Fringe Artist and Venue Recovery Fund Opened by Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society (EFFS), the charity that underpins the Edinburgh Fringe, announces the opening of applications for the Fringe Artist and Venue Recovery Fund 2021.

A funding pot containing £75,000, raised thanks to the Fringe Society’s FringeMakers platform in partnership with Crowdfunder and a direct donation and support from AJ Bell, is available to Fringe companies, creatives and venues to support projects that will enable a return to the Fringe in 2021 or 2022. The fund will prioritise projects that seek to improve opportunities for access on the Fringe by underrepresented groups.

Fringe artists, venues and creatives who were registered with the Fringe Society in 2019 can apply as well as participants who had registered for the 2020 Fringe before 01 April 2020, who had listed online content at listings.edfringe.com, and who can provide written confirmation that a venue had been booked for the 2020 Fringe. Applications will be accepted for projects to be realised at either the 2021 or 2022 Fringe, with  no  separate application window for 2022 projects. 

A total of five grants of £5,000 are available for venues, and at least one of these will be ringfenced for a Fringe venue based in Edinburgh all year-round. Five grants of £5,000 and 10 grants of £2,500 are available to companies and creatives. At least three of these will be ringfenced for applications with lead creatives based in Edinburgh. Only one application will be considered per group, individual or organisation.

The Fringe Society will collect and administer applications using SmartyGrants, a hosted grants management application that is for proving this service free of charge to the Fringe Society. All applications that meet the essential criteria will be put forward for consideration by an independent panel made up of expert advisors drawn from the Fringe’s stakeholder community. The grant giving process will be chaired by a representative from the Fringe Society Senior Management Team as a non-voting participant.

The fund will close at 10am BST on Monday 3rd May 2021 and successful recipients will be notified by the end of May 2021.

More details on how to apply for the fund, and information on eligibility, can be found at the Edinburgh Fringe website.

Irene Brown