In April 2020, it was announced that the Edinburgh Festival Fringe would not take place for the first time in our 73 year history. 

The impact of Covid-19 has been devastating for the countless artists, audiences, venues, workers and small businesses that make this festival happen every year. For us, it is hard to imagine a summer without the Fringe. We’ve been exploring different ways to ensure artists and venues can return to the Fringe in 2021 on stable footing.  

The FringeMakers crowdfunding campaign is designed to support our artists and venues, while the AJ Bell Fringe on Friday live shows aim to bring some much-needed joy to our devoted audiences both here in Scotland and all over the world. 

We need your support to make sure Fringe artists and venues are able to return in 2021.

Where will your support go?

The creative industries have been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, with the Fringe community alone facing estimated losses of over £21 million. 

The opportunities derived from presenting work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe can be enormous; many artists book onward touring, build collaborative partnerships, find a new agent, get bookings for stage, screen, and film work. Many engage with a loyal and adventurous fanbase, earning income to support their year-round activities, or taking the chance to try out new work and ideas on audiences who are actively looking for something new. 

The impact of these lost opportunities will stretch way beyond 2020, with artists looking at a long recovery for their work to be seen on stage again, with the worry that many will be forced to leave the sector to earn a living elsewhere, with the impact far reaching.

All the money we raise from the Fringe Society Crowdfunder page will go to a central artist and venue recovery fund to support their return to the Fringe in 2021. We will work closely with a panel of experts to ensure the fair distribution of funds, with this process starting as soon as possible at the end of the festival.

Why is the Fringe crowdfunding?

It is critical to remember that funding needs to be distributed at all stages of the performing arts industry – there is no West End without Fringe venues and theatres popping up above pubs, and no hit TV series without spaces to try, fail, and try again. There is no future without artists who reflect the world we inhabit – and artists will be key to helping us imagine a new, shared future. 

We need artists to record history, to help us make sense of ourselves and reflect the true nature of our world, to challenge what we think we know, to delight and entertain, to show us the best and worst versions of humanity, to let us laugh at ourselves when we fall down and cry when we don’t know what else to do.

Every year, the Fringe brings together 30,000 artists from over 50 different countries, making it the greatest celebration of creativity and artistic expression on the planet. What makes the festival unique is that anyone with a story to tell and a venue willing to host them is welcome – the FringeMakers campaign will help ensure that the people that make your Fringe return stronger in 2021 and beyond.

‘The sheer scale and diversity of this festival presents us all with the creative freedom that really is hard to come by anywhere else in the world, and it’s something that I am very excited and privileged to be a part of.' Sheila Atim, actor and director.

Our background 

We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to express themselves through creativity and experience the thrill of live performance. No matter who you are or where you come from, everyone is welcome on the Fringe. No individual or committee determines who can or cannot appear. You, the audience, curate your own festival.

It all began in 1947 with eight companies taking a risk, turning up uninvited and performing on the ‘fringe’ of the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival. Over 70 years later, the Fringe has grown to become the greatest platform for creative freedom in the world. It is at the centre of a global movement of over 200 fringe festivals, each following in Edinburgh’s footsteps. 

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the charity that was established by artists to act as the custodian of the Fringe. We exist to support, advise and encourage everyone who wants to participate; provide information and assistance to audiences; and celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world.

We need YOU! 

Fringe stands for freedom: the freedom to take part, making a start, telling your story, whoever you are. It’s for the risk-takers, rule breakers, name makers, artists and audience alike. A place to discover and to be discovered. It’s an International showcase, meeting place, creative space where anything goes and the world comes to find it. A global stage made in Scotland. An idea so nonsensical no one could explain it, copy, own, predict or contain it. A complex design with human heart, ever-changing and state of the art. 

The Fringe is ground-breaking, mischief-making, shaping conversations but never taking itself too seriously. Its birth was an act of defiance and it will never be shushed. It begins and ends with Edinburgh: its closes and taverns, venues in caverns and waiting in line for a show. That feeling of belonging in a crowd of perfect strangers. The Fringe that calls Edinburgh home.

AJ Bell Fringe on Friday

AJ Bell Fringe on Friday is a 60-minute Fringe variety show and fundraiser, made possible thanks to the generous support of online investment platform AJ Bell. The broadcast has been brought to life by Scotland-based cultural producers Lucky Cat and Michael Fraser, and production company Inner Ear.

This new digital show will stream every Friday during the Fringe (07, 14, 21 and ‪28 August) and will showcase the festival across a range of genres, including comedy, cabaret, dance and music. Each show will feature nine different acts and will go out live at 9pm BST, with tickets costing £9 each (£1 less than the cost of the average Fringe ticket). 

The broadcast has been brought to life by Scotland-based cultural producers Lucky Cat and Michael Fraser, and production company Inner Ear. 

The full line up for the next show on 28 August is Briefs, Le Gateau Chocolat, Stiff & Kitsch, Michael Odewale, Megan Shandley, Kid X, Farr Out, Craig Hill, Helen Duff, Alfie Ordinary... and your host for the evening Courtney Act.

Tickets are available by supporting this page with a pledge of £9 or more, with every penny going towards a central artist and venue recovery fund. Alternatively, you can support your favourite Fringe artists and venues by purchasing a ticket through their their individual FringeMakers page – 100% of the proceeds will go to them.

If you can't join us for the live broadcast you can catch up over the weekend; shows will be available to watch until midnight on Monday. All shows are live captioned. 

Be part of your crowd today and help secure the future of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.