Latest news with #Fringe
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
No new sponsor to replace Johnnie Walker as Fringe bosses draw up plans to demand tourist levy from council
The Fringe Society admitted it has not found a replacement sponsor for Johnnie Walker Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... No new sponsor has been found for the Fringe to replace Johnnie Walker, Fringe chiefs have admitted, as they draw up plans to demand tourist levy funds from Edinburgh Council. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society said it could administer a funding pot made up predominantly from the city's visitor levy to help festival operators, under proposals being drawn up by the organisation. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The society said it was compiling a comprehensive document which it will present to the City of Edinburgh Council by the end of the year, laying out the issues, problems and funding gaps identified by venue operators and other Fringe stakeholders. Among the recommendations will be the creation of a fund potentially administered by the Fringe, akin to the Scottish Government's £1.58m Platforms for Creative Excellence (PLACE) Resilience Fund, set up in 2022 to support the return of the festival in the wake of the pandemic. It would include at least £1.1m from the visitor levy, as well as additional money from sources including public funding. Tony Lankester is the new chief executive of the Fringe Society. | Fringe Society This comes as the Fringe admitted it had not yet found a replacement corporate sponsor for whisky brand Johnnie Walker, which ended its partnership last month, but insisted it would plug the gap with a string of smaller corporate tie ups yet to be announced. Chief executive Tony Lankester and deputy chief executive Lindsey Jackson spoke to The Scotsman as the Fringe launched its official programme for this August. This year's programme features work from 3,352 shows across 265 venues from 58 countries , slightly up on last year's figure of 3,317 shows. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The pair said the funding pot could be made up of 'at least' £1.1 million from the Visitor Levy tax, which is due to be introduced next year, as well as public funding and money from other sources. Ms Jackson said a 'collective Fringe proposition' document is being drawn up following consultation with festival stakeholders, ahead of the council forming its Transient Visitor Levy (TVL) forum, with an expectation that it could begin to create funds toward the end of the year. The Society is running a series of workshops with venues to understand 'where the pinch points are' and what challenges they are facing. 'From a Fringe Society's point of view, investment from the visitor levy needs to go to the festival, not to the Fringe Society: it's about what's happening out there, not what's happening in here,' said Ms Jackson. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Also [we're looking at] where the council needs to take responsibility and use its investment, or reduce costs or improve services, parks, access to clean drinking water, benches, toilets. Those things will all both reduce cost and reduce pressure on the whole environment generally, but will also make it a better experience in August. 'Our intention is, by the end of the year, with the venues, to have a collective fringe proposition and business case that is inarguable in its return on investment, its value for money. For a long time, the council and the city has said, 'We understand the Fringe's collective problems, but there's no money to support, we love to help, but we can't.' 'Now, this is our opportunity, so we will be right there on day one, knocking on the door with a well-evidenced and documented business case that says: 'This is why this is a long term and sustained return on investment. We all know that the Fringe contributes hundreds of millions of pounds to this city and many businesses, including accommodation providers. It feels like this is the right point at which the city finally has the money to put into supporting and underwriting the infrastructure. We're not expecting there to be miracles overnight, but we are expecting an early endorsement of the Fringe's need of value for money in that space.' Mr Lankester has pointed to a figure of £1.1m, which would be generated from the levy by Fringe performers alone, which he sees as a 'minimum' which should be handed back by the council. He said he had met 'informally' with venues to discuss synergies and ways the Fringe Society could support helping them to cut costs. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The pot could potentially give venues the chance to borrow funds which would allow them to pay out for infrastructure and other outgoings further in advance, ultimately making cost savings. Mr Lankester believes the business landscape has changed dramatically since the pandemic. 'The world we're in now is vastly different from a lot of us, five years ago or 10 years ago or two years ago,' he said. 'No one can operate now post-Covid in the same way they were operating pre-Covid. It's completely upended every single business model of every single industry on earth. Add to that, the broader economic environment, the introduction of artificial intelligence. All of that, we're operating in different place now. 'And I think it's incumbent upon every business operating in the landscape to use it as an opportunity to re interrogate all their business and just ask some fundamental questions: In this context, should we be scaling up? Should we be scaling down? Should we be doing more? Should we be doing less? Should we be offering different deals to artists? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's not just a simplistic argument about what does the Fringe Society charge for X, or what is the council chance for Y? Those are part of it, but they're broader questions as well. We want to create the space where areas of collaboration can be surfaced. I think it's also worth partnering with the venues - and this is something the Fringe Society can do more of - to help them interrogate their own business models.' He admits there 'probably would have been' conversations with Johnnie Walker owner Diageo with an aim to renewing the sponsorship contract. The Society is targeting financial services, retail and beverage companies for potential deals. However, he believes the year-on-year income from sponsorships will not be 'vastly different' to last year, due to a string of smaller deals. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He said: 'There are ongoing conversations, because medium term strategy for me is just to broaden that sponsorship pool so that we go from having five or six sponsors, to 10 or 15 sponsors with dovetail timing, so that they don't all start on the same day in the same year, so that we can even out some of the revenues. 'These things are elongated: there's not going to be a like-for-like replacement for the Johnnie Walker investment for 2025, but there will be other sponsors in the mix that maybe weren't there before.'
