Holyrood accused of letting Fringe ‘fall through cracks’
Organisers of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe have accused the scottish government of letting the event“fall through the cracks” and putting its worldleading status at risk by failing to provide enough funding for the nation’ s biggest cultural celebration.
The Fringe Society, which oversees the event, has suggested Edinburgh’s long-held “festival city” status, which dates back to 1947, is now“looking diminished” due to a lack of serious investment in the face of competition from other UK cities.
Festival chiefs say not enough is being done to reverse sustained disinvestment and historic underfunding.
In a wide-ranging response to the Scottish Budget, it warned government promises of securing an additional £100 million for the cultural sector would not be enough to tackle “sustained disinvestment of many years and historic underfunding”.
A new report from the arts charity, which runs the official festival box office, website, media office and industry events programme, has admitted losing many of its staff over the past two years due to “the enormous demands of deliveringwith minimum human and financial resource”.
A damning new dossier for Holyrood on the event’s financial outlook states the Fringe Society needs“an organisationalculture that looks after its people, that is ex acting and fulfilling, but does not put unrealisticexpectations or work loads that break people”.
It has admitted the “old operating model” of both the festival and the Fringe Society were no longer sustainable in the long term, warning both faced “insurmountable challenges” due to rising inflation, skills shortages, reduced funding and the cost-of-living crisis.
Led by chief executive Shona Mccarthy, the Fringe Society, which does not get any core public funding from the government, has called for £1.5m to be invested annually in the event, which is said to be worth at least£200m for the economy.
It has drawn a contrast between the treatment of the festival and the level of government support for the one-off UCI World Cycling Championships event, which was staged in Scotland at the same time as last year’s Fringe.
Although the Scottish Government has refused to confirm final details of its financial backing, it is understood to have provided at least £44m for the event, which is thought to have cost more than £60m to stage.
The report states :“as the largest arts event on the planet, the Fringe helps Edinburgh and Scotland promote itself across the globe, and the economic impact of the Fringe each year outstrips the benefits of one-off major events. There remains no strategic or joined up approach to supporting this incredible cultural phenomenon and the Fringe often falls between the gap soft he government funding agencies.
“We urge government to ensure that when money is available that the choice is made to support long-term, home-grown initiatives that deliver for the nation culturally, socially, economically and reputationally.”
The fringe society said it welcomed the prospect of extra funding being secured for the cultural sector in future years, but added: “If the new money pledged is to have the greatest impact, then we need to be at the table working through what that looks like and in genuine strategic partnership.”