Venue chiefs fear for future of the Fringe
It has run for nearly 75 years, is the biggest event of its type in the world and is estimated to be worth around £1 billion to the Scottish economy.
But now some of the leading players in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe have raised fears for the very future of the event unless it is given the green light by the Scottish Government within weeks and is underwritten from the public purse.
Venue operators are pleading for clarity on how they will be allowed to operate in the city this summer to head off the prospect of a second August withouttheeventandsavelongrunningcompaniesfromfinancial ruin.
They say they were left dismayedthatfirstministernicola Sturgeon failed to make any mention of events in an update to the Scottish Parliament last week in the wake of Prime Ministerborisjohnson’sannouncements that they are due to return in England in May, with social distancing hoped to be lifted completely the following month.
The government is being urged to ensure performers, companiesandtheartsindustry doesnotrelocateelsewherethis August if it looks like the Fringe will be unable to go ahead. The promoters have stressed the need for financial help to pay for new infrastructure including temporary venues this summer under tentative plans to deploy parks and gardens for shows to ensure shows can go ahead with social distancing in place.
The government insists that work is underway with the events sector in Scotland on a“route-maptowardsanincremental and cautious re-opening.”
Anthony Alderson, artistic director of the Pleasance, said: “The big frustration at the moment is we just don’t know anything and therefore can’t plan anything. At the moment we’re just sitting and waiting.
“At least Boris has said: ‘If the conditionsarerightthisiswhat we could do.’ If the Scottish Government can give us a set of parameters under which we can operate then we’ll do that.
"Idon’tthinkthescottishgovernment and the council really understand the structure of the Fringe and how it works. We provide the infrastructure for it and it's all temporary, but we’ve got huge annual overheads.”
"Our budget every year is about £3 million. We can’t survive for three years without any income.” Assembly founder William Burdett-coutts said: “With social distancing, the normal economic model of the festival goes out the window. In reality, there’s going to need to be a subsidy to make things happen.”katy Koren, artistic director of the Gilded Balloon, said: “We’re desperate to do live events again. But we need to have some indication in the middle of March of whether something can go ahead.” Ascottishgovernmentspokesman said: “Given that we are still experiencing high numbers of Covid-19 infections, we are regrettably not able at this stage to provide clarity as to when live events can resume. We understand uncertainty is challenging for the sector and a great deal of work is under way, in partnership with all major elements of the culture and eventssector,todeveloparoutemap towards an incremental and cautious re-opening.”
A freedom of speech amendment to the controversial Hate Crime Bill by the Scottish Government could “worsen the chilling effect” on people who want to discuss the tension between women’s rights and a proposed expansion of rights for transgender people, it has been claimed.
Despite demands for protections for freedom of expression to be tightened in the bill to ensure that "expressing antipathy, dislike, ridicule, or insult” would cover all protected characteristics and not just religion, Humza Yousaf has lodged an amendment that only protects “discussion or criticism” in relation to age, disability, sexual orientation, transgender identity or variations in sex characteristics.
The justice secretary said he believes the thresholds in the bill, which would lead to a charge of “stirring up” hatred against someone with any of those characteristics, are high enough not to need an expanded freedom of expression provision. He also claims that a "reasonableness defence” is another safeguard.
However, concerns had been raised with the justice committee, which was scrutinising the bill, that the “febrile atmosphere” in which women’s and transgender rights are being discussed could lead to the proposed legislation being used to stop women voicing their concerns, unless there was a speci fic protection .
Mr Yousaf has said he will ensure “how examples for each characteristic might be included in the explanatory notes as to how the freedom of expression provision operates”, but campaigners do not believe this gives enough protection.