Fringe Society membership

Become a Fringe Society member

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the organisation that underpins the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Its core aims are to support participants, assist Fringe audiences and celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world.

As an open membership organisation, we're always looking for new and diverse voices to join the conversation and help shape the future of the Society.

Membership costs £5 a year to cover administration costs and members are responsible for electing the Board of Directors, adopting the accounts and appointing the auditors each year. By choosing to become a member of the Fringe Society, you play a significant role in one of the world’s most incredible arts festivals.

Membership to the Fringe Society is annual and runs for 12 months from the point at which you join. Before your membership expires we will remind you to renew your membership so you can continue to make a contribution to the Society.

Our commitments

The founding principle at the heart of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – to be an open-access arts event that welcomes anyone with a story to tell and a venue to host them – still guides the work of the Society today.

It’s our policy that no single individual or committee determines who can or cannot perform on the Fringe.

The Society was formed in 1958, in recognition of the fact that more and more performers were coming to Edinburgh despite not being included in the Edinburgh International Festival programme. Its earliest tasks included providing information to artists, publishing the Fringe Programme and creating a central box office. In 1969 the Society was incorporated as a limited company and its constitution published.

Unlike many other festivals, our constitution celebrates the fact that the Society does not vet the Fringe Programme. That means we have no artistic director and that the programme is shaped by the initiative and vision of performers willing to showcase their work here.

The Fringe Society exists to:

• support, advise and encourage everyone who wants to participate in the Fringe
• provide information and assistance to help audiences curate their own Fringe experience
• celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world
• ensure the Fringe Society is sustainable, utilising its resource to the greatest benefit of the Fringe and its constituents.

Board of Directors

The Society has a Board of Directors which oversees our core Fringe Society staff in their year-round work and makes sure everything is in place to support those who produce and present the world’s biggest explosion of culture every August.

Members' area

Voting is now open for the Board of Directors election

Voting for the 2026 elections to the Board of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is open. Eligible members will have received an email from Civica Election Services with a unique electoral number and a link to our election website. 

To be eligible to vote in the election, you must have held an active membership as at 12:00 BST, Tuesday 04 August 2026. Those who become a member after this date will not be eligible to vote, but are still welcome to attend the AGM. 

Candidates

This year, there are two seats open for election – one each in the Show Participant and Open categories. Only one seat will be contested.

Category – Show Participant 

• Sam Dodgshon – candidate statement

As only one candidate stood in this category, Sam Dodgshon will be elected unopposed.

Category – Open

• Andrew Girvan-Haden – candidate statement
• Darrell Martin – candidate statement
• Joshua Beaumont – candidate statement
• Pax Lowey – candidate statement

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at 12:00 BST, Tuesday 18 August 2026. 

Location: 6 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT.

Please arrive at the venue from 11:30. You will be asked to check in and will then be able to make your way to the hall in time for the meeting to begin promptly at 12:00.  

All are welcome to attend to AGM – an active Society membership is not required.   

The event will only take place in person, and will not be live-streamed or recorded.  

Accessibility of the event 

There will be several Fringe employees around the entrance to the venue; they will be clearly visible and wearing yellow lanyards. Should you require any assistance or directions to the event, please ask a member of the team.  

There is step-free access to the meeting room, as well as an accessible bathroom. 

There will be a large screen displaying live transcription of the meeting. This will be displayed on a white background with black text. We suggest you sit nearer the front of the audience if you require use of the transcription – if you need assistant finding a suitable seat, please ask any of the Fringe employees onsite. 

Pre-submit questions for the AGM  

If you are not able to attend the AGM and would like to submit a question remotely, you can do so by completing the pre-submission form. The deadline to pre-submit questions for the AGM is 12:00 on Monday 17 August. Please note that questions of a similar nature may be combined in order to reduce repetition and allow for the widest array of topics possible to be covered at the meeting.  

There will also be an opportunity to raise questions during the Q&A portion of the event.