Fringe to go online in new vision
● Mccarthy says mix of live shows and streaming could help struggling artists and reduce the festival’s physical footprint
Audiences will be encouraged to watch Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows via online streaming under radical plans to guarantee the capital extravaganza’s return.
The festival’s programme could be cut in size by more than half under the vision for the future.
A radical vision for the return of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe could see its programme cut in size by more than half, audiences encouraged to watch shows from the other side of the world and an end to performers being “priced out” of being able to afford to take part in the event.
The chief executive of the Fringe Society suggested the event had changed forever as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and revealed that the 2021 event was likely to be a “hybrid” with a mix of live and digital shows in its programme.
Shona Mccarthy said a key aim for the future was to ensure there was no return to artists and companies having to hire “overpriced accommodation” to take part in the event, by working with the city council to ensure that affordable options were available for Fringe participants.
As well as ensuring that arts industry workers and audiences are able to view performances overseas, efforts to reduce the event’s carbon footprint could see an end to the publication of an official Fringe programme and companies urged to promote shows online rather than traditional methods, such as posters and flyers.
She said the Fringe Society was working with council officials to ensure people were able to move easier around the city centre as part of a drive to ensure that the event “work better for this city and all of its citizens.”
However Ms Mccarthy has hit back at critics of the Fringe over suggestions that local artists and companies are excluded from the world-famous cultural extravaganza, which attracted an audience of more than three million for the first time in 2019.
The Fringe, which dates back to 1947, when it was instigated by companies excluded from the first Edinburgh International Festival, was officially called off in April due to the spread of coronavirus.
With live events still banned in Scotland under the Scottish Government’s current lockdown restrictions, it is far from certain what form next year’s Fringe may take but Ms Mccarthy said she wanted to see it return as “not just the biggest festival in the world but the best festival in the world.”
She added: “Nobody wants to go back to a situation where overpriced accommodation is pricing people out of the open access nature of the Fringe. It is a fundamental guiding principle that people hold dear.
“We are also working with the city council on whether there are ways to regulate the cost of accommodation. It’s been an issue of huge consternation to artists. If accommodation is so expensive that it prices people out it’s just not acceptable.
“We’ve already been asking residents to provide a spare room for Fringe artists, but do it in a king of ethical way. We want to have a better understanding of what accommodation there is around the city.
“If international tourism is down next year there may be less demand on accommodation around the city.”
The Fringe has rebooted this month with an online-only programme to help companies and artists return in 2021.
Ms Mccarthy suggested the technological innovations explored over recent months could help the Fringe realise its ambitions of reducing its impact on the environment.
Ms Mccarthy said: “Digital broadcasting of some elements of the Fringe is here to stay. I think this year has forced us into experimentation that is very likely to be the legacy out of all of this.
“The flipside is that if you just try to dump everything into digital spaces people can get streaming fatigue. I don’t foresee and wouldn’t want to see digital output in any way taking away from or casting a shadow over live performance. That’s always going to be the mecca for me.
“This year has allowed us to reach people who may never have travelled to Edinburgh in the past. They’re now part of our global audience.
“A hybrid model could be an opportunity to extend our global audience in a way that negates the need to travel. We’ve already created an online marketplace this year for tour-ready shows. We’d normally have around 1600 programmers and curators here.
“There is a whole question about printed materials, whether we need to do a programme the next same and whether flyering is the best way for people to market their shows.
“All these things should be up for a real conversation and whether moving everything into the digital space is better for the environment.”
Ms Mccarthy described suggestions that the Fringe and the other festivals had little or no relevance to Edinburgh or Scotland as “madness.”
She added: “You can say what you want about the Fringe, but make sure it is rooted in fact, reality and actual data. We know for a fact that there were more than 900 shows from across Scotland last year. I meet the artists, I meet the companies, I go to the shows.”
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“This year has allowed us to reach people who may never have travelled to Edinburgh in the past. They’re now part of our global audience”
SHONA MCCARTHY Fringe chief executive