Deadlock on reform puts huge Fringe reform on hold

PLANS for the biggest shake-up in the 63-year history of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe have been shelved after a special taskforce failed to reach agreement on the scale of reform.

Hopes of having a new-look Festival Fringe Society in place to oversee this year's event have been dashed – after months of discussion and debate with performers, promoters, venue managers and supporters.

Despite widespread backing for it to be overhauled for the first time since 1969, the society will remain unchanged for this year's festival – two years after a box office failure brought the organisation to the brink of bankruptcy.

Major changes to the running of the world's biggest arts festival are unlikely to be approved until the annual general meeting in 2011.

It is understood the Fringe's board took the decision to put back the timetable so that further consultation could be carried out during this year's festival.

However membership of the Fringe has recently been suspended, meaning new performers and venues taking part in the festival are now too late to have a formal say in what shape it should take in future.

It will now be November at the earliest that the 200 members of the society will get the chance to vote in changes expected to see performers given a proper say in the running of the festival, and an overhaul of the Fringe's board, including setting how long directors serve in office.

The working group set up last autumn to recommend changes to the Fringe's constitution has been unable to reach consensus on two of the most controversial areas – who should be eligible for membership of the society, and the appointment of new directors.

The Fringe has not made public the postponement of the shake-up and previous announcements about the consultation have been removed from its website.

Pip Utton, vice-chair of the society, and chair of the special working group, said: "There are certain areas where there is a consensus amongst all the groups and there are two or three areas where there is absolutely no consensus at all. There is absolute consensus that we should remain a membership society.

"The question that is hardest is the eligibility for being a member."

Promoter Peter Buckley Hill, organiser of the Free Fringe, said: "Suspending membership of the Fringe will inhibit performers having a say in the reorganisation of the Fringe.

"It was always difficult to become a member, now they've made it impossible. It's a disgrace."

A spokesman for the Fringe said: "The constitution of the Festival Fringe Society was written over 40 years ago and there is now general agreement it is no longer fit for purpose.

"In order to gather as many of the best ideas as possible, the board set up a working group who have been asking the widest range of people involved in the Fringe to make suggestions and get involved in this process.

"The next stage of the consultation is to an open meeting in Edinburgh in August.

"After the consultation process has been completed it is anticipated that a general meeting of the society be held in November at which the members can decide what, if any, changes to make." It's a disgrace."

A spokesman for the Fringe said: "The constitution of the Festival Fringe Society was written over 40 years ago and there is now general agreement it is no longer fit for purpose.

"In order to gather as many of the best ideas as possible, the board set up a working group who have been asking the widest range of people involved in the Fringe to make suggestions and get involved in this process.

"The next stage of the consultation is to an open meeting in Edinburgh in August.

"After the consultation process has been completed it is anticipated that a general meeting of the society be held in November at which the members can decide what, if any, changes to make."