It's no joke as breakaway venues fail to find backer

Published on Friday 16 May 2008 21:47

A CONTROVERSIAL bid by the four biggest venues on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to promote their own comedy festival has failed to land a big-name financial backer, The Scotsman has learned.

Efforts to secure a major title sponsorship deal have drawn a blank, despite the huge drawing power of the Assembly Rooms, the Pleasance, Underbelly and Gilded Balloon venues.

Venue chiefs had been hopeful of securing a lucrative contract worth up to 600,000 a year for the new Edinburgh Comedy Festival, which has been widely seen as the most significant "breakaway" in the history of the world's biggest arts festival.

But insiders at the venues have admitted it has been a "huge struggle" to attract big names and that it is unlikely a major deal will be in place by the time the festival's programme goes to press at the end of this month.

One source said: "It's a bit of an embarrassment. Some of those involved in the creation of the comedy festival felt potential sponsors would be falling over themselves to get involved.

"There's intense competition among hundreds of festivals around the UK and this isn't an established brand. No-one really knows what it is about."

The Scotsman revealed in March that the Assembly, Pleasance, Underbelly and Gilded Balloon were joining forces to promote the new festival. Although all of its shows would still be featured in the Fringe programme and tickets will be available through the main Fringe box office, many festival figures fear the move is a precursor to a full breakaway. Nica Burns, promoter of the if.comedy awards, formerly the Perrier Awards, has been among the strongest critics.

At the time of the announcement, William Burdett-Coutts, the artistic director of Assembly, said: "This is a welcome development that will give comedy the platform it deserves."

Anthony Alderson, the artistic director of the Pleasance, yesterday said: "We still have a few irons in a few fires

… We don't necessarily have to have anything tied up by the time the programme goes to press."

Charlie Wood, the co-founder of Underbelly, said: "We're still speaking to various parties."