Supported by the British Council, the programme identifies and supports the next generation of talented producers, with a particular focus on disabled and black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) voices. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe or Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts festival, which in 2018 spanned 25 days and featured more than 55,000 performances of 3,548 different shows in 317 venues. Sell out Edinburgh Fringe magic show 2016 and 17. The Chief Executive deepened political engagement with the Fringe, welcoming the Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and members of the royal family to Edinburgh in August. 6. We often talk about the Fringe as the worlds greatest platform for freedom of expression; a festival where everyone is welcome. And beyond the numbers, it was encouraging to see Fringe artists, audiences and venues embrace the spirit of the wider campaign, engaging in conversations, sharing their thoughts and recommendations, and taking a leap #IntoTheUnknown. Thank you to the artists, producers, venues, technicians, front of house staff, industry representatives, media, partners and supporters, local residents, and many more besides it would not have happened without you. 2018 was Scotlands Year of Young People, a year-long programme celebrating their achievements, valuing their contributions and creating new opportunities for them to shine in Scotland and beyond. Together they unearthed new stories, explored unusual spaces and generally pushed the boundaries of what is possible. T. he city of Edinburgh has been beset with a case of the stitches for the rest of the month, thanks to the return of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Hosted by Ahir Shah. Flora Gosling was the talented winner of the inaugural award and she will receive mentoring from arts writers at The Scotsman and paid work as part of the newspapers review team at the 2019 Fringe. The project is also designed to address geographical barriers. World Fringe Day trended across the UK and over 200 fringes joined us on Twitter to share what makes their festivals and home cities unique, reaching over four million users. Some of the international performers at the Fringe Festival stages on the Royal Mile during august 2018#EdFringe #EdinburghFringeFestival In 2018, 3,548 shows took place in 317 venues across Edinburgh. Designed as a professional development opportunity for young people with an interest in curation, the panels contribution was invaluable, resulting in an energised and relevant series of events. Lee Ridley AKA Lost Voice Guy and the winner of Britain's Got Talent in conversation. 19% of all registered shows were international. Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018: 10 of this year's quirkiest shows. Local audiences also continue to embrace the festival. The media continued to play a crucial role in helping to grow our audiences and in helping them decide what shows to see. As has come to be the case, comedy makes up the bulk of these performances, with 35% of shows taking the form of stand-up or sketches. Listen to Stephen Buchanan's winning set. 4 Extra Stands Up, 4 Extra Stands Up at the Fringe 2018, Mawaan Rizwan delivers his satirical song 'Babywipes'. 7. We used the Neatebox Welcome app to allow customers with additional support needs to inform us when they were coming to the Fringe Box Office, shop, or Virgin Money Street Events, so they could advise us of any specific assistance they required. This year, 180 participants sought advice from us on all aspects of their media and marketing campaigns, including how to make an impact on social media, how to write press releases and how to target relevant media titles and websites. Funny, surreal, utterly ridiculous - it's the best of the Fest. The Fringe is one of the most globally recognised performing arts festivals in the world and audiences come from far and wide to see the 3,500 plus shows on offer in August. The majority of our income is generated through commission and fees connected with the Box Office, advertising associated with our publications and the website, registration fees, our Friends of the Fringe scheme, and sponsorship and events. It gives them the freedom and flexibility to choose. Kate Craik, North Edinburgh Arts. I have visited the Fringe over a number of years with my son For the first time, I felt his complex needs had been taken into account this year to try and allow him to experience as much of the Fringe as he could possibly manage. 3. We can talk about issuing over 2.8 million tickets or we can talk about what that really means that more people than ever from Edinburgh, from Scotland and from all over the world experienced the thrill of live performance. EdFringe venue - Gilded Balloon 6pm Daily 1st - 26th August 2018. Twelve countries presented showcases at this years festival, including Canada, Belgium, Finland, China and South Korea. It is my privilege to work alongside you as the Societys Chair and I cannot wait to see where we are headed next on our great Fringe adventure. Stand-Up and chat from American Actor/Comedian Allan Havey, star of Mad Men and Billions. Removing barriers to attendance and participation, The organisation that underpins the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Toggle Support us as an individual child menu, Toggle Support us as a business child menu, Toggle About the Fringe Society child menu, 180 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QS, United Kingdom, Find out more about the Blueprint andhow you can help. Although the Society cannot recommend individual shows, the campaign celebrated the fact that artists and audiences can, and we actively encouraged conversations about shows on our social media platforms. World-class stand-up from one of live comedy's internationally acclaimed masters, as he celebrates his 25th Edinburgh Festival Fringe! The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed on You can find details of this on the next page; however, it is worth emphasising one key point. International participation is crucial to the success of the Fringe and we were delighted to welcome 1,360 arts industry professionals from 42 countries this year, alongside 1,001 members of the media from 23 countries. As always, Edinburgh Fringe 2018 was a magical melting pot of creativity, and we think everyone who is brave enough to take a show to the Fringe deserves a huge amount of credit. Adam Rowe has won the award for Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe 2018. For the second year we delivered the Fringe Days Out scheme, providing 31 Edinburgh-based charities and community groups with 50,000 of Fringe ticket vouchers and bus tickets to allow their service users to experience the magic of the Fringe free of charge. Fringe Angels, Patrons and Friends and all those who donated to the Society at the Fringe Box Office and via the website. The onward touring fund, which supports international performances after the festival, has enabled 87 productions to tour across six continents, visiting 38 countries. Alongside our friends in the city, in government, in business, in education and communities, in companies and venues, we can and will make the Fringe the best festival in the world. The mentorship scheme supported eight young people to develop their understanding of the fundamentals of arts criticism and hone their writing skills through a series of workshops. Accessible performances increased by 40%. The affordable Fringe|Tackle the rising cost of attendance at the Fringe to ensure the festival is affordable for all. During the month of August, the buzzing anticipation of the lead up explodes as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival arrives in town taking over the city. We worked with Youth Theatre Arts Scotland to nurture and support the next generation of arts critics through the 2018 Young Critics Programme. Designed to reach people in Edinburgh who do not typically engage with the Fringe, the Fringe Days Out scheme includes charities and community groups such as Stepping Stones North Edinburgh, Vintage Vibes, Dads Rock, LGBT Youth Scotland, Lothian Autistic Society and Sikh Sanjog. The great joy of the voucher system is that groups and individuals can decide what they want to see and when they want to see it. A different gag, a different comic, every night - straight to your smart speaker. Through this we identified new ways to open up collaborations between different groups and provided a supportive environment for ticket recipients to have a broader conversation about arts and culture. Designed to encourage and support participation, these sessions are full of practical information and provide an excellent opportunity for artists to ask any burning questions about taking part. Jayde Adams takes us to the 2018 Festival Fringe - the world's biggest arts festival. 20 August 2018. The Fringe home|Secure a new home for the Fringe to provide year-round assistance to participants and support a vibrant Fringe community. This year, we invited artists and audiences to take a leap #IntoTheUnknown to explore Edinburghs secret spaces, discover new work, take risks and create their own adventure. Our year-round hashtag #edfringe was used 186,000 times and viewed on more than one billion occasions. These changes were designed to better reflect the creativity and diversity of our performers, and to improve the experience for the hundreds of thousands who gather to see its world-class street performances. This is an international celebration that simply would not be possible without the support, creativity and passion of Scotlands capital and its people. There are no gatekeepers telling audiences what stories to consume there are only artists, each with their own stories, their own fury, their own hopes, their own funny curiosities behind every door is a chance to see the world out of someone elses eyes. Deborah Frances-White, The latest and greatest Fringe news delivered directly to your inbox, Thank you to our sponsors and all of our supporters. Everything you need to know about putting on a show, running a venue and more. The redevelopment of the Virgin Money Street Events has been embraced by artists and audiences alike, and we are proud to have improved accessibility on both the Royal Mile and Mound with accessible viewing areas and stages, BSL-interpreted performances, and sensory backpacks for autistic children and adults. Over 600 Fringe artists delivered their elevator pitches to journalists, broadcasters, bloggers and reviewers from media outlets including The List, The Scotsman, The Skinny and The Herald. Airbnb | Alba Cola | Arts & Business Scotland | Attitude is Everything | Audio Description Association Scotland | BBC | BECTU | Birds of Paradise Theatre Company | British Council | Burness Paull | Caledonian Brewing Co. | Chewigem | COMMON | Creative Scotland | Deaf Action | Department for Digital, Culture,Media and Sport | Dynamic Earth | Edinburgh Airport | Edinburgh Art Festival | Edinburgh St James | Edinburgh Tourism Action Group through the Festivals Tourism Innovation Fund | Edinburgh Trams | Edlets | Education Scotland | Enterprise Screen | Euans Guide | EventScotland | Federation of Scottish Theatre | Fest | Festivals Edinburgh | Imaginate | International Society for the Performing Arts | LNER | Lothian Buses | Lyra Arts | MediaCom Scotland | Morton Fraser | Murgitroyd | North Edinburgh Arts | Out of Hand | PAMIS | Parabola | Parents in the Performing Arts | Pickerings Gin | Pindar | PRS for Music | Red61 | Scottish Enterprise | Scottish Government | Scottish Music Centre | Screenmedia | Signal | Take One Media | The City of Edinburgh Council | The List | The Scotsman | The Skinny | The University of Edinburgh | UK Government | Victor and Carina Contini | Virgin Money | VisitScotland | Waterstones | Waverley Mall | WHALE Arts | Whitespace | World Fringe Alliance Fringe artists and venues were once again given the opportunity to come face-to-face with media representatives at Meet the Media, the biggest event in the Fringe Central calendar. