Fears for venues if live Fringe cancelled

THE Edinburgh Festival Fringe is “in limbo” and should be seen as part of the “solution” to the recovery from the pandemic, according to its chief executive.

Fringe Society chief executive Shona Mccarthy called for the event to be “trusted with clear guidance” as she warned that some venues and companies would go to the wall if a live festival was unable to go ahead in August.

But she said Edinburgh faced suffering

“absolutely enormous” damage to its reputation as a culture capital and festival city if its festivals were not given help to stage a full recovery in time for their 75th anniversary in 2022.

Speaking at a Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce event, Ms Mccarthy said:

“The picture is uncertain just now.

“The position that we are in, and that many of our companies and venues are in, is that we are absolutely ready to put on a live festival. But we don’t have the clarity, or the guidance, or the understanding about what this pandemic is going to do to say for certain that that can happen.

“The reality is if we can’t put on a live event this year then we really are going to lose some of our companies and venues.”

And Ms Mccarthy highlighted the need for support for the festivals. “These festivals just don’t happen out of nowhere,” she said. “They need support.

“When they happen they bring such massive economic, social and cultural benefit to the city. They will need support to be able to come back, especially if we’re really not looking at live events this year.

“Clarity we can work with, but this limbo we find ourselves in at the moment means we can’t give anyone any answers at the moment.”

Ms Mccarthy added: “For the part we can play in the recovery, we should be part of the solution.”