Sturgeon urges action to tackle Fringe exploitation concerns
Nicola Sturgeon has called for more to be done to tackle concerns over the exploitation of people working on venues and events at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The First Minister has entered the debate over the way Scotland’s biggest arts festival is staged by suggesting its return this year offered an opportunity “to do things better and do things differently”.
She said the event had “a way still to go” to address concerns about working practices.
In an interview with actress Nicola Roy for her Cultural Coven podcast, the First Minister said there was a need to “challenge the notion” that good art had to be at the expense of good terms and conditions for artists and workers in the cultural sector.
She called for more Scottish actors to be cast in films and TV shows made in Scotland to help reverse a long-standing talent drain to London.
She also called for new statues of notable Scottish women to be erected across the country to help redress a longstanding imbalance - but insisted she did not want to be commemorated herself.
A major shake-up of the Fringe, which has been the world’s biggest arts festival for decades, was urged earlier this year to help tackle long-standing concerns over what is described as its “pay-to-perform landscape”. She said: "I don’t think we should ever tolerate the exploitation of workers and artists. I know there have been moves made in recent years by the Fringe to address some of that, but I think there’s a way still to go.
"We just need to first and foremost challenge the notion that great art has to be at the expense of good terms and conditions, and good working practices.
“I hope as we come out of Covid and start to see the Edinburgh festivals properly springing to life again we have the opportunity to address some of these things.
“Anything that changes your perspective on how it all falls down again has to be an opportunity to do things better and do things differently.
“We’ve got all of that in arts and culture, but in life and society more generally, to hopefully take advantage of as we turn the corner on the pandemic and get back to, not normal, but something better than the normal we had before."
Ms Sturgeon stressed that the value of the arts and culture sector should not just be valued for its economic contribution.
She added: “It’s also about health and wellbeing and our sense of who we are as a country.
"It’s really fundamental and integral to everything we do in my view. “The last couple of years have been a nightmare for everybody.
"We’ve tried our best to provide financial support.
"I know that will never have gone far enough. “I do think we need to work with the sector to help with recovery and consider how, in this post-covid world, we support not just recovery but a sustainable future.
"We’ve also got to encourage people back into theatres, venues and cinemas and to get out and about again.”