The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Central Location Revealed

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society can now reveal the location for the 2024 Fringe Central hub for Fringe participants. Artists, arts industry and media will all be within one site, at the Grassmarket Centre, 86 Candlemaker Row, in partnership with the Grassmarket Community Project.

A central and fully accessible space, the new Fringe Central hub will be a welcoming and inclusive space for Fringe artists, arts industry and media. It will be open between 10:00 and 17:00, seven days a week, and anyone visiting will receive a warm and friendly welcome from the Fringe Society team. This space is for anyone, and everyone involved with the festival.

Coffee Saints, Grassmarket Community Project’s cafe, will remain open to the public and will provide a discount to Fringe participants. Grassmarket Community Project will also be continuing to run their weekly Open Door Meals every Wednesday evening. 

Artists can access Fringe Society services, meet fellow Fringe artists or just grab a tea or coffee and escape the buzz of the festival. For the second year, the Fringe Society is working with local mental health charity Health in Mind to provide mental health and wellbeing support.  Services will include one-hour person-centred support sessions, tailored to the artist's needs, providing an opportunity to explore any difficulties artists are having while performing at the Fringe.

The Fringe Society offers year-round support and services for Fringe artists, including advice on connecting with industry, marketing and communications advice, guidance on audience engagement; and how to resolve any challenges they may be having. These services will be available in person at Fringe Central throughout August.

Accredited arts industry and the media provide Fringe artists with significant opportunities to increase their profile and progress their careers beyond the festival. Industry and media can access Fringe Society ticketing and accreditation services, and meet with Arts Industry and Media teams, while benefitting from a quiet place to work.  The popular Meet the Media event will also return at University of Edinburgh, giving artists the opportunity to pitch their show to a range of media titles, and journalists looking for new and interesting news angles.

Industry professionals can accredit and gain access to a host of services to support their time at the Fringe. From panel events and networking opportunities to programme insights and advice, arts industry can receive tailored assistance from the team to enable them to discover work and connect with talent, getting Fringe artists on stages and screens outside of the festival.

The digital platform showcasing professional Fringe shows, Fringe Marketplace, is now available to accredited industry with a new selection of work that's ready to be shared beyond the festival. Screen Fringe, funded by and delivered in partnership with Screen Scotland, a bespoke festival concierge service and events programme for accredited delegates from TV and film will return for 2024.

The Fringe Society will also be hosting a programme of participant-focused events, including discussions of topics relevant to the sector and social/networking meetups. The full programme of events will be announced ahead of August, but includes workshops on touring, networking, pitching, social media marketing in addition to free meals, coffee mornings and more.

Helene van der Ploeg, CEO of Grassmarket Community Hub, said: ‘We are thrilled to be working with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society as the home of Fringe Central this year. Their founding purpose of inclusivity and welcome, alongside the wellbeing focus this year, so closely aligns with our work and values at Grassmarket Community, and we will be providing a friendly, relaxed environment, with the warmest of welcomes to everyone visiting the hub. We are excited to be collaborating with the Fringe Society this year and supporting the talented artists who throng to Edinburgh to be part of this exceptional Festival.’

Wendy Bates, Chief Executive of Health in Mind, said: ‘We are delighted to be working with Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society to provide mental health and wellbeing support for Fringe artists. We will build on our learning from our collaboration last year to ensure we are there for artists when, where and how they need us.'

Chris Snow, Head of Artists Services at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: ‘It’s so exciting to be working collaboratively with two of Edinburgh’s other brilliant charities this year to deliver Fringe Central. The work that Grassmarket Community Project does for vulnerable people in our city year-round is exceptional, and we’re so grateful to them and their members for welcoming our Fringe community into their beautiful home on Grassmarket this August. We’re similarly proud to enter our second year working with Health in Mind to put mental health and wellbeing support right at the heart of our services for Fringe artists. We look forward to welcoming artists, the global community of arts industry and media to Fringe Central this year, back under one roof, to connect, take a break, and access support.’

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