Assembly Festival Reports Over 500,000 Tickets, Urges Fringe 2027 Date Shift

Assembly Festival is marking the end of its 45th year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with over 500,000 tickets issued this August, the first time the company's audience numbers have passed that threshold since the Covid-19 pandemic. Average ticket attendance across the run stood at 56%.

While welcoming the return of audiences at this scale, Assembly is using the milestone to set out a series of proposals aimed at securing the Fringe's long-term future, ahead of the Festival's 80th anniversary in 2027.

Proposed Change To 2027 Fringe Dates

Having listened to feedback from participating companies and artists, Assembly is proposing that the dates of the Fringe move forward by a week in 2027, to allow more time before Scottish schools return in August. Companies and artists have consistently raised the current schedule as a pressure point, particularly in this last week, and Assembly believes an earlier start would ease that pressure without diminishing the festival.

Call for independent financial review

Citing the sustained rise in costs facing companies, venues and audiences alike, Assembly is calling for an independent, third-party financial analysis of the Fringe. Assembly wants that review to examine:

• The rising cost of accommodation during the festival, and options for addressing it
• Whether venues working together could reduce costs, including through shared services or joint procurement
• A joint analysis, conducted with the Fringe Society, of how the relationship between venues and the Society can be improved
• Analysis of the Fringe Society's own expenditure and whether this can be made more efficient

A further priority arising from this work is the establishment of a formal contract between the Fringe Society and venues, setting out clearly the obligations and expectations on both sides.

Funding Needed Urgently

Assembly is calling on public bodies to fund this independent review as a matter of urgency, so that its findings and recommendations can be in place in time for the 2027 festival, when the Fringe marks its 80th anniversary. Assembly believes there is a narrow window to get this work done and acted upon before then.

Stabilising venues, reducing costs for performers

At the centre of all these proposals is a commitment to stabilising venues, which Assembly regards as the core infrastructure of the festival. Beyond that, Assembly's foremost priority is finding ways to reduce costs for performers.

Taken together, these steps are necessary to prepare the Fringe for its future and to ensure it remains accessible to all — for the artists who create it and the audiences who sustain it.

William Burdett-Coutts, CEO and Artistic Director of Assembly said today, “I have spent 47 years working at the Fringe and the current fractured relationship between the core venues and the Fringe Society must be brought to a close. We then need to jointly advocate for the value of the Fringe to the Arts and Entertainment industry and the country at large, not only for the commercial benefit it brings to Scotland but for the development of work that feeds into all areas of these businesses

“This is the single largest festival of its kind in the world and is too important to fail. And yet the funding made available to it falls far short of what is required. 

We need to preserve its future and secure the ability of shows to attend without exorbitant costs, safe in the knowledge that the Fringe is valued by funders of all kinds, public and private”.

With over 260 shows and 5,394 performances, including star of 'Grease' and 'The West Wing' Stockard Channing's directorial debut 'Krapp's Last Tape', homegrown talent Susie McCabe, and comedy heavy-hitters Jack Dee, Jason Byrne and Julian Clary, Assembly Festival hosted 625 sold out performances this year. 

2026 also saw Assembly move its outdoor George Street operations to St Andrew Square following the Princes Street fire, meaning Assembly operated seven venue hubs: George Square Gardens, St Andrew Square, Assembly Rooms, Assembly Hall, Assembly Roxy and Dance Base, plus new for 2026, Shedinburgh took up residence in Assembly Checkpoint.

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