Performers Information for 2010 / 2011 |
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For 2010
Performers Downloads - Click Here |
| Laughing Horse | About Free Festival | Why Free? | What will it cost me? | What will I get out of it? | Venues |
Applying | 2009 Performer Downloads &
Info | Paid or Free? - show
producers talk |
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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.
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| Laughing Horse Comedy |
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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 UKs
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 |
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| About
the Free Festival |
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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 Houses 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 Pappys 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 dont 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,
childrens 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
everybodys 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. |
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Why Free? |
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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 dont charge a hire fee for
the spaces, therefore removing a large amount of your costs, and audiences arent
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 |
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| What will it cost to me? |
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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 |
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What Will I get out of it? |
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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 childrens
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 youll enjoy the relaxed and friendly
atmosphere. The Scotsman |
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| Venues |
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| Our venue details for 2010 are available here.
Full and updated downloadable plans and specifications are now available - and we also now
have a number of additional venues for 2010. |
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Applying for August 2010 |
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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:
Your Name and
Company Name |
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| Contact details: Email, Phone, Mobile
Number, Address |
| Please note that we will primarily use
email for communication, so do check your emails regularly |
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| Title of Show |
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| Show genre |
| Comedy / Theatre / Music / Cabaret /
Children's / Musicals / Exhibitions / Events |
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| Summary of your Show |
| Maximum 250 words please. Do include as
much information as possible. |
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| Number of Performers in your show |
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| Running Time |
| The full performance length, not
including get-in and get-out time |
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| Preferred Venues and Space |
| Please let us know as many options as
possible for this, and your order of preference. Please supply at least three choices to
help us with programming - the more choice we have the easier it is for us to programme,
and the more likely you will get one of the spaces you want. |
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| Preferred Daily Times |
| Please let us know as many options as
possible |
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| Performance Dates |
| Please state when you would like to
perform: All festival (Aug 6-30), or which week, or specific dates. And how flexible these
dates are - again, the more options the better. |
| All festival: Aug 5 to 29 |
| Preview Day: Aug 5 |
| Week 1: Aug 6 - 14 |
| Week 2: Aug 15 - 23 |
| Week 3: Aug 24 - 29 |
| Extended Week: Aug 30 - Sept 5 (extended
week shows at the Meadow Bar only - can swap from other venue) |
| Please note that this year the Fringe
officially starts on the Friday. |
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| Technical Requirements |
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| Marketing Plan |
| How do you plan to sell your show and
get an audience in? |
| Posters, Flyers, Advertising, PR,
Websites, Internet Marketing, Etc. |
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| Any other supporting information |
| Examples of this may be: |
| Performances we can come and see |
| Photos, Audio, Video and other
information online or which can be posted to us |
| Script |
| Previous Reviews |
| Your website |
| Anything else that you think will help
your application |
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.
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|
2010 Performer Information & Downloads |
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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. |
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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. |
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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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