Fringe in Communities 2025: artist call-out
BSL: If you would like to talk through this callout we are happy to a arrange a chat with you via Contact Scotland BSL. Contact Scotland BSL is a video relay service, providing instant British Sign Language (BSL) video interpreting for all calls to Scotland.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is looking for a Scotland-based artist with Fringe experience to deliver an eight-week, co-creative project with one of our Fringe Days Out partners, Multi-Cultural Family Base (MCFB).
The project will run weekly from 14:30 – 16:30 between Friday 04 July and Friday 22 August 2025, with one additional rehearsal session in August. This will lead to the group presenting a family-friendly performance on 22 August, up to 30 minutes in length, on our Fringe Community Stage as part of the festival.
About the role
This role is open to artists and facilitators who:
- have experience and expertise in spoken word, music or poetry
- have Fringe experience or are in the 2025 Fringe programme
- wish to develop their practice by co-creating a performance with a community group made up of young people.
The group will be made up of various young people from across MCFB programmes. They have been learning about and focusing on anti-racism, anti-oppression, and advocacy skills. Many of the families and young people who are service users of MCFB are from ethnically diverse communities and are often new migrants. The selected artist for this project will ideally have similar lived experience, or a knowledge and interest in advocacy for the issues that ethnically diverse young people face.
What will be expected of you
- You will arrange an introductory meeting in person or online with a member of staff from MCFB before the first session.
- You will prepare and deliver eight weekly sessions from 14:30 – 16:30 between Friday 04 July and Friday 22 August 2025, with the final session being the performance date on the Fringe Community Stage. There will also be an additional final rehearsal session during the week commencing 18 August (exact time and date TBC).
- You will be supported by staff from MCFB and / or the Fringe Society in each session.
- We'll be in touch with you to discuss any access requirements you might have; we’re aiming to make this process as flexible as possible to ensure you can deliver your project in the way that works best for everyone involved.
- You’ll deliver all sessions with the group in person.
- You’ll be working with about 8–10 young people aged 12–16 years old.
- The end of the project will culminate in a short performance on the Fringe Community Stage 2025. The details of the style and content of this performance will be decided between you, the MCFB staff and the group members during the sessions.
- We’re aiming for this to be co-creative and collaborative so the content, themes and ideas used in your creative process should stem from those of the young people. These should arise within a structured format that will be developed after and throughout the meeting with the young people and staff.
- The final performance must be family friendly and appropriate for the Community Stage in August.
- You will attend a reflection and feedback session with staff members from MCFB and the Fringe Society, either online or in person, and contribute to the project evaluation and documentation.
Person specification
The successful applicant will:
- live within travelling distance of Edinburgh
- have experience / interest in performing arts for teenagers and young adult audiences, and in working with young people as collaborators
- have lived experience or a knowledge / interest in the issues facing ethnically diverse young people
- be flexible, compassionate and thoughtful in planning and delivery when it comes to any access needs of the group
- be willing and able to strike a balance between flexibility in co-creative work with young people and a structured, scaffolded 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, or be involved with a registered show for Fringe 2025
- be sympathetic with the values of the Fringe Society and MCFB.
About the community group
We are working with Multi-Cultural Family Base on this project.
Multi-Cultural Family Base (MCFB) is a charity based in Leith, Edinburgh, which has spent the past 26 years promoting the wellbeing and life opportunities of marginalised children, young people and families from ethnically diverse backgrounds. MCFB is committed to promoting human rights, valuing diversity, providing equal opportunities and working in a way which is flexible, respectful, caring and empowering.
In this project, we gather a group of young artists and advocates to co-create a new show for the Fringe’s Community Stage. Their voices and opinions at the centre, their art journey supported by a professional artist – what could be better?
Key information
This project will include:
- an initial chat, either in person or by phone, with a staff member from MCFB to touch base and discuss focus on anti-racism, anti-oppression, and advocacy skills within the group
- an initial meeting, either in person or by phone, with the project manager from the Fringe Society
- one session per week for seven weeks between Friday 04 July and Friday 22 August 2025, from 14:30 – 16:30 each Friday in an Edinburgh location (TBC)
- a reflection and feedback session with staff members from MCFB and the Fringe Society, either online or in person, and contribution to the project evaluation and documentation.
Fee
- Total fee of £2,000 (inclusive of all delivery, planning and expenses).
- Additional support is available for access requirements.
Application process and key dates
Application deadline: 09:00 GMT on Friday 04 April 2025.
After the application deadline we will consult with MCFB to select an artist based on what works best for their members.
We aim to let all applicants know the outcome by Friday 11 April 2025. All applicants will be asked if they would like written feedback.
The dates of the project delivery are Friday 04 July to Friday 22 August 2025.
Additional budget is available if you have any access requirements for meetings and / or for the project itself, including providing BSL translators. Please email [email protected] to discuss this.
- 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, please 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.
- Why you are interested in the role.
- Number of Fringes in which you have creatively participated in total.
- Name and year of your most recent Fringe show.
- Your relevant experience and / or your artistic practice.
- Main contact phone number.
- Main contact email address.
- Where you are based in Scotland.
Please email your application to [email protected] with ‘Fringe in Communities artist application’ as the email subject.
Please do not send us any CVs or any other additional documents.
Application deadline: 09:00 GMT on Friday 04 April 2025.
We are particularly interested in hearing from artists who have an ethnically diverse background, identify as underrepresented 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.
MCFB would like to keep all applications on file for potential future projects. Please state in your application if you are happy with this.
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.
Location: Edinburgh