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Fringe boss vows to rebuild trust after 'sabre-rattling' row
He said the relationship with venues appeared to have "lost its way" and suggested "entrenched" positions were to blame for behind-the-scenes tensions. Read more: Support for the Fringe Society is said to have dwindled away from many of the key players in the festival in recent years as it has stepped up lobbying for more public funding. Mr Lankeser suggested there had been 'sabre-rattling' against the Fringe Society, which has overseen the festival since the 1950s. Tony Lankester is chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. (Image: Gordon Terris) Mr Lankester denied claims that the charity had been competing for public funding with venues staging shows at the 78-year-old event, which will return with 3352 shows in its line-up in August. Mr Lankester was speaking after venue operators warned that the financial model behind the event was on the brink of 'collapse' due to the impact of soaring costs in recent years. He urged the venues to ask 'existential questions' about their scale and running costs, and suggested they should not be using the same business model as they were operating under five or 10 years ago. The Fringe Society has faced growing hostility from the Fringe Alliance, an independent collective of venue operators and promoters involved in the festival every year. When the Fringe Alliance was launched in 2023 it pledged to 'work with and support' the Fringe Society, as well as 'raise financial support for the Fringe community and ensure that appropriate support reaches all parts of the Fringe ecology". However a leaked dossier from the Fringe Alliance revealed concerns it has raised privately with politicians and funding bodies about the Fringe Society's growth, budget, influence and funding priorities. The Fringe Society has secured new funding deals with the UK Government to help open a new "Fringe Central" headquarters building and support a 'Keep It Fringe Fund' for UK-based artists. The Scottish Government confirmed £300,000 of new support for the Fringe Society shortly before previous chief executive Shona McCarthy left her role in the spring. The Fringe Alliance has accused the Fringe Society of 'competing with artists and venues for funding rather than facilitating their success' and suggested that its operating model had 'distorted the festival's financial ecosystem' and directed resources aware from the Fringe's 'core creative contributors". Mr Lankester, who was appointed in January, said he started meeting venue representatives in his first week in the job in April and had since met operators of every size. He told The Herald: 'I think the relationship between the Fringe Society and the venues has lost its way a bit. 'I don't want to speculate about why that has happened. I think everyone was talking across each other, and there was no real common understanding or meeting of minds. 'I think we just need to get those conversations back into a sensible space. 'I don't think there is anyone in the Fringe eco-system, including the Fringe Alliance, who wakes up in the morning thinking: 'How can we make things worse today?' 'The Fringe Society is completely focused on making sure that we can deliver the best possible experience for artists. If they are looked after, audiences will have a good time and the venues will do well. We exist to serve the artists. 'I think the venues have perhaps felt left out of conversations. They do view the Fringe Society as being in competition with them to some degree. When I interrogated that with them I couldn't see any clear examples. 'The Fringe Society has been acting in good faith. If you look at the example of the Keep It Fringe Fund, we have become a conduit to pass that money directly to artists. 'The funding that we secured for the Fringe Central building project wasn't up for grabs by other entities. It's not like anyone else lost out. 'I think it all comes down to a common understanding of what our strategy needs to be and what the role of the Fringe Society is.' Mr Lankester admitted there mixed views among venue operators about the future role of the Fringe Society. He said: 'Everyone has their own unique issues. Opinions vary quite a lot. 'Some people say: 'We only want you to run a box office and print a programme and it should be hands-off everything else.' 