Edinburgh Festival Fringe faces ‘existential threat’, warns chief executive

The annual arts event runs for more than three weeks in August.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe attracts a global audience (Jane Barlow/PA) (PA Archive)

The head of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has warned the annual event is under “existential threat” due to rising costs faced by companies and venues.

Society chief executive Shona McCarthy suggested Edinburgh’s festivals would be backed by multi-million-pound investment if the hosting of them was effectively “put out to tender” similar to the UK Olympics or the Commonwealth Games.

Speaking on Barry Fearn’s Leading Conversations podcast, she said the lack of support had left the Fringe “cracking at the seams” before the pandemic.

She said: “Pre-Covid, the whole ecosystem was already creaking at the seams. Then Covid hit and our entire income went in one fell swoop.

It's not an exaggeration to say that this festival is under existential threat

Shona McCarthy, Fringe Society chief executive

“The Fringe came back last year, but with every single participant and organisation carrying a debt or deficit after surviving the previous couple of years.

“We’ve come into 2023 with a massive cost-of-living hike, serious political issues and the war in Ukraine.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that this festival is under existential threat.

“My big fear for Scotland is that because we’ve evolved over 75 years, it’s really easy to just assume that we’ll be back next year. There’s definitely a level of complacency about it.”

Last month, the Fringe Society board admitted the festival’s long-running “self-sustaining model” was no longer viable for artists and venues. It is hoped that a £7 million pledge from the UK Government will unlock “essential support”.

Ms McCarthy also told the podcast there are many misconceptions in the way in which the Fringe is currently organised, saying, “everything has a cost”.

She added: “If you were trying to put on the collective of our festivals and put it out to a competition or tender like you do with the UK City of Culture, the World Cup, Eurovision or whatever, every city would want to host it, but it would come with a £100 million investment package.

“We’re second in size to the Olympics in terms of ticket sales. Yet every year we’re going, ‘in our medieval little Royal Mile building, with our 20-30 people, how do we pull off this thing?’ I think we’ve got a real challenge on our hands.”

The fringe runs from August 4-28 in venues across the city.