360 shows will each receive £2,500 help over the next two years

Organisers of the Edinburgh Fringe are to give £2,500 grants to 360 shows over the next two years after winning UK government funding.

The Fringe Society has won £1million from Westminster to expand its Keep It Fringe fund and keep it running  for two more years.

In both 2024 and 2025, 180 productions will be given the cash to help them come to the shows, with the other £50,000 a year going towards administering the fund.

The  Keep It Fringe fund was first launched last year by the festival’s honorary president Phoebe Waller-Bridge and more than 670 artists applied for the 50 bursaries available. The new deal makes the scheme almost four time bugger.

Comedian Rachel E Thorne, pictured,  received one of the grants last year to producer her show Sketch Up at the Laughing Horse last year.

She said: ‘I brought Sketch Up, my smorgasbord of radio sketch comedy, to Edinburgh because I knew it would be perfect for Fringe audiences. Where else can you pack out a room at lunchtime with people laughing because Scrooge doesn’t want to traverse the cosmos with the Ghost of Christmas Present until he’s put some pants on? 

‘The support from Keep it Fringe enabled me to rent accommodation with space for my little girl to come and stay for a couple of days

‘The performing arts are really tough for parents and people with caring responsibilities and funds like this just tip it into doable. ‘

Applications for this year’s grants – available to UK-based performers or companies presenting in-person events – will open at midday on  April 11.

More details are available here, and the Fringe Society will be hosting an online information session on Tuesday  for anyone with questions.

Published: 3 Apr 2024