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has a lot going on. 8. It is important to me as a project worker that the young people we work with are exposed to new and exciting experiences. asked our charities to provide feedback and ideas on how to develop the programme to ensure it has the maximum possible benefit on quality of life, wellbeing and community aspirations. The Fringe story |Tell the remarkable story of the Fringe and build awareness of, and support for, our charitable mission all over the world. Funded by the UK Governments Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, we developed our services to provide greater support for artists and companies with tour-ready work to connect with national and international promoters who come to Edinburgh specifically to discover work. While the Fringe brings a huge wave of innovative talent to Edinburgh, there are plenty of homegrown shows in this years programme, with 967 Scottish companies bringing work to the capital. The open Fringe |Remove barriers to entry to ensure that everyone is welcome at the Fringe and anyone can take part. The Fringe Days Out scheme is specifically designed for people who are at risk of social exclusion. Fringe World Congress is a unique forum which brings together fringe festivals from around the world to learn from each other, exchange ideas and build future collaborations, strengthening the fringe community across the globe. Edinburgh Fringe 2018: 10 theatre shows you must see Here's our guide to the best theatre shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, as recommended by our critics. From the 19th-26th August 2018, Bitter will be at Paradise Green for the Edinburgh Fringe We were proud to host the fourth Fringe World Congress in Edinburgh this year, the event returning to the city where the fringe spark was first ignited in 1947. Another development for 2018 was the Young Arts Industry Programme, created as part of Scotlands Year of Young People. In addition to regular engagement with Scottish Government Ministers and local leaders in the City of Edinburgh Council, she also met with the Culture Secretary and senior officials in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Our full review archives from the Comedy and Theatre programmes at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe will sit over on our Edinburgh Festivals microsite , along with interviews and spotlights on some of the Fringe's most exciting and intriguing performers. Other income includes donations, rental income, Gift Aid and a management fee from our trading subsidiary. The eight commitments are: 1. The latter led directly to the first DCMS funding in 70 years of Edinburghs festivals, and recognition of the Fringe as a vital platform for UK artists. As a noncurated festival where anything can happen from Shakespeare to silly walks, comedy to cabaret, circus to childrens shows we wanted Fringe-goers to step outside their comfort zone and try something different, be that a new genre, an unknown artist, a different part of town or an experience out of the ordinary. We expanded our work with the City of Edinburgh Council and with the Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council to provide complimentary tickets to children and young people in foster and kinship care in the Edinburgh area. 69 delegates from 35 fringes attended Fringe World Congress. We exist to support, advise and encourage everyone who wants to participate, provide information and assistance to audiences, and promote the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world. These may sound like lofty ideals, but it is at the core of the Fringes identity and everything we do springs from these principles. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe sits at the heart of a global movement of fringe festivals all over the world. This year marked the 10th anniversary of the Fringe Central Events Programme and featured the largest programme to date. By The Newsroom. In 2018 for example, the festival was host to 3,548 shows, which had a total of 55,000 performances across 317 venues. Closer to home, we worked with Arts Council England to establish a stronger pathway for artists coming to the Fringe from England, and a domestic strategy is underway to ensure we have more robust links to Wales and Northern Ireland. Artists and audiences came together to take a collective leap #IntoTheUnknown. The Fringe Young Writers Award was established to recognise the best review of a 2018 Fringe show by a young writer aged 16 to 21. This years Fringe was a remarkable celebration of the creative spirit. A record 1,360 delegates from over 40 countries accredited with the Fringe Society this year. Zoe Lyons introduces eight of the best stand-ups from 2018's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There are also many free and pay what you want shows throughout August, not just at the Fringe but at all the Edinburgh Festivals. Events included networking opportunities, creative labs and conversations tackling relevant issues and challenges to participation at the Fringe, including female representation and accessibility. Inspiring the next generation of artists, audiences, arts professionals and journalists is integral to the Fringes future, and we embraced the Year of Young People across all our activities. The young delegates could take advantage of all the services and resources available from the Arts Industry Office, including one-to-one career advice. Share. Thats why generic has become a term of derision. Fresh from the Fringe showcases the best in comedy from the festival. Like the Fringe itself, we can only achieve these ambitions with the help, guidance, creativity and commitment of our extended Fringe family. By forming these relationships, we have been able to reach a broad cross-section of the community and encourage recipients to take more risks in what they choose to see by fostering open conversations with people they know and trust. It had over 30,000 artists from over 50 countries taking part in 2018. Alongside the many professional events at Fringe Central, we provide a bespoke advice service to help artists and companies progress their careers and maximise the many opportunities that the Fringe presents. Read about our approach to external linking. The Fringe is a big event on the cultural calendar and to be able to book and see shows was very exciting and we had a great time. Natalie Thomson, Young Carers Project, Broomhouse. Building on the success of the inaugural World Fringe Day in 2017, we once again celebrated all things fringe with our counterparts across the world on 11 July. Mind Reader & hypnotist Aaron Calvert debuts DECLASSIFIED at Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August.