who could find a place where they could legally perform could be part of the Fringe programme.
There was and is no artistic vetting, which means there’s no quality control, but brilliant shows that would probably never get programmed at other festivals are able to be staged.
As the years and decades went by, Edinburgh’s other summer festivals were also launched alongside the EIF and the Fringe.
THE FRINGE TODAY
Today the Edinburgh Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, with thousands of shows taking place in hundreds of venues throughout August.
Pretty much every genre is represented, though the Fringe is particularly known for its extensive theatre and comedy strands, but also for the many dance, circus, physical theatre, cabaret and spoken word shows on offer.
There is also a wide-ranging music programme. However, within the other genres, most shows are preformed multiple times, with many running for the full three weeks of the Festival. Whereas with music, many shows are one-off gigs and concerts, which means the music programme tends to work slightly differently.
FRINGE SOCIETY
The Edinburgh Fringe Society was launched in 1958 to provide a more formal framework for what was – and in many ways still is – a very informal festival.
The Fringe Society doesn’t programme the Fringe, instead it provides support for the performers, promoters, producers and venues that stage the shows. That support includes a central programme, box office, press office and website, plus resources and events for the Fringe Community, ie all the people involved in staging shows.
The Fringe Society also represents the Fringe Community within Edinburgh, Scotland, the UK and beyond. It is overseen by an elected board and run by a small year-round team.
THE FRINGE VENUES
There is a network of independent venues that stage shows as part of the Fringe and this network also provides infrastructure that facilitates the Fringe Festival.
Many Fringe venues run multiple performance spaces, often in multiple buildings, throughout the Festival, most of which will host shows from mid-morning through to late night. They also often have cafes and bars that become something of a hub for the Festival and the Fringe Community.
That said, there are also plenty of smaller Fringe venues with just one or two performance spaces, which are also a crucial part of the programme.
Some Fringe venues are year-round theatres, but most are pop-up venues, ie venues that only exist during August, taking over buildings that the rest of the year serve another purpose, including hotels, churches, community centres and many university buildings. Temporary venues are also built in many of the city’s squares and gardens.
In addition to the Fringe venues, there are also the free show strands of the Fringe – principally the Free Fringe and the Free Festival.
Each of these run a number of venues around Edinburgh, many based in pubs. These venues aim to keep production costs to the minimum so that performers can stage free shows, with audience members making donations after each performance.
PERFORMING AND PRODUCING AT THE FRINGE
Although some of the venues do produce or co-produce shows in their spaces, the vast majority of shows at the Fringe are produced by independent producers, promoters and theatre companies. In many cases, especially in comedy and with solo theatre, cabaret and spoken word shows, the performer is also the producer.
Which means they are also the risk taker. They rent a performance space – either for a fee, or on a box office split basis, or a combination of the two – and they cover the production, logistical and marketing costs, with the aim of recouping as much of that expense as possible through ticket sales or, with free shows, donations.
They may also hire the services of a director, promoter, publicist, or marketing and production team, to help deliver their show.
It’s notoriously risky putting on a show at the Fringe. Some people do make a profit and return each year for that reason. But a lot of people lose money.
Some people see the Fringe experience as something a summer holiday – getting to perform, see shows and hang our with other performers and creative people for a few days or a few weeks – and therefore simply right off the costs.
But for many people performing at the Fringe is about progressing their career, using the experience to hone their craft, find an audience, make connections and build their profile within the industry.
Because most performers will perform a run of shows at the Fringe – and many a three week run – there is a big community of performers and creative people in Edinburgh throughout the festival, which means it’s a perfect place for making creative and commercial connections.
There are also events for performers, including those run by the Fringe Society, and various shows with a different line-up each day, which performers can take part in to reach a bigger audience.
Check out this article all about progressing your career at the Fringe, with tips galore from a team of people with plenty of experience in producing, performing and/or marketing shows at the Fringe.