News

One year on from the radical overhaul of its constitution the Festival Fringe Society is now gearing up for a full set of elections to the organisation’s Board of Directors.

Under the new constitution there are twelve positions on the board that are directly elected by members of the Society. A third of these positions are reserved for Fringe performers and another third are reserved for representatives of Fringe venues. For anyone with a passion about how the Fringe should develop or views about the work of the Fringe Society this is the opportunity to turn those beliefs into action. In February 2011 in the first elections under the new constitution, Peter Buckley Hill and Sally Cowling were elected to the board in the venues and open category respectively.

All members of the Society are entitled to vote in the election and anyone with an interest in and commitment to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe can join the Society.

There are four positions on the board that will be contested. Two of them are for candidates from the performer category and one of them is for candidates nominated by Fringe venues. The remaining position is open to all members of the Society. Even though there are specific categories of candidates all members of the Society get to vote in all the categories.

The Board of Directors are legally responsible for ensuring that the organisation fulfils its charitable objectives, setting the annual budget and ensuring the good governance of the Society. It is crucial that board members have a passion and a depth of understanding about the Fringe and the very unique role of the Society in the broader Fringe community.

To stand for the Board a member of the Society needs to find just two more members to propose and second them. Candidates have the opportunity to produce a personal statement of up to 750 words which is then sent on their behalf to all the Society members entitled to a vote. The Society’s office will also provide any candidate who asks for it with a list of Society members to help with any additional lobbying of the members that a candidate might want to undertake.

Members of the Society interested in putting themselves forward for election can find information about the procedure here and nomination forms can be found in the Members’ Section at www.edfringe.com. These forms need to be completed and returned to the Returning Officer by 13:00 on Monday 18 July 2011. Anyone wanting to join the Society should do so by Friday 22 July to ensure that they get a vote in the election. You can join the Society by following this link.