Creative Scotland accuses EdFringe of painting 'inaccurate' funding picture

Creative Scotland has accused the Edinburgh Fringe Society of "inaccurately" reflecting the state of its public funding, in leaked correspondence that reveals a strained relationship between the two organisations.

In a letter seen by the Scotsman newspaper, Creative Scotland chief executive Iain Munro told the Fringe Society he was “concerned” over its “precarious” business operations.

The letter comes after Fringe Society chief executive Shona McCarthy said the level of public funding that her organisation received was a “national embarrassment” in an interview with the Scotsman last week.

McCarthy was speaking after the Fringe Society received two rejections from Creative Scotland – for its Multi-Year Funding Programme and for its National Lottery Extended Programme Fund – and a third funding rejection from the City Of Edinburgh Council.

She told the Scotsman: “It just isn’t tenable for everybody to look to this small charitable organisation to come up with all of the answers for the world’s biggest performing arts festival and marketplace while giving us no support.”
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However, in his letter to the Fringe Society, Munro said McCarthy’s depiction of the level of public funding the organisation receives did not “accurately reflect the full facts".

Munro said: “While the Fringe Society has had difficulty in recent years in being able to meet set funding criteria, the picture being publicly painted that it does not receive funding from Creative Scotland is not accurate.”

The Fringe Society received a £1 million interest-free loan from the Scottish Government in 2020 to mitigate against the impact of Covid and receives annual support through Creative Scotland’s Expo Fund, including £550,000 in 2023.

The Fringe Society has also been awarded £7 million from the UK government, which it is using to develop a “hub” and to extend its Keep It Fringe fund for artists into 2025.

McCarthy said that this money did not support the Fringe Society’s “core” running costs, however, and asked for an urgent review of the organisation’s public funding to ensure it can “keep the lights on” as it faced an annual deficit of £400,000.

Munro responded in the letter seen by the Scotsman: "I am concerned, like all partners, that the Fringe Society seems to be in a particularly precarious place in terms of its business operations.”

He added: “We also all need to ensure there is a shared understanding of why the Fringe Society has become less secure in recent years and establish what is needed longer term for it to sustainably move forward.”

He said that any public funding the Fringe Society received would be awarded on a “fair, transparent and accountable basis.”

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, Creative Scotland, the City Of Edinburgh Council and other partners are due to meet to discuss the situation.