Fringe in a Fortnight

Fringe in a Fortnight is a project designed to give primary school children the opportunity to create a piece of Fringe theatre. Artists will start with a blank slate – anything is possible!

As a Lead Artist, we’d like you to work with the group to create any piece of performance you like. The performance should be based on the young people’s ideas and the process should be a co-creative one, allowing the young people’s voices, ideas, opinions and interests to be at the heart of it. If your application is successful, you’re invited to structure the two weeks however works best for you and the school, as long as a final performance is produced at the end.

You will have support from schoolteachers and staff in each session. 

Your performance should be no longer than 30 minutes, and it can include all of the children in the group or only some of them, depending on their interests. Some children may prefer to work on other aspects of the production, such as marketing the show, sourcing or making costumes and props, production design or helping to produce and direct. It will be down to you, the artist, to negotiate this and manage dividing the group into teams with the class teacher. 

You’ll be working in parallel with two other artists, pursuing similar projects in separate schools. On performance day, each group will travel to Fringe Central at 6 Infirmary Street (exact schedule TBC) to watch each other’s performances and create a ‘mini-Fringe’. Audiences, decided by the school, will be made up of other school years, parents, carers and teachers. Where needed, transport for all groups will be covered by the Fringe Society. 

• The project will run from 14 – 25 September 2026.
• The final performance will be on 25 September 2026.

Each daily session will be two – three hours long (exact timings TBC with school).

• Preston Street Primary School (43 pupils approx)*
• Royal Mile Primary School (12 pupils approx)
• St Mary’s RC Primary School (49 pupils approx)*

*Artists working in Preston Street and St Mary’s will be supported by an Artist Assistant due to the higher number of pupils. 

Once applications close, the Fringe Society will work with the schools to decide which artist they’d each like to work with.

Age groups

Primary 6 (Preston Street and St Mary’s) and Primary 7 (Royal Mile).

Successful applicants will:

• have a basic level of experience working in school settings or working with children and young people
• live within travelling distance to Edinburgh 
• have experience / interest in performing arts for young audiences and working with children as artist-collaborators
• be willing and able to work with the scheduling and needs of the school, teachers and support staff
• be willing and able to strike a balance between flexibility in co-creative work with young people and a structured approach to delivery
• possess an up-to-date PVG background check or be willing to apply for one (the Fringe Society can cover costs of this)
• have previously been an artist or participant of a Fringe show in some capacity.

Successful applicants will:

• have a passion and interest for working in school settings or working with children and young people
• live within travelling distance to Edinburgh 
• have experience / interest in performing arts for young audiences and working with children as artist-collaborators
• be willing and able to work with the scheduling and needs of the school, teachers and support staff, with particular focus on supporting the ideas, vision and needs of the Lead Artist
• be willing and able to strike a balance between flexibility in co-creative work with young people and a structured approach to delivery
• possess an up-to-date PVG background check or be willing to apply for one (the Fringe Society can cover costs of this)
• be an early-career artist, excited to develop their practice and gain experience in school and community settings.

• Total fee of £2,500 for each Lead Artist (inclusive of all delivery, planning and expenses).
• Total fee of £1,000 for each Artist Assistant (inclusive of all delivery, planning and expenses).
• Additional support is available for access requirements.
• You will be provided with a separate budget for production costs for the final performance (exact amount TBC).

• We are looking for three Lead Artists – one per school. The total fee of £2,500 is per artist.
  
  • Preston Street Primary and St Mary’s RC each have two classes combined, resulting in a group size of around 55 children. The Lead Artists in Preston Street and St Mary’s will have extra support from teaching staff during sessions and will also have an Artist Assistant. 
• We are looking for two Artist Assistants: one for Preston Street Primary and one for St Mary’s Primary, as these schools each have two classes combined, so more pupils. The Artist Assistant’s role will be to support the Lead Artist and staff in each session. 

Application deadline: 09:00 BST on Thursday 30 April 2026.

We will let all applicants know the outcome by Friday 08 May 2026. All applicants will be asked if they would like written feedback.

Additional budget is available if you have any access requirements for the application process, meetings and / or for the project itself, including providing BSL translators. Please contact us at [email protected] if you would like to set that up.

• If you would like to apply in writing, please send us a covering letter (one or two pages of A4).
• If you would like to apply by film or voice recording, send us a link to your recording via email (no more than three minutes). If you use BSL, you can record your film in BSL.

All applications

Please include the following information in all applications:

• Artist name.
• A bit about yourself and your practice.
• Why you are interested in the opportunity.
• Total number of Fringes in which you have creatively participated.
• Name and year of your most recent Fringe show.
• Your relevant experience and / or your artistic practice.
• Main contact name.
• Main contact phone number.
• Main contact email address.
• Where you are based in Scotland.

Please email your application to [email protected] with Fringe in a Fortnight artist application as the subject line.

Please do not send us any CVs or other additional documents.

We are particularly interested in hearing from artists who identify as under-represented in the arts, or are neurodivergent, D/deaf or disabled.

We are open to having conversations with the selected artists about their access requirements to participate in all aspects of the project.

You can contact the team on [email protected] or 0131 226 0033 with any questions about this opportunity or to talk through any access requirements.