'Other people say: 'We really need you to raise funds for things and build a way of filtering money back into the ecosystem. 'There has been a certain tone and a sabre-rattling kind of environment about some of the things I have read. "Yet when I sit around the table with people there is a genuine desire to be constructive and move things forward. Whether that is lip service or not I don't know, but I'm taking it at face value. 'For me, the underlying thing is the relationship between the Fringe Society and all the components of the wider ecosystem, improving communication, which we may not have always got it right in the past, and rebuilding trust where it has broken down. 'We have a business relationship with every single venue. Many millions of pounds move around the ecosystem. If there was genuinely zero trust no-one would be trusting us to sell their tickets. 'There might be some suspicions, a slight circling of each other and a wariness. I think it's just about bringing alignment now. 'Everyone in the ecosystem has their own agenda. That's how it should be. They want to see the Fringe Society supporting their agenda. The reality is there are some things we can support them on, but there are others that are not our business. We rely on them to run their businesses as best they can.' Edinburgh's popularity as a tourism destination, new city council restrictions on the short-term letting of properties and the impact of concerts at Murrayfield Stadium clashing with the Fringe for the first time have all been blamed for the crisis. It is said to have forced many artists and performers to limit the runs of their shows, and for venue operators to take an increasing financial risk on their programmes. The number of shows in the printed programme has increased slightly from 3317 in 2024 to 3351 this year. However the number of performances has dropped from 51,446 to 49,521 in the space of 12 months. Mr Lankester said: 'We are not privy to the individuals deals that venues are doing with artists. 'But the landscape has changed. Businesses need to evolve and respond to that. You see that in every industry and every sector around the world. 'If venues are not constantly looking at their business model, looking at the pressures of a changing landscape and still trying to do the same things they did five or 10 years ago the results are going to be pretty sore for them. 'There are existential questions everyone should be asking about size, scale and costs. That kind of business model stuff should be as real for the venues as it is for the Fringe Society or anyone else.' Lyndsey Jackon, deputy chief executive of the Fringe Society, said: 'It has been worrying some people for a while that artists are coming to the Fringe for shorter periods of time. 'But artists have always done a variety of runs. We did do a trend analysis last year and it wasn't particularly stark in any shift. 'We've always said that one of the benefits of doing a full run for three weeks is that you just don't get that level of professional development and immersion in a festival experience anywhere else. 'A shorter run is still a really valuable thing to do, but we always encourage people to do the full three-week run if they can. 'The question we always ask artists is what their objective is. If it's about professional development, building audiences, testing your work and seeing as much as possible then three weeks is probably necessary. 'Each artist will have their own set of objectives, budget and capacity. Artists have obviously got physical, time and financial restraints. Many of them aren't able to take the whole week off 'It doesn't worry me that people are doing different runs as that model as always existed. It would be more worrying if we were seeing three one-week festivals, but I don't think that's true. An enormous number of shows in this programme are doing the full run of the Fringe.' This year's Fringe programme will feature work from 58 countries around the world, including 923 Scottish productions and 1392 drawn from the rest of the UK. Mr Lankester said: 'I think the size of this year's programme demonstrates the resilience of artists. 'I don't think we can pretend that everything is rosy in the garden. We know there are issues, pressures and things we need to respond to. 'But the programme is evidence of what we know about artists, which is how much artists value the Fringe and see it as an important thing to be part of."
