The UK and Scottish governments will be asked to secure the future of the Keep It Fringe Fund before the end of the year.
Read more:
However it is understood the at-risk initiative may have to be scaled back dramatically or could be shelved completely unless significant funding can be found.
The Fringe Society, the arts charity which oversees the event, has been inundated with more than 2275 applications to help meet the costs of putting on shows at the last three festivals but has only had funding to approve support just over 400 to date.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has been running since 1947. Picture: Jess Shurte
The fund was launched in 2023 by Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge – a former award-winner at the festival – when her charity donated £50,000 for a pilot. At the time said she wanted to support acts who would not otherwise have the chance to bring work to the festival.
The first year of the initiative, which was match-funded from donations to the Fringe Society, supported an initial 50 bursaries.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge launched the Keep It Fringe Fund three years ago. (Image: 2019 Invision) The Fringe Society was able to extend the fund for another two years after securing permission from the UK Government to transfer £1m it had been pledged for a project to create a new headquarters in a former school building.
At the same time, Succession star Brian Cox launched a dedicated US Keep It Fringe Funding to help bring American artists and companies to the event.
The initiative is aimed at acts who do not have an existing profile at the Fringe and face financial “barriers” to taking part in the event.
Acts demonstrating “the greatest need and the boldest ideas” are said to have been prioritised by the panels of independent assessors who score the applications.
The Fringe Society has seen growing demands for the bursaries, with an initial 677 applications in 2023, 749 last year and 850 for this month’s festival.
There is uncertainty over whether the UK Government will continue its support of the fund, even though it has just unveiled its first official partnership with the Fringe Society.
The deal is expected to raise the global profile of the Fringe, which is featuring more than 3800 shows from 63 countries this month, and see the festival take part in efforts to promote “the best of Scotland” at future trade missions, ministerial visits and other overseas events.
The Fringe Society has struggled to secure Scottish Government funding in recent years after having applications to arts agency Creative Scotland rejected.
However it is hoped that a one-off Scottish Government grant of £300,000 announced earlier this year will lead to further investment being secured by the society.
Fringe Society chief executive Tony Lankester said: “The Keep It Fringe Fund is a work in progress at the moment.
“We are going to be talking to all of our funders, donors, patrons and corporate partners to see how we can replenish the fund.
“The beauty of the Keep It Fringe Fund is that there is a simple, straightforward, transparent process. There’s no smoke and mirrors.
“We are putting together an ask to the Scottish and UK government, which will include the UK Keep It Fringe Fund. We would like to secure funding for at least the next three years.
“It’s hugely important that it continues. We know the difference it is making to individual artists. For a lot of them, it really has made the difference between them being here and not being here.”
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray told The Herald: “The Keep It Fringe Fund is a really important initiative and has been really successful.
“It has put money straight into the pockets of artists to be able to bring their shows here. That is something we want to support.
“A key part of the new strategic partnership we have signed with the Fringe Society is to make sure we can make the festival as accessible as possible.
“It is hugely expensive to put on a Fringe show and those costs are going up all the time.
“The beauty of the Fringe was to allow fledgling artists to come to Edinburgh and show the world what they could do.
“If the costs of doing the Fringe becomes so expensive for fledgling artists and means they cannot bring their shows here it will mean the big guys just clean up.
“There is a real Fringe that it would turn the world’s best cultural ecosystem event into just another place to see the top shows. That’s the main thing we have to guard against.
“It’s really important to make sure that the Fringe is affordable and accessible.
“There are big discussions to be had about housing, rents, travel and how much it costs to put on a Fringe show. They are all things that will be having discussions with the Fringe Society about.”
