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Fears grow for Edinburgh Festival Fringe s future as venue bosses plead for help over 2021 comeback
It has run for nearly 75 years, is the biggest event of its type in the world and is estimated to be worth around £1 billion to the Scottish economy.
Will we see performers on Edinburgh s Royal Mile again this year?
Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty
Work is intensifying behind the scenes to put together a reduced Edinburgh Festival Fringe – potentially with in-person attendances – in August.
But the heads of the four main Fringe venues – the Pleasance, Assembly Festival, Gilded Balloon and Underbelly – are cautioning that a clearer timetable for the return to normal life in Scotland plus substantial state support are required if it’s to go ahead. They further warn that the survival of the world’s biggest arts festival, estimated to bring between £200 million and £1 billion to the Scottish economy, is at risk if Government backing isn’t found.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival as it normally looks, in 2012
Looming on the horizon is a huge decision for the arts industry: whether or not to proceed with an in-person Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2021. The world’s largest arts festival, which in 2018 featured more than 55,000 performances of 3,548 shows in 317 venues, it’s a vital part of the ecosystem and a reliable springboard for talent such as Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the League of Gentlemen, and Graham Norton. But can it be managed in Covid times?
Anthony Alderson, director of the Pleasance Theatre Trust, runs theatres in both London and Edinburgh. The latter is one of the stalwarts of the Fringe, but right now it’s just an empty building.