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Tourist tax targeted as Edinburgh festivals raise 'stagnation' fears
She suggested some were still in a 'precarious' position despite securing new long-term Scottish Government funding earlier this year. Read more: In an exclusive interview with The Herald, Ms Anderson suggested that Edinburgh's proposed new visitor levy - which will be introduced just before next year's summer festivals - was a 'huge opportunity' to help event organisers move from 'survival mode to thriving". Ms Anderson is the third director of the organisation Festivals Edinburgh, which was launched in 2007 to help secure the capital's status as the world's leading 'festival city". Lori Anderson is the director of Festivals Edinburgh. (Image: Colin Mearns) Ms Anderson works with 11 of the city's annual festivals, including the Edinburgh International Festival, the Fringe, the Tattoo, Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations, and the city's celebrations of jazz, film, visual art, science, storytelling, children's entertainment and books. Ms Anderson revealed that the 'scale and ambition' of some festival programmes had already had to be reduced as a result of lower-than-hoped-for Scottish Government funding, particularly for this year's events. Lori Anderson is director of Festivals Edinburgh. (Image: Colin Mearns) She suggested that the new Scottish Government funding deals announced by its arts agency, Creative Scotland, in January had not reversed the impact of prolonged standstill funding, which dated back as far as the 2008 global financial crash. Ms Anderson said: 'Edinburgh's festivals are finally in a more stable position after been in crisis mode for a good few years now with significant budget cuts, the pandemic and negotiating Brexit. 'But most of the festivals did not get as much as they wanted for their multi-year funding programmes and the timing of the announcement was much later than expected, which is making 2025 a difficult year. A number of festivals have had to adjust their scale and ambition of their programmes. The Edinburgh International Book Festival relocated last year to a new home at the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Picture: Edinburgh International Book Festival 'Looking ahead to the future, they are really at a bit of a crossroads now. They have a bit of stability at the moment, but their funding is always precarious and always a challenge.' The Scottish Government committed an additional £40m for Creative Scotland's multi-year funding programme, however this is being rolled out over two years. The Edinburgh International Festival's annual funding has increased from £2.3m to £3.25m this year, with a further £1m increase to come in 2026-27. The book festival's annual funding will has gone up from £306,000 to £520,000 this year and will rise a further £160,000 next year, while the art festival's funding is going up from £100,000 to £130,000 then £170,000 over the same period. Two of the city's most high-profile festivals, the Fringe and Edinburgh's Hogmanay festival, do not have long-term funding from the Scottish Government or Creative Scotland. Texan rope performer 'Duke Loopin' on the Royal Mile during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Picture: Gordon Terris Ms Anderson added: 'Creative Scotland's funding announcement was really welcome, but that doesn't mean that everyone is really settled now. 'The fire-fighting has subdued a bit and it has provided a bit of stability, but some of the festivals are still in quite a precarious position. The Edinburgh International Film Festival has been running since 1947. 'I think the two directions the festivals could go in from this crossroads moment are either stagnation or ambition. 'There are some opportunities ahead which mean they can start to think more about their future ambitions now, a couple of years ahead of their 80th anniversary. Lori Anderson is director of Festivals Edinburgh. (Image: Colin Mearns) 'We don't want to see the stagnation of the festivals. We want to see them thrive and not just be in survival mode.' Edinburgh's long-planned visitor levy, which is also known as a 'tourist tax,' will be introduced by the city council just days before the main summer festival season gets underway in 2026. Anyone booking accommodation from October 1 will be liable to pay the new five per cent levy, which will be capped for visits of up to five nights. The council, which has predicted the new levy will raise up to £50m a year by 2028, and has pledged that it will be 'reinvested directly into initiatives that benefit residents and enhance visitor experiences.' Ms Anderson described the visitor levy as a 'really exciting opportunity' to secure the future of the festivals. But she warned there was a risk of the city 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' if event organisers and their artists had to pay the extra charge but did not see it reinvested in the festivals. Ms Anderson said: 'The festivals are really entrepreneurial when it comes to looking at creative ways to raise income and being financially sustainable. 'The big challenge for them at the moment is around the cost of doing business in Edinburgh. 'It is an expensive place to live, work and visit and to put on a festival. In particular, there are very high accommodation costs at the moment. 'Visitors, performers and festivals that support the accommodation costs of their artists will have to pay the visitor levy when it comes in. 'But I think it's actually a really exciting opportunity. It's a huge moment for Edinburgh to think holistically and have significant investment across the whole city. It's a moment to be looking forward to and planning for. 'We would hope that, given the contribution that the festivals make to the city, some of the visitor levy income would come back to them, otherwise it would just be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.' Under the council's current spending plans, 35% of the money raised via the levy will be ringfenced for culture, heritage and events, although detailed proposals have not yet been agreed by councillors. Ms Anderson said: 'A lot of the festivals are keen to look at investing in their programmes. It could make a huge difference to enable longer-term planning. 'But there is also a huge opportunity to take a strategic approach to the whole city. 'We could see some really exciting projects to the fore to improve infrastructure and connectivity around the city and really help to invest in our cultural organisations, venues and attractions. There's lots to be looking forward to there.' Ms Anderson said the long-term funding secured by many of Edinburgh's festivals earlier this year needed to be the 'start of a new conversation' about how they are supported by the Scottish and UK governments, and the city council. She added: 'Edinburgh's festivals make a huge contribution socially, culturally and economically to Edinburgh, Scotland and the UK. We need to value them and support them with the resources that are needed to maintain and develop them. 'The festivals are second only in scale to an Olympic Games. You have to think about the support and resources are put into an Olympic Games. The festivals have survived for nearly 80 years. They're something that the city, Scotland and the whole of the UK should be incredibly proud of. They're a huge asset, which makes a really significant social, economic and cultural contribution. 'They are joyful, they are inspirational, they are diverse, they happen all year round and they change year-on-year. 'We want to see them supported in order to take forward their ambitions, to continue to represent Scotland and be something that we are incredibly proud of.'
