misc review

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It’s ThreeWeeks’ 13th year covering the Edinburgh Festival, so something is sure to go horribly wrong before the Festival is out. To, erm, celebrate that fact we thought we’d dedicate some space to all things ‘wrong’. Or more to the point, to what is wrong with the Edinburgh Festival. This week we hear from Julian Caddy, Venue Manager of Sweet.

Lest we forget, there is a lot that is actually quite good about the Edinburgh Festival. What has been achieved through unstructured, chaotic growth over the past sixty odd years is a glorious, unique and addictive phenomenon in the arts world and this should be shouted from the rooftops. It is a forum for literally anyone to come and perform or watch work. Not only that, it is also an open, unregulated market for anybody, from entrepreneurs to loss-making arts dabblers, to run venues. It is still a pretty unique place where everyone gets together, mucks in and makes do.

Anything still goes and there are more small-scale, up-and-coming, amateur and student groups than ever before, from literally all over the world. However, as the Fringe has grown, the more international calibre artists, tv and film stars – and their money – have been attracted, and, with that, more producers, reviewers, news reporters etc, and the more demands that they bring. The laws of the market also inevitably mean that there are more organised, business-minded venues, the most clued-up of which attract the best artists. And then, as the costs of entry and the risks, become much, much higher, the venue bars and sponsorship deals get bigger to pay for them.

This growing, unregulated Festival has brought growing pressure on the Fringe Society which is still constituted and run essentially the same way it has been for twenty years or more. It has presided (largely as an incidental outsider) over huge growth with a small staff and limited funds, and it has struggled. Although for the most part the Fringe Society staff are helpful, there hasn’t ever been enough continuity, long term plan or ambition. The Fringe Society board are mostly a combination of part-timers, self promoters, wannabes and has beens, who have displayed a lack of understanding or competence to deal with the demands made on them.

Whether it be matters of public funding, the raising of sponsorship, campaigning on behalf of venues (eg for reducing theatre licence fees, the smoking ban), publicity for the Fringe outside Edinburgh, investment in a new box office system over time, the current box office disaster, or even basic communication to those who are most affected by some of the fundamental decisions being made, the stakes are now so much higher when things go wrong because many more people are affected. There has been growing frustration from the venues in particular over the past five or so years which has led firstly to the establishment of the AIVP (Associated Independent Venue Producers) for the venues and this year with the separate box office system and the launch of the comedy festival by the “big 4”.

In the end, the fundamental reality for the Fringe Society is that they themselves are not the Fringe; they are there to service, advise and keep it on track as required. The shame is that their current board do not have the wherewithal to do the demanding job required of them. Gradually, if nothing changes, it risks being the end of the road for the Fringe Society in its current form as the leading venues begin to progressively move both their box office and programme away from it. Yes, it is spelling a two-speed Fringe (then again this existed already) but it is also just another era in the Fringe’s long and shambolic history.

In order for the Fringe to survive as the world’s premier arts festival it must be open to the change and evolution that has seen it prosper so fantastically so far. And now, because of the huge financial interests at stake, whether with the Fringe Society or not (and like it or not), the large venues, as the principal Fringe stakeholders, will be more and more in the driving seat in maintaining a successful future, at least for them and their performers. Brace yourselves because change is afoot…

http://www.sweet-uk.net

published: Aug-2008

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