Closing date: 10:00, Wednesday 10 June 2026
Start date: Monday 22 June 2026
Interview date: Monday 22 June 2026
End date: Wednesday 02 September 2026
Location: Central Edinburgh
Background
The idea at the heart of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is simple: anyone with a desire to perform and a venue willing to host them is welcome. No individual or committee determines who can or cannot perform at the Fringe.
It all began in 1947 with eight companies – six of them from Scotland – taking a risk, turning up uninvited and performing on the ‘fringe’ of the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival. Over 75 years later, the Fringe has grown to become one of the greatest platforms for creative freedom in the world, second only to the Olympics in terms of global ticketed events. In 2024, 3,745 shows took place in 296 venues across Edinburgh.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society was founded by artists to nurture and uphold the Fringe's values of inclusivity, experimentation and imagination. We exist to support, advise and encourage everyone who wants to participate in the Fringe, provide information and assistance to audiences, and celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world.
During the Fringe, the Street Events team manages vibrant street performance areas in the heart of the city. These spaces become the focus of the carnival atmosphere that takes over Edinburgh in August, with thousands of locals and tourists mingling to see the spectacular acts that travel from all over the world to entertain the crowds.
Reporting to the core management team, the Street Events Coordinators will be responsible for supervising areas within the Street Events sites. This means you are likely to be overseeing several performance spaces and staff at the same time, ensuring the area is running smoothly as a whole. You’ll be the first point of contact for performers and staff within these areas and will be able to solve problems as they come up or ask for support from the Street Events Management team if necessary.
Alongside the rest of the Street Events team, you will help with setting up and closing down the event each day, greet performers and make sure the performance areas are running to time, help to manage crowds to keep thoroughfares open, keep the event areas clean and free of litter and help to create a safe and fun environment for all the events users.
The full Street Events team consists of the Street Events Manager, Street Events Assistant Manager, a team of Coordinators, a team of Stewards, and a contracted security team. The management team works closely with City of Edinburgh Council, Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service to manage the event safely.
Role and responsibilities
You will perform a wide range of duties, including but not limited to:
- Supervising either circle or busker pitches of the Street Events.
- Being the main point of contact for staff and performers within your allotted category.
- Being responsible for safety within your area, making sure that thoroughfares are kept open and maintaining a safe and dynamic performance and trading area.
- Responsibility for setting up areas in the morning and clearing areas at the end of the day.
- Dealing with various situations as they arise, deciding whether they need to be raised with the Street Events Management team.
- Report daily pitch data to management.
Person specification
Essential
- Experience of working in a fast-paced events role.
- Some experience in supervising staff.
- Effective communication skills; tact, diplomacy, assertiveness and confidence when dealing with crowds.
- Excellent time keeping and the ability to prioritise tasks in an effective way.
- Ability to use initiative in a busy environment and ask for help when needed.
- Ability to work in all weather conditions, be on your feet all day and remain helpful and happy.
- Knowledge and understanding of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Rate of pay and benefits
The rate of pay for this post is £14.15 per hour.
Normal working hours 45 hours a week worked in 8.5-hour shifts between 09:30 and 19:30, on 6 days between Monday and Sunday, with a one-hour unpaid lunch break.
We are a flexible working employer and therefore are happy to discuss flexible working at any stage of the application process. We are unable to offer remote working for this position. We can offer varied start and finish times and core hours with flexibility around them.
We use positive action under section 159 of the Equality Act in relation to disability or race. This means that if we have two candidates of equal merit in our process, we will seek to take forward the D/deaf, disabled, Black, Asian or ethnically diverse candidate in order to diversify our staff team.
The Fringe have identified six pillars of commitment around the sustainable delivery of their work, are active members of the Festivals Edinburgh Sustainability Working group and include climate action as one of the headline targets in the Fringe development goals. As part of the commitments of this work, all Fringe staff members are expected to assist with the Fringe Society’s environmental goals and consider these in all elements of your work.
We are also committed to maintaining the open-access policy of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all sectors of the community. We are also proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and aim to successfully employ and retain disabled people and those with health conditions. We expect employees to support these commitments and to assist in their realisation.