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Performers Information for 2010 / 2011

For 2010 Performers Downloads - Click Here

Applying | 2009 Performer Downloads & Info | Paid or Free? - show producers talk

We will be taking applications for Fringe 2011 from January 2011. Below is the information for 2010 - most of this will stay the same for 2011 - If you would like to perform with us in 2011 please read through the information on this page, and also look at our venue information pages. At the end of this page are the details that we need in your application email, which we will start to take from January 2011. To be added to our performers mailing list, or if you would like to ask us anything do please contact us on info@freefestival.co.uk.

The Free Festival is organised by Alex Petty of Laughing Horse Comedy, along with a team of volunteers from the performers, promoters and producers who have presented shows at the Free Festival over the years. At the Fringe we aim to produce shows accross all Fringe genres - not just comedy! In 2009 we had over 40 theatre shows, 40 music shows and many other types of show alongside comedy shows. (click here for last years programme)   

Laughing Horse Comedy is a professional production company that promotes comedy events and venues throughout the UK during the year, with its own comedy clubs that range from new act nights through to shows with big names and large venues - along with booking for other comedy clubs, shows at Festivals, Comedy Courses, a booking agency and running the UK’s largest search for new comedy talent. Laughing Horse also promote two venues at the smaller Brighton Fringe in May, with a mixture of Comedy, Theatre, Music and Childrend shows.

For the Edinburgh Fringe Laughing Horse manages the venues, and selects and programmes the comedy elements of the Free Festival programme, with a number of producers of theatre, music and art selecting other elements of the programme.

"The Laughing Horse's Free Fringe shows serve as a useful reminder of that frequently encountered concept - The Spirit of the Fringe" - Malcolm Hay, Time Out

2010 is the seventh year that the Laughing Horse has run free venues at the Edinburgh Fringe, and in that time the Free festival has grown from a single venue to 17 seperate venues and 31 performance spaces, making it one of the biggest organisations at the Fringe. In 2009 there were over 230 shows and just under 3,500 performances in our venues. 

The Free Festival allows performers to experience the Edinburgh Fringe, in professionally managed and equipped venues, without the overbearing costs of the paid venues, or the shambolic nature of some other free venue promoters who only provide empty rooms and expect you to provide all of your own venue equipment! Although we are free, we are still a major part of the Fringe, with shows part of the main Fringe programme, and with our performers gaining all of the benefits of being a Fringe Performer and part of the world's largest arts festival, with performers qualifying for all of the major awards. 

All of our venues are set-up, at minimum, to the standard that you would expect of small comedy club, and in many cases to a much higher standard, with sound systems, lighting, stages and microphones – and in the case of the Counting House’s ballroom and Hive's Big Cave, we offer a high specification performance space on a par, if not better than many large paid venues with a full lighting rig and sound system, a large stage and room suitable for large theatre productions and big-name comedians.

We believe that for performers to produce the best possible shows they should be concentrating on their performances, and not worrying about finding equipment for venues, coping with performance spaces without facilities or at the other end of the scale worrying about over-bearing costs and large financial losses. We aim to foster the best atmosphere possible at our venues, to help you achieve your Fringe goals, be they media attention, excellent reviews, furthering your career in the arts or simply performing during the Fringe to large audiences and having a very enjoyable August.

Overall we encourage an atmosphere of teamwork, and foster an ethos where performers volunteer to help maintain the success of all our venues and shows, who all work together to the benefit of everyone - with the best in new talent being encouraged along-side bigger name performers.

Since we started running free venues we have had full runs of shows from the likes of Pappy’s Fun Club, John Gordillo, Lewis Schaffer, Nick Wilty, Sol Bernstein, Steve Day and Ivor Dembina, plus appearances on our stages from performers such as Alan Carr, Scott Capurro, Richard Herring, Brendan Burns, Marcus Brigstoke, Reg D. Hunter, Dan Antopolski and Paul Foot - amongst many other stars of comedy, theatre, music and dance.

We don’t just concentrate on comedy either, we run venues that provide a mixed programme of shows that encompass all Fringe genres including theatre, music, comedy, cabaret, opera, musicals, children’s shows, events and art displays – programmed by experienced producers in each area.

