Over the past 12 months, work has progressed on the refurbishment of 6 Infirmary Street: the new Fringe Central. The Fringe Society’s new home will embed the Fringe within the community of Edinburgh and enable us to modernise our services and work with local artists, grassroots organisations, schools and community groups in ways that have not been possible across our existing premises.
Background
The name ‘Fringe Central’ has historically referred to our pop-up artist hub during August – the place where Fringe participants can come to take a breather from the festival, attend professional development events, meet with the Fringe Society team and access our services. Due to changing circumstances such as budget and availability, Fringe Central has occupied several different premises over the years, presenting unique challenges each time: reconfiguring desk space for each team, exploring each new building’s accessibility and informing participants of yet another address change!
One aspect of the new home we’re excited about is having a stable, consistent location where we can offer our services to Fringe artists, both during the festival and year-round – using the permanent infrastructure of the Fringe Society’s HQ as a base for Fringe Central instead of having to rebuild from scratch every time.
An established Fringe pedigree
The former schoolhouse at 6 Infirmary Street will already be familiar to some Fringe-goers – it was used as a Fringe venue between 2015 and 2023 by Greenside, which hosted shows in several spaces alongside a small bar and some outdoor seating.
Following confirmation of funding for Fringe Central, and in the context of the building’s proposed closure by the City of Edinburgh Council, we identified Infirmary Street as a promising location. The building’s recent history as a venue provided valuable background context in terms of its suitability for continued Fringe activity.
Our plans for Fringe 2026
The refurbishment work is set for completion in spring 2026, with the Fringe Society team moving in shortly after and preparing to welcome Fringe participants in August 2026. We will continue to provide:
- the Fringe Central events programme for artists and industry
- our drop-in, one-to-one advice service for artists
- free mental health and wellbeing sessions through our partnership with Health in Mind
- a space where artists can come and recharge.
Our media and industry accreditation will also continue to run from Fringe Central, and our Media and Arts Industry teams will be available to support these groups to navigate the festival.
Once this year’s festival is under our belts, we can look ahead at how the new home will operate year-round. This is new territory for the Fringe Society, and it’ll take time to settle into the new building and figure out how our teams can work best in this new space outside of the Fringe.
We’ll check in with our local partners and stakeholders after August and discuss what benefits and additions we can help bring to the creative community in Edinburgh. We want to add value to the work that is already being done and see if there are any gaps that we can help fill.
We look forward to welcoming you into the new home during Fringe 2026.
You can be part of the new Fringe Central
We’re delighted to have the support of DCMS and other partners in funding this project. However, there is still a lot more we want to accomplish – find out how you can support the new Fringe Central:
