An increasing number of performers and artists who have had previous successes at the Edinburgh Fringe and other festivals around the world are looking to highlight what they say are gaps in available funding for their shows. This is despite assistance from the Fringe Society through the Keep it Fringe Fund, offering £2,500 to UK-based artists and a parallel fund offering $2,500 to US-based artists.
Raynar Rogers is a Welsh-born Theatre Director and Playwright based in Prague. With her international company LIMBO PINS, is bringing a queer, dystopian sci-fi romance, Ants and Other Strong Things, to the third week of the Fringe this year. She was keen to express how she feels they have ‘fallen through the gaps’ when it comes to qualifying for funding. She told Broadway Baby “LIMBO PINS is a collective of international artists that mostly reside in Prague. Ants and Other Strong Things is the project that brought us all together – that and our shared love for meaningful theatre that welds human stories to movements of societal and structural change. We wanted LIMBO PINS to be a community that welcomes all nationalities, and a company that centres intersectional and queer stories, showcases new writing and dabbles in shifting perspectives.
“We have faced a lot of funding hurdles so far. As a collective we fail to meet criteria for traditional British funding routes such as the Keep it Fringe Fund, and Brexit prevents the inclusion of UK projects in European funding routes like Culture Moves Europe. Additionally, Czech funding is often limited for international individuals and mixed nationality groups.”
Others have weighed in on the subject too – Freddie Haberfellner of No Tits Theatre is the writer/performer of Fckboy – an award-winning show that received critical acclaim at last year’s EdFringe and was performed at Prague Fringe just a few weeks ago, but he says he wasn’t able to secure funding to bring the show back this year. He told Broadway Baby “We were completely self-funded last year and whilst we (just about) managed to sell enough tickets to cover venue costs, and crowdfunded enough to cover some of our travel and accommodation, making no profit for an entire month isn’t really feasible again. Plus, we did all our own flyering which, with a team that is mostly neurodiverse and/or disabled, was a considerable mental and physical strain.”
Asked about whether he found last year’s EdFringe run creatively valuable, he said: “I don’t regret doing Edinburgh last year and would have loved to do it again but despite winning two awards and receiving incredibly positive feedback and reviews, we once again did not manage to secure funding, which is why we are taking the show to other places now.”
These performers add to a growing discussion about costs and funding a run at EdFringe, a discussion that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Like other companies LIMBO PINS have launched a crowdfunding campaign to try and raise the money needed to bring the show to the Fringe.
Jake Mace is an Edinburgh-based producer and Co-Artistic Director of Elastic Fantastic, ‘a multidisciplinary platform for resilient, defiant, and rebellious LGBTQ+ voices’. They and the Company are helping Raynar fund the show. They added: “After seeing Ants at Prague Fringe this year I was under no doubt that this show was providing the most out-there exploration of what’s happening to Queer rights and civil liberties right now in the World. Raynar expressed to me how keen she was to get the show to Edinburgh’s audiences, media, and those all-too-valuable industry contacts at the Fringe who unlock so much for emerging marginalised creatives.
“We have been able to help LIMBO PINS by covering their EdFringe registration fee out of our ticket sales from last year’s Fringe production. We are fortunate this year to be in receipt of the Keep it Fringe Fund this year, which has made possible our new show for 2025, Shallowspace Cryotech Feverdream.
“But we will still all be changing beds as hostel volunteers to reduce our overheads.“
Crowdfunding Link: https://crowdfund.edfringe.com...
Haberfellner is searching for future venues to host Fckboy.