The National
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 programme includes Palestine festival
Comedy, music, dance, children's shows, magic and cabaret will all be part of the arts festival, which runs from August 1 to 25. Topics include the apocalypse, rave culture, disability and sexuality, and more than half the performers are Scottish. A total of 3352 shows are included on the line-up, including at new venues such as Hibernian Football Club's Easter Road stadium. READ MORE: What to expect from The National as we cover Hamilton by-election this week Portobello Town Hall will also host acts for the first time, including a mini-festival to celebrate Palestinian art and culture, Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine. There are 325 free shows and 529 pay-what-you-can shows, and accommodation has been provided by several universities to make the Fringe more accessible to performers. Some 923 shows are from Scotland, predominantly from Edinburgh with 657 acts represented, compared to 1392 from the rest of the UK nations, while a total of 54 non-British nationalities are on the line-up. Easter Road stadium will host two shows – Dropped, by former Chelsea FC trainee Alfie Cain recalling dashed aspirations and 'the darkness and pressures' of football, as well as Frankie Mack Showman – The Next Stage: The Leith San Siro, described as a 'high-energy, show-stopping' night of swing, rock'n'roll and modern classics. Alice Hawkins – Working Class Suffragette at the Arthur Conan Doyle Centre explores a family connection with the campaign for democracy while VOTE the Musical at Paradise Green takes a 'gripping look' at the Suffragettes, exploring activism and personal sacrifice, according to promoters. Jenna Stone's play Happy Ending Street, at Leith Arches, tells a story about three Scottish sex workers dreaming of escaping from their way of life. READ MORE: Nigel Farage hides from public and press in shambolic by-election campaign visit Tony Lankester, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: 'Programme launch is such an exciting moment for everyone involved making the Fringe happen. 'Thank you to all the Fringe-makers – the artists, venues, workers, producers, technicians, promoters, support staff and audiences that bring their unmatched, exceptional energy to Edinburgh in August. 'This year's Fringe programme is filled with every kind of performance, so whether you're excited for theatre or circus, or the best of comedy, music, dance, children's shows, magic or cabaret; get ready to dare to discover this August. 'Jump right in, book your favourites, shows that intrigue you and take a chance on something new.'
Edinburgh Reporter
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Reporter
Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025
Later today the full Fringe 2025 programme will be published in print and online. The online version offers searchable database of the 3,352 shows which will be performed at 26 venues. Themes range across some of the most topical to Shakespeare and everything in between. Tony Lankester, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: 'Programme launch is such an exciting moment for everyone involved making the Fringe happen. Thank you to all the Fringe-makers – the artists, venues, workers, producers, technicians, promoters, support staff and audiences that bring their un-matched, exceptional energy to Edinburgh in August. 'This year's Fringe programme is filled with every kind of performance, so whether you're excited for theatre or circus, or the best of comedy, music, dance, children's shows, magic or cabaret; get ready to dare to discover this August. Jump right in, book your favourites, shows that intrigue you and take a chance on something new.' The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the charity that underpins the world-renowned Edinburgh Fringe. It was established in 1958 by a group of artists to provide central services for the festival and ensure that it stays true to its founding purpose of inclusion and welcome to all. We exist to support and encourage everyone who wants to participate in the Fringe; to provide information and assistance to audiences; and to celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world. Based on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, the Society has a small team of staff who work year-round to assist all the artists and audiences who make the festival one of the best loved performing arts events on the planet. In 2022, as part of the Fringe's 75th anniversary, the Fringe Society launched a new collaborative vision and set of values, and made a series of commitments to become more inclusive, fair and sustainable. The vision is 'to give anyone a stage and everyone a seat'. The Fringe Society was awarded funding of £7 million by the UK Government and has entered a long lease of the premises at the former South Bridge Resource Centre which will become the Fringe Hub after considerable work has been carried out. Like this: Like Related