In 2010 we have more performance spaces on offer than ever before, with some new venues operating alongside our venues from 2009. Our venues have capacities from 50 to 150 and are able to accommodate a huge variety of performances. Each venue also has a number of friendly bars and spaces for audiences to congregate, including two with dedicated outdoor areas.

We aim to encourage and create better conditions for performers, and better value for audiences while being inclusive of all performers and working with others who share that ethos. We believe that being negative about other organisations detrimental to everybody’s aims and would rather concentrate on doing our best to promote the shows in our own venues.

2009 was our most successful and critically acclaimed year ever, with the Free Festival as a whole gaining fantastic reviews and coverage from Sky News, The BBC, STV, The International Television Festival, The Guardian and The Times, as well as many reviews and articles in Scottish and Edinburgh publications such as the Scotsman, The List and the Metro. Our performers achieved success with awards, a huge number of reviews and further work, higher profiles and tours and productions of their shows in the UK and internationally. 75% of our shows were reviewed as 3 star and above, along with thirty 4-star reviews and nearly 20 5-star reviews.

Why Free?

One of the two main gripes of performers at the Fringe is the costs of producing a show at the Fringe, which is often quoted as being over £6,000, and performers having to present their shows to small audiences. By performing your show for free you can negate both of those issues.

We don’t charge a hire fee for the spaces, therefore removing a large amount of your costs, and audiences aren’t charged to come in, meaning much larger audiences – and at the Fringe that still means people are coming to see your show, it is just that being free means they come in large numbers because of the overall dissatisfaction with high ticket prices across the Fringe in general. Audiences are asked for a contribution on the way out, which goes 100% to the performer.

The average audience for one of our Free shows is 48 people, although that obviously depends a lot on time, location and the performers PR. The average donation per person is £1.50. Many performers in 2009 took home over £50 a day, with some performers reporting collections in excess of £200 on occasion.

Click here to read producer Poppy Ben-David and performer Lynn Ruth Miller's experience of the Free Festival, compared to bringing shows to paid venues

"What should worry [now ex-Fringe director] Morgan and, indeed, the Big Four, not entirely smiling all the way to the bank, is the continuing growth of the free Fringe, where punters pay what they wish at the end of a show; some comics report they have made more from the collection bucket than they ever did at the main venues."- The Guardian

The cost to use our venues is completely free, there is no hire charge for the space at all.

To cover the cost of equipment, damages and repairs, central Free Festival publicity, signage and advertising we ask each show to pay £40 into central funds, which is the equivalent of less than one days collection. For this you get all of the venue equipment that is listed in the venue plans, it covers all venue signage and advertising banners for all shows, plus the production of 50,000+ Free Festival brochures, the website and a lot of general PR, advertising, posters and flyers.  (Single performance shows only have to pay £20 to us)

Along with this you need to pay for your entry into the main Fringe programme, in 2009 that was around £280 for a run of shows, or £70 for a single performance. (This should remain the same in 2010).You must enter the Fringe programme, as without this it is near impossible to promote your show and get audiences, and you will be invisible to reviewers and promoters. In essence, if you are doing a show in Edinburgh during the Fringe and you are not in the programme you are doing a show in Edinburgh while the Fringe is on, rather than being part of the Fringe. 

You will have to pay for your own show advertising, and this can be as little as £150 with the special deal we have organised with Tenfold printing, and this covers 5000 A6 flyers and 50 posters. We even have designers on hand who offer discounted design for our free shows if you need this.

The above should be seen as the minimum advertising required, as even though your show is free you will still need to publicise your performances to get good sized audiences. You can do more, and the principle of the more you put into your show, the more you will get out of it really holds true. Use your funds wisely and if you invest in PR, further advertising and more marketing your audiences and media coverage will grow. If you treat your show professionally, then the media and audiences will treat you as a professional performer.

Other than that, it is up to you – obviously you will have your accommodation costs (we are hoping to get a special deal on accomdation this year for our free performers), your travel costs, plus it is up to you how much further you push your promotion by getting professional PR, or increasing your advertising, display advertising in publications. In terms if display advertising the Free Festival has negotiated discounts with several publications. Remember that you are putting on a professional show, and your production should be treated professionally - the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it.

