News

Our FringeMakers crowdfunding platform has been live for just over a week, but it’s already smashed through a significant milestone. Together with 57 wildly diverse artist and venue projects, we’ve managed to raise more than £100,000 – £141,678 in fact, at the time of writing. We’d like to offer a massive thanks to the 3,072 supporters who have contributed so far – each donating an average of roughly £46 each.

Your support is invaluable

Thanks to the generous contributions made by Fringe audiences, venues are progressing well towards their targets. The not-for-profit Quaker Meeting House has raised just shy of £350 to help it continue supporting charities and providing a performance space for community-focused companies. Pianodrome has so far raised nearly £6,000 towards finding a permanent home for its unique, upcycled amphitheatre. And Summerhall has been able to raise just over £30,000 towards keeping its doors open for another year (with 25% of that total pledged to fund bursaries for Fringe artists). 

Some crowdfunding highlights:

The biggest amount raised by an artist or venue so far is an incredible £42,968 – massive congratulations to Pleasance for their efforts.

Many FringeMakers projects offer unique rewards you can’t get anywhere else, among them: 

• the unique IGOR guitar with which musician Nick Harper recorded his Phantastes album (already snapped up for £2,000).
• a personal recorded thank-you message from Johnny Vegas courtesy of Just the Tonic (still available for £300).
• 'Orange pool noodles consecrated with Gordon’s gin by King Billy himself', according to sketch group Faces of Glasgow, still available for £20 a pop.

Given that Fringe artists are creative types, it’s not surprising that some are offering bespoke artworks: 

• Monkey Barrel Comedy is offering a portrait of you in their house style, created by resident artist Shiel Yule, for £1,000.
• If that’s a little out of your range, artist Walter Michael DeForest of the show Van Gogh Find Yourself will send you your portrait on paper for £100.
• Philip Simon (aka the voice of Daddy Pig in the Peppa Pig UK tour) is offering personalised jokes (£7), limericks (£10) and even a message to your kids from Mr Pig himself (£15).
• As well as being a magician, Ava Beaux is showing off her arts-and-craftsy side, offering handmade masks (£15), scrunchies (£15) and bunting (£20) as well as magician starter kits (£35 for kids, £45 for adults).

Several artists also offering one-to-one Zoom tuition in their chosen discipline, including TuFlamenco and Daniel Martinez Flamenco Company.

The campaign isn’t over

Our FringeMakers campaign is scheduled to run throughout August, giving artists and venues the opportunity to raise more funds and plan their survival until Fringe 2021. In addition to working with Crowdfunder to provide the FringeMakers platform free of charge, we also give each user the chance to sell tickets to our weekly AJ Bell Fringe on Friday show – keep an eye out for the latest line-up announcement on Wednesday. 

To buy tickets to AJ Bell Fringe on Friday, and explore the other rewards on offer, visit FringeMakers.