“Time for the Society to Listen!”
Three weeks and four weekends spanning August 6th through August 31st has seen the annual cultural explosion that is the festivals season taking over the Scottish Capital as Edinburgh welcomes the globe and re-establishes itself as the greatest platform for the arts in the world!
The two-person team here at Scotsgayarts.com received thousands of emails from companies performing across the Edinburgh Fringe, The international Festival and the Book Festival. These were whittled down to the hundred or so reviews that have been published on the site across the duration of the festivals.
Our coverage has spanned all the August Festivals including the International Festival, The Fringe and the PBH Free Fringe.
The 2026 and 79th Fringe has been especially challenging with the late kick of date that saw audience figures fall off a cliff in the last week and given that Scottish Schools went back just one week into the festival applied a significant amount if pressure. For those venues based in the new town the devasting fire at the former Debenhams building meant the closure of the George Street temporary garden with the gardens bar and venues including the Bijou moving along to St Andrew’s Square and George Street remaining open to Traffic.
For the city council to defend a seven-week closure of Princes Street and the associated chaos that was the diversions is somewhat galling and made significant dent in the footfall of Potential Audience members for those show’s housed across the new town.
The Fringe Society now ensconced in their multi-million-pound new home have issued media statements claiming sales have increased yet its reflected on one soul Saturday (17th August) yet most companies and producers struggled with low ticket sales or hemorrhaging money with the society once again asking for public money the question has to be asked, where was the society’s support this year? There was no additional signage in the town, just the usual mix of privately funded show advertising, where was the TV and radio advertising or even harnessing the media to try and boost audience figures?
The Fringe Society are clinging steadfastly to the misguided fact that the Fringe must finish on the end of August English Bank Holiday? Why? Who is paying the society to enforce this decision? The Society is supposed to listen to the companies but it’s happy to do nothing but acquire a brand new home and put the begging bowl out for more money.
The one thing that is clear is the formula isn’t working for far too many and can’t continue, discussion is needed across the festival organizers going forward and more importantly the city council and the citizens of this great city to secure the cultural phenomenon for both performers, producers, venues, the city and its people on a shared equal footing for generations to come. If the Fringe Society are listening, they must pull the 2027 and 80th Fringe Forward by a week to allow for recovery from this years festival.
As the curtain falls on this year’s festivals, we at Scotsgayarts.com offer our profound thanks to all those who shared their work with us, each and every moment spent in venues that spanned small intimate theatres to the grandeur of the tattoo arena at Edinburgh Castle provided magical theatrical magical moments that will stay with us for a lifetime.
The Arts matter and Scotsgayarts.com is indebted to the creatives who shared their work and themselves and make the festivals just what they are! We now move forward into the autumn and winter season of work from across Scotland, but we are already pondering with excitement what the 2027 Festival season will bring our way!
For now, rest well, thank you and haste ye back!
Brett
Editor
Scotsgayarts.com
ScotsGay Arts 