The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has announced that the Fringe Artist and Venue Recovery Fund is now open for applications. The fund will prioritise underrepresented groups and seek to improve opportunities for them to access the Fringe.
The fund will prioritise underrepresented groups
The pot contains £75,000 of funding for Fringe companies, creatives and venues to support their return to the Fringe in 2021 or 2022. Only one application will be considered per group, individual or organisation from parties that were registered with the Fringe Society in 2019 and also from those who had registered for the 2020 Fringe before 01 April 2020, had listed online content and who can provide written confirmation that a venue had been booked for the 2020 Fringe.
The money has been raised through the Fringe Society’s FringeMakers platform in partnership with Crowdfunder and ticket sales to the Fringe on a Friday live events, as well as through direct donation and support from AJ Bell. Five grants of £5,000 are available for venues, at least one of which will be ring fenced for a Fringe venue based in Edinburgh year-round. Five grants of £5,000 and ten of £2,500 are available to companies and creatives of which at least three will be ring fenced under the same criterion.
The Fringe Society will collect and administer applications using SmartyGrants, who are providing the service free of charge. All applications that meet the essential criteria will be considered by an independent panel made up of expert advisors drawn from the Fringe’s stakeholder community. The award process will be chaired by a representative from the Fringe Society Senior Management Team as a non-voting participant.
The fund will close on Monday 3 May 2021 with successful recipients being notified by the end of that month. More details on how to apply for the fund, and information on eligibility, can be found at https://edfringe.smartygrants.com.au/recoveryfund.
