Figures released on first day of world famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe

On the first day of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, billed as being ‘the biggest in its history’, Arts & Business Scotland (A&BS) is pleased to announce it has injected £187,168 of funding into arts projects associated with the Fringe and other key Scottish festivals this year.

Through the Scottish Government funded New Arts Sponsorship (NAS) scheme, Arts & Business Scotland administers match funding to projects which have secured sponsorship themselves from a business partner. Among the big names which have taken advantage of the scheme this year are the Edinburgh Mela, the Edinburgh International Festival and the La Favorita Delivered Freestival, which alone benefitted from £25,000 of NAS funding.

The Freestival provides 14 venues with audience capacities ranging from 45 to 150 and will host more than 130 performances over the course of the festival. Projects Officer for A&BS, Carl Watt said: “The La Favorita Delivered Freestival is a fantastic initiative which we’re delighted to support through the New Arts Sponsorship scheme. The concept makes an extremely worthwhile contribution to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the arts more widely in Scotland, providing a platform for low budget productions to reach international audiences.”

Other Fringe projects to secure funding include This is Your Trial, a run of 25 live comedy shows; Biding Time (Remix), the critically acclaimed silent disco remix featuring a giant white rabbit; and Solstice Productions’ new play, Tick Tock. Elsewhere, the Fringe by the Sea, a miniature version of the Edinburgh Fringe – an annual event in North Berwick – gets underway on Monday with the help of £6,000 of NAS funding.

Carl Watt added: “New Arts Sponsorship grants provide match funding which means that in 2014, arts festivals have benefitted to the tune of almost £375,000 through the scheme and business sponsorship, which is a huge investment in Scotland’s cultural sector.”

Other festivals which have benefitted from match funding as a result of successful business sponsorship deals include the National Theatre of Scotland and Cryptic Glasgow Ltd, both part of Festival 2014 – the cultural programme of events accompanying the Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival, Northern Roots, Moray Walking Festival, Absolute Classics Summer Festival in Dumfries & Galloway, the Glasgow International Piping Festival, the Edinburgh Magic Festival and the Stirling Fringe Festival.