We’ll keep making a strong case for support for the arts – Shona McCarthy

And so, another August ends. Only this one is unlike any that Edinburgh has seen for the last 73 years. Today, there’ll be no crowds gathered to watch the beloved fireworks. There are no posters to take down, no makeshift venues to dismantle. But there’s something new to hold on to – a sense of renewal, of change and of possibility – rooted in the deep support we’ve seen from Fringe audiences and donors for our artists, venues and creatives over the last few months.

In April, we talked about the devastating financial impact that the Fringe not going ahead will have on the festival’s wider ecosystem. And as we’ve seen over the past week or so with the Save Scottish Comedy campaign, the situation facing artists and venues is stark. To try and counter this, we teamed up with Crowdfunder to launch FringeMakers: a fee-free crowdfunding platform to help artists and venues return in 2021. At the moment, we’ve raised over £200,000 in donations across the board and we’re hoping to smash the £250,000 barrier before the campaign is over. It’s a start, but there’s still more to be done.

It’s been incredible to see the public rallying behind creatives at this extraordinarily difficult moment. At time of writing, Pleasance have raised over £51,000, Summerhall are closing on £35,000, and Greenside have raised over £10,000. Monkey Barrel are at £7,000, Gilded Balloon are close to the same, and Zoo are looking at £5,000. Imaginative rewards for donors are on the table from some venues. Underbelly are fundraising to support artists and offering goodies signed by Eddie Redmayne and Phoebe Waller-Bridge; Just the Tonic are offering a personal thank you from Jonny Vegas, and if you’ve ever wanted a piano mobile to hang on the ceiling, Pianodrome have got it covered. And did we mention Assembly’s General Manager has been hula hooping daily in aid of their Fundraiser for Freelancers?

Around £50,000 has also been raised so far on our FringeMaker page. All the money we raise from this Crowdfunder page will go to artists and venues to support their return to the Fringe in 2021. We will work closely with a panel of experts to ensure the fair distribution of funds, with this process starting as soon as possible at the end of the festival. Our fundraising efforts are being further supported by our generous sponsors, AJ Bell.

All of this is a start, and a positive one. But there’s still a lot of work to be done. Public funding is desperately needed to help those artists and venues who are falling through the cracks. We need to be able to robustly support artists who want to write and plan and create and share their talent with us in the future. We need spaces ready to welcome them and give them a platform to tell important stories and engage us and unite us, after this strange and harrowing year of isolation and anxiety.

If we can reach £250,000 in the coming days, the boost this will give to our creatives and to our city would be enormous, and we’ll keep shouting for support for the arts as loud as we can.

All figures correct at time of writing. Donate to the central artist and venues recovery fund at crowdfund.edfringe.com/fringemakers.

Shona McCarthy is chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society