00:00The new Love the Fringe membership scheme was launched on 1st of May by organisations that form the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
00:07We went along to the launch at the Virgin Hotel in Cowgate to find out what it was all about.
00:11The basic premise of Love the Fringe is to change the tone around the Fringe.
00:16There's a degree of negativity that's crept in over the last few years.
00:20We all love the event, so Love the Fringe is really about creating a positive spin around it.
00:26Initially it's very much focused on this membership scheme that we're running,
00:30which is meant to be a kind of win-win for everybody really,
00:33in that it uses a certain amount of free tickets in order to encourage a membership to become part of the festival.
00:40And from the public point of view it means that they can buy into seeing shows at the festival
00:44and double the value of their money, essentially.
00:47So it's a really good value thing. That's just in terms of tickets.
00:50On top of that, depending on the tier that they come in,
00:53there are lots of other advantages like bar discounts, advice on shows, new sheets that come out.
01:01Just generally buying into the concept of how the festival works, and discounts on shops and bars.
01:06Love the Fringe was created to sustain the 77-year-old festival into the future.
01:11We're in danger of festivals becoming sort of elitist because they've become too expensive.
01:16The ticket price keeps going up because the cost of being in Edinburgh keeps going up.
01:22And so what we're trying to do is find a way for corporates to get involved,
01:27for restaurants, for every single business across the city to say,
01:33yes, I love the Fringe, I want to support this, I want to support the artists who come,
01:38because the benefits of the arts are far, far more reaching than they are just in terms of
01:45the pound in artists' pockets or venues' pockets or whatever it is.
01:49So how will Love the Fringe benefit those who put on shows,
01:53and audience members who attend the shows in the Fringe every August?
01:58Love the Fringe is going to be really exciting for venues.
02:01I think it's about making sure that the programme is really giving back to the city,
02:06but giving back to everybody that makes the Fringe happen.
02:09So I think the whole programme is about raising excitement about this thing that happens every year,
02:16but the city sometimes doesn't realise it's happening to it.
02:19So it's about bringing that whole joy of loving the Fringe,
02:24and what it does for us year on year for, what, 77 years?
02:27So it's timely and brilliant and it's really positive.
02:32I go to the Fringe, I spend a small mortgage through the Fringe,
02:37and I know that the money is going back to support the artists and the producers.
02:42And at the end of the day, I think it's a good thing.
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