Visa delays ‘threaten Fringe’s open culture’
Scottish playwright David Greig has raised concerns about the impact on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe of the UK government’s restrictions and delays in granting artists’ visas.
Mr Greig described a number of visa rejections and lengthy delays as having a “chilling effect” on Fringe participants and could result in the event’s open-door policy being limited to middle-class European and American performers.
Two Syrian shows, in the Arab Arts Focus, called the first significant showcase of Arab contemporary theatre and performance in the 70-year history of the Edinburgh Fringe, have now been hit by immigration woes, with one already cancelled.
All the visa applications for the Egyptian team organising the event, whose backers include the British Council, were also turned down, said the lead curator French-egyptian festival director Ahmed Al Attar who added: “The whole visa thing is just killing us.”
Al Attar, Greig, and others question why established performers and artists are being hindered from travel. “The artists in the Arab world are some of the few people who can instigate the kind of change that we all hope for on all levels, and blocking them from coming, from travelling, from coming out of there and showing the work and meeting their counterparts is just plain stupid.”
The new row follows a public warning last weekend by the director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Nick Barley, that “British culture will be damaged” following a visa rejection for a prominent Iranian children’s author. “How can we combat stereotypes and reduce prejudice in UK if author visas are denied?”
There appears a building groundswell of frustration over why established artists or actors, often invited with backing from the British Council or international arts foundations, can’t get visa processed and approved in time.