This is the critical question being posed at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe at a gathering at Fringe Central on 24th August 2024 10:00 – 14:00 BST. You can register for free here.
FringeReview is happy to endorse this important conversation and we strongly recommend you sign up if you are free.
This is a Devoted and Disgrunted Satellite event which is co-organised bt Improbable and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. Both issued the following invitations:
From Improbable’s Invitation from Ellie Claughton, Executive Director of Improbable:
Each year, Improbable hosts an annual Devoted and Disgruntled (D&D) where we ask the question, “What are we doing to about theatre and the performing arts?” It is a moment for the theatre and performing arts sector to gather, to come together and talk, problem solve, be devoted …even a little bit disgruntled.
Next year will be our 20th year of D&D so it feels like we are amid and approaching a pivotal point in time for the theatre and performing arts sector. Our sector is consistently facing funding cuts and increasing costs to overheads, production and staff. But with a new government in power, the stakes for our sector feel higher than ever. What will be the path forward? What changes need to happen and need to happen in the immediate future.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is a vital part of our creative industry and continues to be a platform that amplifies the potency of collaboration when artists, venues, industry professionals and more come together to tell powerful stories. What is the story we would like to tell now? What is the story that needs to be told now?
We wanted to bring D&D as a resource to you while you’re at the Ed Fringe, in the most creative place during the month of August. I have taken shows to the Edinburgh Fringe (and even run a venue – Paines Plough Roundabout) for nearly a decade so know firsthand what a brilliant resource, experience, creative platform it is.
Something I reflected on greatly was how I was usually in the bubble of my own show, which is almost unavoidable given the myriad factors that sometimes work against you when you’re bringing a show to the Fringe. But also, I would have loved the opportunity to spend some time to gather with other like-minded individuals, to take a break from putting on, watching, thinking about a show and to have important conversations.
I now have the opportunity to do that with D&D coming to the Fringe. How can the Fringe add the greatest value to the UK creative sector? What do we need to tell our new government, how do we hold them accountable? What does the Fringe need?
You may have similar and other ideas, questions, discussions you’d like to raise. This is the space for you. The Fringe is an important part of my creative life and if you feel the same, come join us at this Open Space, let’s have a cup of tea, chat and get to work, together.
From Chris Snow, Head of Artist Services, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society:
The core focus of my small team’s work at the Fringe Society is to support participation in the festival for artists and companies, street performers, venues, workers, and visiting arts industry professionals – international producers, promoters and programmers looking to discover new work.
The whole Fringe community, and wider sector, has faced enormous changes in recent years, in the wake of the pandemic and with the backdrop of continuing global economic and political instability. But still, against the many odds, the Fringe continues to be a world-leading platform in the quality and variety of work, and in the industry and media that it attracts. It is a crucial launchpad for talent.
The Fringe clearly remains unique and vital to the UK creative sector, but in today’s context, particularly with a new UK government, the landscape we’re working in is changing. So, in 2024 and looking forward, how can we as a festival and as a community add the greatest value and support to UK culture as a whole? What opportunities for collaboration exist? What does the sector need from the Fringe?
If this festival matters to you like it matters to us; whether you’re an artist or an arts industry professional, run a venue at the Fringe or use the Fringe to programme a venue year-round, whether this is your first festival or your fiftieth – please consider joining us for this conversation.
Let’s gather, reflect, and consider what might be next and how we work together to get there.
About the conference facilitators
This conversation will be facilitated by Improbable, a theatre company who specialise in using a process called Open Space Technology (OST). OST is a simple way for groups of people to think, work and take action together around a shared concern. There is no set agenda and you decide what to discuss. You are free to move between conversations in a single session depending on what interests you. You can read more about Improbable and Open Space here.
