Since 1958, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has managed and delivered the world’s biggest arts festival. For the 2023 Fringe Festival, two key deliverables were identified: a return of the Fringe App and an expansion of the free Fringe Street Events programme.
A trusted institution of the US arts scene, Playbill has a 140-year history as the quintessential publication for theatregoers. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society regularly attends events in key audience markets, one of which is the US. This led to Playbill reaching out to the Fringe Society to discuss a partnership. The partnership, supported through match funding from the C&BS Fund, ensured that two key deliverables of the 2023 Fringe Festival were made possible.
The return of Fringe App proved exceptionally popular with 144,000 users and 23% of overall ticket sales made via the app. The C&BS Fund played an instrumental role in enabling the delivery of an enhanced Fringe Street Arts programme. Over the 2023 Fringe Festival, the street events area of the Royal Mile hosted 500 performers.