With the collection money taken, many shows in 2009 broke even, and especially with performers who had no or very little living expenses some made a reasonable profit. In most cases, performers who lost money were limited to a few hundred pounds, unless they had thrown much more into expensive accommodation or PR – and of course that can be recouped from work gained after the festival. if you are able you can also sell merchandise after your performance to increase your income further (with 100% of merchandise profits going to the performer).

The Free festival also helps you to enjoy the Fringe by offering performers discounts at our venues bars, and on food and drink, to help keep the day-to-day costs of being at the Fringe down, plus free internet access and networking and socialising events throughout the month, as well as the Meadow Bar becoming the de facto performers bar for free performers and people who don't want to go to the expensive performers bars in the mega-venues. 

Being a free show you are also currently except from PRS charges.

“There is a rebellion at the Fringe this year. High venue costs have caused some artists to take matters into their own hands. Doug Stanhope is charging £7349 for a one-off show in someone's living room and the Free Fringe organisations have brought more acts than ever to Edinburgh at no extra charge” – The List

What Will I get out of it?

As well as the experience of performing intensively, and the enjoyment of being in Edinburgh with a large group of like-minded people in a welcoming and friendly atmosphere, you will also gain significant chances to network with other professionals and further your careers.

With good PR you will get press and media attention, along with reviews. In 2009 the majority of performers reported that they had been seen or approached by promoters or bookers for further work, and some have been invited to perform nationally and internationally - you will see our performers at other UK Festivals, in New York, at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and in many other places around the world because of their Free Festival shows. In once case a performer is currently putting together a treatment for a television series.

In short you can achieve anything that you could do in a paid venue, but without the significant costs of this.

“Best Freebies: www.freefestival.co.uk – shows are free to audiences, venues do not charge fees to performers. The Free Festival is hosting 157 shows – with an expanded programme which now includes children’s shows, a free night-club and an opera. Performers tend to pass round a hat at the end of every show – but there is no pressure and you’ll enjoy the relaxed and friendly atmosphere.” – The Scotsman

Applying for August 2010

Our application process has now started for 2010, and we welcome applications from performers across all performance genres. We will start to make decisions from late January/early February, right through until the Fringe programme deadlines in April.

Our aim is to select the best possible shows for our venues, and therefore we do not programme on a first-come, first-served basis, however it is advisable to get your application in as soon as possible so you have the best chance to get the venue and time that you would like. In 2009 we were oversubscribed by nearly 100 shows.

To apply, you should first familiarise yourself with all of our venue and space information. This is available here. 

You should then email us at info@freefestival.co.uk with the following information:

Once you have submitted your application to us, we should reply fairly soon, and at the latest by the end of January for applications that are sent during January. Due to the volume of applications that we receive in January it may not be possible to reply before then.

Typically we will start to offer slots from the start of February, and you will have until early April to submit your programme entry into the Fringe programme. All Free Festival shows must be entered into the main Fringe programme.

We accept applications right up until the Fringe programme deadline in April, so whenever you wish to apply please send us your application.

2010 Performer Information & Downloads

Free Festival venues

Click here for our venue list and venue information Downloads (2010 venues)

Downloads For Fringe Performers in 2010

Now updated for Fringe 2010!

Click Here for Performers Downloads - logos, maps, images etc

Everything you'll need for your advertising in 2010

Free Festival Forum

Discuss your ideas, speak to other performers, get help and advice, look for accommodation - click here to sign-up and visit the Laughing Horse and Free Festival Forum.

Guest Performers in a Fringe show in 2010

If you are a professional, or newer act there will be several shows that will have "Guest spots" at the Free Festival venues. These should be booked directly with the promoters of these shows, and not through this web site. For places at The Laughing Horse Comedy Club shows you can email info@laughinghorse.co.uk after May 2010.

Comedy Courses

Newer acts may be interested in attending the About Comedy Courses run at Edinburgh City FC during the festival - these help new performers develop, and also the tickets sold for these go towards supporting the Free Festival venues. See www.aboutcomedy.co.uk 

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