World Fringe Day is coming up on the 11th July and as we prepare to head up to the oldest and largest arts festival of its kind - the mighty Edinburgh - now feels like the perfect time to take a step back and take a look at what exactly a Fringe Festival is and why they are so important.
Fringe festivals started, quite simply, with people showing up uninvited.
Back in 1947, eight theatre groups turned up to perform at the then newly formed Edinburgh International Festival. The groups weren’t part of the official programme, but they did it anyway, staging their shows on the “fringe” of the main festival with the belief that there should be space for anyone to put on a show.
That idea stuck and, more importantly, it started to spread- inspiring Adelaide Fringe in 1960, Avignon in 1966, Brighton in 1967 and so many more. What started as a one off act of defiance became a model for grassroots organising.
Today there are over 300 Fringe festivals worldwide, spanning more than 50 countries. Ranging from tiny boutique events like this one in Richmond, Virginia to the original Edinburgh Festival Fringe herself, collectively, they reach over 30 million audience members, with more than 170,000 performers taking part across 60,000+ events, in over 6,000 venues!
It’s a huge ecosystem but at its core, each shares the same ethos. Fringe is still about access. Unlike traditional festivals, there isn’t always a single pot of money or a central programme dictating what gets shown. Instead, it’s a shared risk. Artists, venues, audiences and organisers all invest in making it happen. Some festivals are fully open access, others are curated, some run lotteries or mixed models but the spirit remains the same - creating space for ideas.
If you’ve ever attended, performed or organised a Fringe then you know. Early ideas get tested. New voices find their footing. Things don’t always go perfectly but that’s kind of fine…in fact, it’s sort of the point. It’s experimental, unpredictable, sometimes chaotic…and that’s exactly why we love it!
Fringe festivals also have a very real impact on the places that host them. They bring people together. With the streets filling up and venues spilling over, cities take on a different energy. Locals experience their home in a new way, while visitors get pulled into something they may not have expected.
Beyond the cultural side, Fringes drive footfall, support local businesses and bring in visitors from all over the world. They’re just as valuable economically as they are creatively.
World Fringe Day is a reminder of the global Fringe network. Established in 2017, which marked 70 years of the Fringe movement, it now connects festivals from all over the world. This year’s theme is ‘Influence’ which feels fitting because Fringe has influenced a lot.
Fringes shape careers, launch artists, build communities and redefine what a festival can be. But they’re also fragile. Not every Fringe survives. Sadly, around one in three close - which makes the ones that do exist even more important to support!
We’ve been lucky enough to play a small part in the Fringe ecosystem in the UK and we look forward to continuing to do so. Having provided outdoor advertising at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 2014, alongside print, street teams and marketing activity, we look forward to another busy August!
We have a visible physical presence, but also a creative one. We help ideas move beyond venues and into the public spaces around them, helping new audiences to find and fall in love with something they didn’t even know they were looking for.
At its core, Fringe isn’t just about performance, it’s about visibility. Giving people a chance to take up space, to share something and to be discovered.