New ‘Festival Village’ for acts to offer 500 rooms

An official "Festival Village" offering cut-price accommodation for up to 500 Fringe artists and performers will be run on the outskirts of Edinburgh this summer.

The Fringe Society is joining forces with Queen Margaret University (QMU) to run the venture at its campus near Musselburgh. Organisers say the move is a "very positive step in the right direction" to tackling the cost of performing and working at the Fringe.

The university has highlighted the “vast amounts of stunning green space” which will be on offer at the Festival Village, while the Fringe Society has suggested artists “escape the bustle of the festival while having access to regular train, bus and night bus connections to the centre of town”.

A special rate of £269.50 a week is being offered for a private room within the shared student accommodation on the campus, which includes a self-catering kitchen.

The Fringe Society will be running special services and events at the Festival Village, which will have access to rehearsal spaces, storage facilities, a sports centre, an on-site cafe and free yoga classes.

The Festival Village, which will boast free parking and cycle storage, is opposite Musselburgh Railway station, which has regular services connecting with Waverley Station. Open mic and performance nights are expected to be staged at the on-site Maggie’s Cafe Bar.

The Festival Village initiative has been unveiled exactly a year after the Fringe Society warned the event was facing a “perfect storm” over the availability and affordability of accommodation for participants.

It has called for an “Olympics-style response” from the Scottish Government and Edinburgh City Council to help ensure the event is as affordable and accessible as possible in future.