Fringe festivals plan global day of celebration

The organisers of Edinburgh Festival Fringe have announced plans for an international day celebrating the fringe movement.

More than 200 fringe festivals from across the world will join together on World Fringe Day on Tuesday July 11. It marks the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s first fringe, which takes place in August.

Performers, creatives, theatre companies and other fringe participants and audiences are invited to take part on July 11 by sharing their love for all things fringe on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society's chief executive Shona McCarthy said: "We can’t wait to join with our sister fringes across the world to celebrate the wonder and joy of fringe festivals in this auspicious year. This is an incredible opportunity for fringe organisers, venues, participants and audiences to take part in a truly international celebration of creativity that will transcend national boundaries, demonstrating the power of arts and culture to bring people together. We hope as many people as possible will join us for a very special day of worldwide fringe fun, as we celebrate 70 years of fringe and pay homage to Scotland as the birthplace of the fringe movement.”

World Fringe Day is supported by £100,000 through the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo70 fund through Creative Scotland. Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, said: "World Fringe Day is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the global connections that Scotland has made through the arts."

It is being run in partnership with World Fringe, the umbrella for festivals around the world including Brighton, Plymouth, Cardiff, Stirling, Clapham, Swansea, Glastonbury, Ludlow, Canterbury, Chester, Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, Glasgow and Bath in the UK.

To mark the 70th anniversary, a special open-top bus will feature 70 fringe fingerprints, each made up of the name of a town or city around the world that hosts a fringe, which will be used on Lothian’s Edinburgh Bus Tours.

Pictured are Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs for the Scottish Government, and Elizabeth Burchell, head of marketing, PR and sponsorship for Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society with Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society staff.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WORLD FRINGE DAY