If you haven’t already made plans to attend this weekend there’s still plenty of month left in which to enjoy all that the festival and the Fringe have to offer.
The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual festival of performing arts, the director of which invites top class performers of music (especially classical music), theatre, opera and dance from around the world to perform. The festival also hosts a series of visual art exhibitions, talks and workshops.
It was founded in 1947 by Rudolf Bing, Henry Harvey Wood, Sidney Newman and Edinburgh’s civic leaders to provide a ‘platform for the flowering of the human spirit’.
The Fringe was also founded in 1947 when eight independent theatre companies, who had not been invited to the festival, turned up to perform. They had to find venues on the fringes of the main event because all the major venues in the city were already being used.
Performances from big names in the world of entertainment as well as newcomers just starting out at the fringe fill a number of different categories including theatre, comedy, dance, physical theatre, circus, cabaret, children's shows, musicals, opera, music, spoken word, exhibitions and events.
Comedy is by far the largest group of performances at the Fringe. The Independent newspaper has listed the best of what’s on offer this year.
In 2016 there were 50,266 performances of 3,269 shows in 294 venues, making it the largest ever arts festival in the world.
Today, the Fringe is overseen by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, a registered charity, which has three core objectives:
- providing support, advice and encouragement to all the amazing artists, producers and venues who create the Fringe each year, from help with choosing a venue or writing a press release, to advice on touring, free access to rehearsal space, and professional development activities and events
- assisting the audiences who come to Edinburgh by helping you navigate what’s on offer with comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date information and ticketing
- promoting this wonderful and unique festival to the rest of the world
And if you don’t fancy travelling all that way – why not visit one of our show homes instead?
