The Stage

Edinburgh Festival Fringe warned to get constitution right or risk “breakaway”

Published Monday 23 August 2010 at 12:47 by Thom Dibdin

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society annual general meeting was warned on Saturday that if it does not get its new constitution right, then the whole event is in danger of fragmenting.

In a largely un-acrimonious meeting, the only real point of conflict concerned the constitutional issue which, it was announced, is set to be resolved at an extraordinary general meeting of the society in November.

Speaking on the perceived mismanagement of the Society’s suspension of membership during the consultation on the constitution, fringe member David Mulholland warned: “There is a great deal of dissent among performers at the moment and a real risk that there is going to be a proper breakaway from the fringe.”

The meeting, attended by 69 members and other interested parties, heard that the society had succeeded in turning a profit of £125,905 in the year ending November 30, 2009, following the loss of £882,000 in the previous year because of the box-office failure during the fringe in 2008.

Of particular concern to independent performers and producers at the fringe is the way that box-office income goes to the venue before coming to them. This leaves performers exposed if a venue goes bankrupt, and venues able to use performer’s money to ease their cash flow.

The society’s chief executive, Kath M Mainland, promised that a new code of conduct for fringe venues, with proper safeguards for performers, will be in place before registration for next year’s event.

The Festival Fringe Society will hold a final consultative meeting for all members on October 14 in Edinburgh. This will be followed by an extraordinary general meeting of the society on November 21, also in Edinburgh to decide on the new constitution.

For a full report on the Fringe Society AGM, see this week’s print edition of The Stage.