Edinburgh venue managers unite to secure festivals’ future

Published Tuesday 22 August 2006 at 13:30

Full coverage of the Edinburgh Festivals

Twenty leading fringe operators have united for the first time to safeguard the future of Edinburgh’s festivals in the face of increasing competition from rival events across the UK.

Under the banner of a new organisation - the Association of Independent Venue Producers - they will bid to generate greater investment and a raised profile for the event both at home and abroad.

The group was launched this week at the Pleasance Dome, at a meeting attended by the 20 members, Fringe Society director Paul Gudgin, Edinburgh’s Deputy Lord Provost Steve Cardownie and representatives of the Scottish Arts Council.

AIVP will speak on behalf of the operators when lobbying public bodies in an attempt “to secure the future of the festival and benefits it brings to Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland.”

Assembly Theatre artistic director William Burdett-Coutts - one of the group’s founding members - denied, however, that the venues were looking for easy subsidies.

He said: “As venue managers we are not looking for a big fat cheque. What we are keen to do is to see what we can improve and encourage, to be a channel for good ideas, to see the joining of that energy into one message.”

Edinburgh Festival Fringe alone brings in more than £75 million to Scotland, of which AIVP members generate an estimated £65 million, with more than 85% of the event’s ticket sales. The group will initially look to set up a city-wide box office and improve the fringe’s marketing power, with members complaining the event is almost ‘invisible” outside of Edinburgh.

Pleasance director Anthony Alderson said that a recent round-up of the summer’s events in a national newspaper proved the point. “Out of the 50 top festivals, not only was Edinburgh not at the top but not mentioned at all,” he explained.

Members also believe that the rising costs for theatre companies visiting the fringe are “staggering” and that this cannot be compensated for by raising ticket prices. Meanwhile, the high cost of staying in the city is another problem that needs to be addressed.

Burdett-Coutts added: “We should not forget that we are a city of festivals and there is an expectation that the Edinburgh International Festival should also take the lead, particularly with a new director coming in.” AIVP insists it is not in opposition to the Fringe Society. However, as its director Gudgin acknowledged, while the society represents performers’ interests, there is nothing similar for the venues.

The founding members of AIVP are Assembly Theatre, Aurora Nova, Bongo Club, C Venues, Diverse Attractions, George Square Theatre, Gilded Balloon, Hill Street Theatre, Holyrood Tavern, Paradise Green Promotions, Pleasance, Quaker Meeting House, Rocket Venues, Roman Eagle Lodge, The Spiegel Garden, St Mark’s, Sweet, Underbelly, Venue 45 and Zoo Venues.