Pleasance Edinburgh National Partnerships

Edinburgh National Partnership 2024

Bristol Old Vic is delighted to be working with the Pleasance Theatre as part of their Edinburgh National Partnerships programme to support one brilliant artist or company from the South West to take work to Edinburgh Fringe in 2024.

We held a process to discover our 2024 supported show earlier this year. We received some brilliant expressions of interest and are delighted to say that this year we will be supporting Scaffolding, written by Lucinda Bell & directed by Lillian Waddington.

The economics of The Fringe for companies continue to be extraordinarily tough, so the support of venues and organisations to help artists find a platform at the biggest arts festival in the world is vital. The Pleasance is working with partner theatres across the UK to identify and support exceptional artists and companies local to them who want to take work to the Fringe. Each partner is a leading national producing house, with a commitment to supporting and developing new artists.

The other partner organisations in 2024 are Leicester Curve, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Sherman Theatre & The Lyric Belfast.

Following on from supporting four brilliant South West artists and companies in the partnership so far; Wild Swimming from FullRogue (2019), DESTINY by Florence Espeut-Nickless (2021), Opal Fruits by Holly Beasley-Garrigan (2022) and Bitter Lemons by Lucy Hayes (2023) we’re excited to collaborate with The Pleasance to identify dynamic artists at different stages in their careers, with the primary aim of the scheme to uncover and support the best companies and artists from across the UK to present work at the Fringe.

The chosen artist/company will receive the following support:

  • Guaranteed inclusion in the Pleasance’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival programme.
  • £3000 cash contribution towards the costs of presenting your show at the Fringe.
  • PR delivered by Michelle Mangan.
  • A package of marketing and advertising to support your show-specific campaign.
  • Edinburgh Fringe registration fee covered.
  • In-kind rehearsal and development space at Bristol Old Vic.
  • Support offering accessible performances as part of your Fringe run.
  • Mentorship, support and advice from both Bristol Old Vic and The Pleasance leading up to, and during the Fringe.
  • A programming option in the Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic & Pleasance’s London transfer season following the Fringe.
  •  Support to build new touring relationships.

This year we would like to address the continued under-representation of Black, Asian or Global Majority* Artists at the Edinburgh Fringe and are committed within this process to meeting with all artists & companies where one or more of the lead artists on your project identifies as Black, Asian or Global Majority*; this could look like one or a number of the following roles: writer/director/producer/set designer/maker. We will ask as part of the process if this is relevant to your project. Please reach out if you have any questions or need any clarity on this before you complete your expression of interest.

*We adopt Global Majority as a commonly used term that is consistent with other theatre partners we work with. However, we acknowledge the limitations and lack of nuance of this term, and encourage this to be an opportunity for further discussion. Our definition of ‘Global Majority Artists’ is inclusive to anyone who experiences racism or is marginalized or faces barriers within the industry for their race or ethnicity.