Fringe Artist and Venue Recovery Fund 2021

Submissions closed at 10:00AM 3 May 2021 (BST).

Background

In August of 2020, responding to Covid-19 and the resultant loss to Fringe creatives and venues, the Fringe Society raised £75,000 through our FringeMakers platform in partnership with Crowdfunder. This amount was raised through ticket sales to our AJ Bell Fringe on Friday online events and through direct donation and support from AJ Bell. These donations were sought to help the Fringe make a progressive return in 2021 with the promise that all money raised would be made available to artists and venues of the Fringe.

To distribute these funds we are opening an application process available to Fringe companies/creatives and venues for grants 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.

 

Eligibility

The fund is only open to companies/creatives and venues that were registered with the Fringe Society in 2019, or to those companies/creatives and venues who had arranged to stage a show in 2020*.

This will be checked in advance of any grant being distributed.
 
*Shows from 2020 must have been registered before 01 April 2020, had listed online content through the portal of listings.edfringe.com, or be able to provide a venue contract or email chain confirming a venue had been booked for the 2020 Fringe.

Before applying, please ensure you are able to demonstrate the essential criteria set out below:

Essential

Your project places at its centre and offers routes to partnership, presentation and participation for creatives from at least one of the following priority groups:

  • creatives of colour
  • creatives from the LGBTQ+ community
  • D/deaf and disabled creatives or venue staff
  • working class creatives or venue staff.

Desirable

In addition, projects are welcomed that seek to:

  • address environmental sustainability
  • improve audience and/or performer accessibility at venues
  • improve working conditions and equity of pay at venues
  • improve artist support at venues.

 

Funds

What grants are available?

Grants are available for both venues and companies/creatives.:

  • Five grants of £5,000 each available for venues.
    • At least one of these will be ringfenced for a Fringe venue based in Edinburgh year-round.
  • Five grants of £5,000 and 10 grants of £2,500 each available to companies/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.

 

Assessment

The Fringe Society will collect and administer applications using SmartyGrants.

All applications that meet the essential criteria outlined above will be put forward for consideration by a panel independent of the Fringe Society. This panel will be 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.

All decisions made on the awarding of grants are final. Due to the number of applications expected we are afraid that detailed feedback on individual applications will not be possible.

 

Timeline

Fund open for applications to be submitted from 12:00BST 22 April until 10:00BST Monday 03 May 2021.

Successful recipients will be notified by the end of May 2021.

 

Evaluation

All successful recipients will be required to create a 10-minute videolog of their time working on the project. The video should detail what they set out to achieve, who they worked with, challenges and successes during the delivery process and the outcome of the project. The video must be submitted to the Fringe Society no later than one month after completion of the Fringe for which the project sought funding (ie for projects being delivered in the 2021 Fringe, evaluation videos are required no later than 30 September 2021).

 

Payment

If your application is successful, you will receive 80% of the grant when you register your venue/show (for either 2021 or 2022) and the 20% balance on completion of the project or work.

 

Queries and FAQs

Please click here to review FAQs

If you have any other queries, please email: participants@edfringe.com