Access for artists

Ensuring the Fringe is as accessible as possible is important for both artists and audiences, and we continue to work with a range of partners to identify areas where we can improve. We strive to make the Fringe the world’s most inclusive festival, and while there is still much to do, we’re proud of the steps we’ve taken to make the festival more accessible this year.

Working with Drake Music Scotland – the country’s leading organisation creating music-making opportunities for children and adults with disabilities and additional support needs – we supported disabled artists to take over the St Andrew Square taster stage, alongside other schools and community groups, over three days during the Fringe.

We were delighted to support Deaf Action to stage its inaugural Edinburgh Deaf Festival during August. We also supported the provision of BSL interpretation at street performances in West Parliament Square on various dates throughout August.

We created opportunities for artists to work with a range of Edinburgh schools and community groups throughout the year, ensuring the application process was as accessible as possible by creating supporting materials in large print, captioned video and BSL-described video.

Find out more about our access work for Fringe audiences.

Fringe Central

Fringe Central is where artists and Fringe professionals can access in-person services from the Fringe Society during August. It’s where you can find our Arts Industry, Artist Development, Artist Support and Media offices, receive guidance on polishing your press release and network with peers. This year you could book a one-to-one mental health first aid appointment with Space to Breathe, one of our 2022 strategic partners.

Fringe Central also hosted a programme of 35 free events and discussions focusing on issues significant to the cultural sector, from representation and sustainability to the practicalities of making and touring work. These events featured provocations from industry figures such as newly announced Fringe patron Eddie Izzard, comedian and poet Rob Auton and Fleabag’s original stage producer Francesca Moody.

Fringe Connect

Fringe Connect is an online space where Fringe artists and arts industry can exchange ideas and information and create lasting working relationships. Users can also access year-round online events, archived recordings from past events, and resources and information relating to opportunities at the Fringe and in the wider sector (such as funding, performance, development and discount opportunities).

Over the past 12 months Fringe Connect has hosted 47 events for more than 5,000 users (and counting). It’s particularly useful for helping prepare artists in the run-up to the Fringe and beyond – some of our most well-attended events this year included:

• How to do a show at the 2022 Fringe (an online session in January that attracted 260 attendees)
• Making the most of the Fringe (June, 178 attendees)
• International touring: Models to take your work abroad (August, 48 attendees)

Most events at Fringe Central this year were recorded so they could be uploaded to Fringe Connect as a resource for artists who were unable to attend in person. 

International artists and industry

This year’s festival was the first full-scale Fringe since the UK exited the European Union, and as such we found ourselves providing a much greater level of support for international artists from EU countries – many visiting companies, for example, required welcome letters to enter the UK. The Fringe Society will continue to advocate for ongoing support of the festival’s permit-free status, making it easier and cheaper for international artists to perform in the UK.

Fringe Society staff were able to meet and share ideas with cultural organisations from around the world this year, including:

• the 2022 Fringe World Congress in Orlando, Florida (USA)
• arts markets in New Zealand and Australia
• the Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting (YPAM, Japan)
• Chingay Parade Singapore
• Mičinský Pitvor (Slovakia)
• Polish Cultural Institute
• Brussels Major Events (Belgium). 

Belgium (Wallonia), Denmark, England, Finland, France, Ireland, Korea, Northern Ireland, Québec, Taiwan, Scotland, Switzerland and Wales all presented showcases at the 2022 Fringe, while organisations from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Italy and Japan supported work from their respective nations. Our Arts Industry team also engaged with international delegations from Brazil, Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Québec and Creative Europe during the Fringe.

Our Arts Industry Office accredited more than 1,300 producers, programmers, bookers, talent agencies, festivals and others from 45 countries, who come to Edinburgh to find work, tour it and support artists beyond the festival itself.

Supported by British Council Scotland, our Voices from the South project got underway following a period of research and development in 2021. The cross-continental initiative will feature 16 artistic projects from nations that would typically struggle to attend the Fringe; these projects will be staged digitally at Fringe 2023. This year we confirmed the projects:  

• The Baxter Theatre (South Africa) 
• Pickle Factory (India) 
• La Teatreria and Teatrix (Mexico / Argentina) 
• International Theatre Festival of São Paulo (Brazil) 
• Magnetic North (Scotland).  

