Edinburgh Friends host Fringe ‘artist hub’
‘We have welcomed hundreds of artists through its doors this month… with particular praise for it being an alcohol-free space within a welcoming and restorative environment.’
Edinburgh Quakers provided a sanctuary for Fringe artists at this year’s August festival.
The city’s central Meeting house hosted the Fringe Central: Artist Hub after twenty-five years of being a Fringe theatre host called ‘Venue 40’. Miranda Girdlestone, manager of Edinburgh Meeting House, told the Friend that the staff and volunteers ‘have always enjoyed being a part of the Edinburgh Fringe every August. Following a reduced programme with performers and productions in 2022, we decided to re-think our involvement in 2023. We approached the Fringe Society, the organisation that underpins the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, about providing a relaxing and inclusive space for them to support Fringe artists.’
The hub was also supported by the local mental health charity Health in Mind to offer one-to-one support for artists, and workshops during the festival.
‘Although it has provided a change of pace for our staff,’ said Miranda Girdlestone, ‘it has been fantastic to see the building in use by so many artists, for planned and unplanned meetings, yoga, a cup of tea and Tunnocks teacake – or even just sleeping.’
Chris Snow, head of artist services for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said it had been ‘a joy’ to work with the Quaker team. ‘We have welcomed hundreds of artists through its doors this month… with particular praise for it being an alcohol-free space within a welcoming and restorative environment.’
After twenty-five years of being a Fringe venue, Edinburgh Friends posted on their website in May: ‘Although we used to recruit Quaker volunteers from all over Britain and beyond, we also relied heavily on a few dedicated local volunteers for crucial functions. Given the change of circumstances over the last few years we feel that at present we don’t have the resources to run as an independent venue.’
They also told the Friend last year that recent changes to the licensing rules had made it prohibitively expensive for the Meeting house to host many performances.
Comments
Please login to add a comment
