£250,000 bail-out to avert Fringe collapse

Published on Thursday 11 December 2008 21:05

THE Festival Fringe is to receive an emergency bail-out of £250,000 of public money to avoid slipping into administration, The Scotsman can reveal.

Edinburgh city council, the Scottish Government and Scottish Arts Council have agreed to step in to rescue the world's biggest arts festival after it was brought to the brink of collapse by a series of box-office failures.

Fringe officials issued an "urgent" appeal for help to resolve major cash-flow problems that have triggered the most serious crisis in its history.

The Fringe – without a director since the end of August – is believed to have made clear the scale of its financial problems within the past fortnight and warned that it faced operating illegally within weeks without a substantial cash injection.

It was previously thought the box-office debacle had cost the Fringe in the region of 200,000. However, The Scotsman has learned the actual figure was up to 1 million, with a massive financial "black hole" leaving the Fringe Society on the verge of operating illegally.

Some of the cash will be used to start moves to replace Jon Morgan, the previous Fringe director, who resigned in the wake of this year's festival, but refused to accept responsibility for the box-office failures.

Another substantial chunk of taxpayers' money may have to be found within the next few months to ensure the Fringe goes ahead as normal.

A report due to be published today by the city council will state that the bail-out has been agreed because of the event's long-running prestige and the huge importance of the Fringe to the nation's economy.

It is worth about 100 million, although in recent years the Fringe has had to survive on a grant of only about 50,000 from the council.

The 250,000 funding package is made up of a one-off grant of 65,000 from the Arts Council, a 125,000 loan from the city council and 60,000 from the government, which has agreed to stump up in advance part of a 200,000 grant it awarded the Fringe last year for a major showcase of home-grown theatre.

Councillor Steve Cardownie, the city's festivals and events champion, said: "This is the first time the Fringe has come to us with a problem of this nature. It has an outstanding reputation and has always appeared to have been run extremely well. I've no doubt that it will be running successfully again next summer and for many years to come."

Tim Hawkins, the acting general manager of the Fringe, said: "This commitment from the City of Edinburgh Council, the Scottish Arts Council and the Scottish Government recognises the Festival's importance, not just to Edinburgh, but to Scotland as a whole."

New role for festival chief

JON Morgan, the Fringe director who resigned after the box-office disaster, has landed a new arts job. The Scotsman has learned he has been appointed director of the Federation of Scottish Theatre.

During three months of chaos at the Fringe box office this summer, ticket sales were suspended several times, a crucial deadline for sending out pre-booked tickets was missed, shows were overbooked and venues had to bring in extra staff to cover. Ticket sales dived by almost 10 per cent.