The Fringe Society, the arts charity which oversees the event, says new backing is needed to ‘shore up the worldwide reputation’ of the world’s biggest arts festival ahead of its 80th anniversary in 2027.
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It has highlighted concerns that there will be less support for “edgy, riskier work” at the Fringe, with producers taking “fewer risks” in future, without a rethink over its public funding.
The Fringe Society, the arts charity which oversees the event, also warned that its economic impact, which has been valued at more than £200m in recent years, is at risk of being diluted unless it remains affordable to audiences.
La Clique is one of the most popular cabaret shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The report highlights how the Fringe receives “little to no recurring investment or subsidy” despite selling more than 2.6m million tickets.
The Fringe Society has raised concerns about rising travel and accommodation costs “shifting the audience profile” of the event and the festival having to become “more focused” on Scottish audiences who can “easily travel home” after shows.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has been running since 1947. (Image: PA)
Its report, for a UK Government inquiry into the future of major events, also raised concerns about venue operators being put at “increased risk” and suffering “shrunken” profit margins due to their own costs rising “sharply” in recent years.
The dossier suggested venues cannot meet all of their increased costs by putting up ticket prices due to the need for their shows to retain “accessible pricing” at the Fringe, which featured a record 3893 shows in 2025.
The UK Government announced an inquiry last summer into the future of major sporting and cultural events which attract audiences over 10,000 a day.
The Fringe Society’s reported highlights how the Fringe has grown to become “the third largest ticket on the planet” after the Olympic Games and the football World Cup.
It states: “The Fringe delivers cultural, social and economic value (by any metric) and is a critical platform in the UK’s creative industries and cultural ecology, and an enormous soft power asset for both UK and Scottish Government.
“The Fringe is unique in its structure, with the festival delivered through an extensive collective effort of individuals, organisations, stakeholders and supporters.
“With little to no recurring investment or subsidy, the Fringe is the epitome of the creative sector’s ingenuity and ambition.
“Work presented on the Fringe stages originates from 62 countries, with approximately a third of all performances presented by performers from outside of the UK. It is also a truly global arts market; the world’s leading marketplace for performers and producers. This year’s Fringe attracted 1,770 accredited producers, programmers, bookers, talent agencies and festivals from 68 countries.”
The Fringe Society’s report highlights the founding principle of the event as an “open access festival that can accommodate “anyone with a desire to perform and a venue willing to host them”.
However its report raised concerns about the festival happening in a “largely unsubsidised environment which meant its planning and delivery had to be “reset to zero” every year.
It adds: “While there is considerable commercial and creative acumen and skill within the Fringe community, the infrastructure underpinning the event is fragile and exists with little to no contingency or working capital, across individual artists, venue producers, promoters, and the Fringe Society itself.
“The Fringe is both a festival and a trade fair, a live EXPO of the world’s creativity in the performing arts sector.
“The greatest threat to the Fringe is relevance – when an artist looks at the balance of risk and reward, they will always ask one question – is the Fringe still worth it?
“The Fringe’s reputation and impact are what make its success, but this is easily lost or reduced by difficult economic and operational conditions that lead to a programme made up of ‘safe bets.’
“The Fringe must remain Fringe-y. The Fringe is more than a festival. It is a movement that is at the heart of many people’s cultural and professional lives.”
The dossier for the Government said the Fringe needed to be assessed through “multiple lenses” due to its “unique, complex business models.”
But it added: “For artists, the costs of travelling and staying in Edinburgh during the Fringe is increasingly insurmountable.
“For the Fringe to be a successful incubator and home for new work, it needs to be a viable platform for producers and Investors to bring such work to Edinburgh.
“Many of the same financial challenges facing individual artists remain true for producers, and a failure to mitigate these challenges will result in producers taking fewer risks; opting for shorter runs of productions (which, in turn, results in a less than optimal experience for artists, industry and audiences) and leaning toward ‘safe bets’ and less support for edgy, riskier work.
“Venue costs have risen sharply in the current economic climate, resulting in shrunken margins and increased risk to operators.
“The cost of attending the Fringe risks shifting the audience profile, and the Fringe becoming less about being a first introduction to the arts for new audience members and more about the arts becoming the preserve of those with the means to appreciate it.
“It also risks the Fringe audience becoming more focused on those living within Scotland and able to easily travel home.
“While being a platform for Scottish artists and audiences has always been a top priority for the Fringe, the balance between local participants and visitors needs to be kept ensuring the richness of audience and performer experience, and to drive additional economic activity on the back of new visitor spend.”
Writing in the Fringe Society’s new annual review, chief executive Tony Lankester said the charity was “uniquely placed” to convene the festival’s ecosystem and “pull together the disparate threads, interests, talents and challenges that converge to deliver the Fringe each summer.”
He added: “Perhaps more than ever, the arts remain vital for society and the Fringe is central to responding to that need.
“There is no better platform in the world for artists to take the stage boldly to tell their stories and share their words.”