The Stage

Exclusive: Edinburgh Fringe calls open meeting to finalise constitution

Published Friday 30 July 2010 at 11:19 by Thom Dibdin

A mass open meeting of Edinburgh Festival Fringe participants has been called for August 10 in Edinburgh’s McEwan Hall by the Fringe Society.

The 10am meeting will be the final part of the Society’s consultation process to create a new constitution which started at last summer’s annual general meeting. It is part of the sweeping review of the workings of the society that was instigated after the ticketing failure during Fringe 2008.

Announcing the meeting exclusively to The Stage, the Society’s chief executive Kath M Mainland said: “It is right that that is happening in Edinburgh during the festival. We want to get maximum exposure for that meeting, so that as many people with an interest can come to it.”

The McEwan Hall, which is being used as part of the Udderbelly’s Pasture in Bristo Square, is the fringe’s largest venue with a capacity of 1,030. The meeting will be non-ticketed, although those wishing to guarantee entry should contact the Society office at Fringe Central in Appleton Tower.

“All the time with the consultation we have been trying to refine what people think” said Mainland. “More than two thousand people took part in the first consultation, which was online for anyone. That was very open, just asking people what they thought about all this. Each time we have been trying to refine it, so there is broad consensus.”

The online process, followed by consultation with groups such as venues, producers and promoters, has shown broad consensus on several areas, Mainland pointed out.

“Of course it should be a membership organisation of some description,” she told The Stage. “Of course membership should, in some way, be tied to taking part in the Fringe. Of course there should be a board and of course they should in some way be related to the membership.

“One of the things we have to refine with the open meeting is whether there is a legitimate cap on the number of members. That is about creating a balance between everybody who wants to be involved, being involved, but also also creating membership that is effective, engaged and not administratively unwieldy. There is no point in having a passive membership of 25,000 - it would be better to have an active membership of 2,000 say.”

Pip Utton, chair of the committee examining the reforms told The Stage that “the question that is hardest is the eligibility for being a member. Another thing that there is no consensus on, is who should be a trustee. There is no real consensus on how we acquire the directors or whether they are voted on. There is no consensus on the possibility of a participants council: If we should have such a thing what rights, powers, how regularly it meets and where it comes from, all of that has to be discussed.”