Impresario quits Fringe over ‘greed’

One of the leading promoters on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe says he is quitting the event because it has “lost its artistic purpose” and is being damaged by greed.

In a damning verdict delivered just days ahead of the 70th event getting underway this week, Tomek Borkowy said the Fringe had become too driven by profit and was now “ruinous” for artists. He warned the event was facing long-term decline due to declining income for performers and “sky-rocketing” costs to stage shows.

Borkowy, who has been producing shows and running venues since 1990, said there had been a noticeable drop in quality at the Fringe in recent years due to a focus on expanding the size of the event.

The impresario said “commercialisation of all aspects of the festival” in recent years had led to “cut-throat competition” and the widespread use of unpaid or “exceptionally low-paid staff ”.

He added that the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society had become increasingly corporate and felt “ever more removed” from performers and producers.

Borkowy, a Polish-born actor, director, producer, theatre manager and agent, has been based in the UK since 1980. Universal Arts has provided one of the major Fringe showcases for international theatre since then, selling 37,000 tickets last year.

He said: “This year could have been my 27th as a venue producer, but it isn’t. I am stopping,not because iamb or ed of it, but because it has changed into something I can’t support anymore. For me, it has lost its artistic purpose and is shifting to a structure that is profitable for some shareholders and ruinous for artists. I really don’t like the direction the festival is going in.”

“I really don’t like the direction the festival is going in”