Made in Scotland

Made in Scotland is a showcase of Scotland’s brightest dance, music and theatrical talent that takes place every year at the Fringe. A partnership between the Fringe Society, Creative Scotland, the Federation of Scottish Theatre and Scottish Music Centre, this year’s Made in Scotland featured 27 shows, the biggest programme in its 14-year history.

New for 2022 was the Made in Scotland delegate programme, developed to foster deeper connections between arts industry professionals and Made in Scotland artists. Our Artist Development team also held regular online meetings and one-to-ones with the artists, plus a series of in-person events during August, to help develop their tour ambitions and build a sense of community among those included in the programme.

This work to bring together artists and industry provides robust opportunities for shows to tour internationally.

Scotland on Tour

Scotland on Tour, in partnership with BEMIS Scotland and the Fringe Society, launched a £60,000 funding pot as part of the Fringe’s 75th anniversary celebrations. The fund allowed eight multicultural community groups from around Scotland to stage exciting and diverse events in their local areas throughout September 2022, showcasing music, dance and storytelling.

The programme involved Scottish people from a range of cultural backgrounds including African, Bengali, Caribbean, Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern, Pakistani, Polish, Romanian, Syrian and Ukrainian communities.

Children and Young People (CYP) ticketing scheme

The Children and Young People (CYP) ticketing scheme provides free Fringe tickets, generously donated by Fringe artists and companies, for children and young people in and around the city who may not otherwise be able to attend.

Tickets are distributed through social, family or youth workers in the council or through local community organisations and charities. This year we worked with our project partners to make sure the CYP tickets were available to refugees, asylum seekers and those with No Recourse to Public Funds living locally.

We are delighted that over 2,500 tickets were booked through CYP this summer.

"I often hear from the families we support that they’ve lived in Edinburgh their whole life, but never been to the Fringe. Besides cost being a barrier, they feel it is not for them – that it's a 'white person thing'. But CYP is like an ice breaker for them to explore the festival and become more independent in going. CYP transforms the Fringe into a friendly and welcoming space. A warm thank you to the artists taking part in making it so!" Mitra, Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council

Schools

We want to make sure that all children and young people across Edinburgh have the opportunity to engage with the Fringe, encouraging the next generation of artists and audiences.

With the generous support of an anonymous donor, we were able to work with three high schools this year – Gracemount, Tynecastle and St Augustine’s – offering them the opportunity to bring groups of young people to have a full Fringe experience. This included traveling into town, seeing shows and street theatre and indulging in some street food. Each school had flexibility to organise the project differently, with young people often playing a key role in selecting the shows they see, advocating for these to their peers, and booking tickets.

Liberton High School performed at Schools on the Street, our opportunity for Edinburgh schoolkids to take to the stage and be part of the world’s greatest celebration of arts and culture. Their music class performed on our street events taster stage in St Andrew Square; they were also treated to a tour from a street performer, who showed them around the High Street and talked them through what it takes to be a street performer.

Teachers' Theatre Club

Running since 2019 in collaboration with Imaginate, Teachers’ Theatre Club involves Fringe staff facilitating teachers from schools in Edinburgh and the Lothians to see and discuss work at the Fringe, Children’s Festival and various shows throughout the year. The project encourages teachers to engage more with performance, providing them with more knowledge and confidence to discuss it in the classroom.

The project was expanded in 2022 into National Teachers’ Theatre Club in collaboration with Imaginate and National Theatre of Scotland, opening the project up to teachers across Scotland. Teachers attended six Fringe shows in person and one online, all accompanied by post-show discussions with companies and artists. This was an opportunity for them to discover what it takes to bring a show to the Fringe and have in-depth discussions around themes of education, class, race and gender. At the teachers’ request, one company also offered their script to be taught in the classroom.

Since the inception of Teachers’ Theatre Club we have worked with 28 teachers from 24 schools across Edinburgh and the Lothians and 16 teachers from 15 schools around the rest of Scotland.