Free Fringe founder Peter Buckley Hill quits 2014 Edinburgh Festival

Peter Buckley Hill

Peter Buckley Hill, the founder of the annual PBH Free Fringe operation at the Edinburgh Festival, has said he will not be attending the 2014 festival. This will be the first time in 20 years that he will not travel to the festival or perform there.

This news comes as the disputes over the control of various free venue spaces continues.

Writing on the Free Fringe message board he confirmed: "I shall not be a part of Fringe 2014. My reasons are my own and none of you has a right to know them or assume them."

However, he also added: "I shall continue to offer my administrative expertise and considerable knowledge to the Free Fringe in the run up to Free Fringe 2014."

Peter Buckley Hill, who was awarded the Edinburgh Panel Prize in 2009, set up the Free Fringe in 1996 to combat the "vicious cycle" of performers losing thousands of pounds due to rising venue hire costs and thus needing to over-price tickets. Instead he encouraged venues to offer their space to performers to use for free, with in return the free shows performed there encouraging more people to visit the venue.

The Free Fringe has grown over the years and at last year's festival it operated more than 30 venues. However, PBH Free Fringe is not the only organisation aiming to run free-to-enter venues.

This year some venues have transferred into the control of the new Freestival organisation. This outfit has been setup by comedians who were previously involved with PBH Free Fringe but left following reported 'disagreements' about how things should be run. PBH Free Fringe has also had long-standing issues with the established Laughing Horse Free Festival.

The politics behind PBH, Laughing Horse and Freestival are described in this December 2013 blog from John Fleming: Has the Edinburgh Free Fringe split apart again?

Freestival will run venues including The Tron and The Cowgatehead (the venue opposite Underbelly, which was previously known as The Cowshed) in 2014 - both of which had previously been operated by PBH Free Fringe.

Logos of PBH Free Fringe, Freestival and Free Festival

In early March Peter Buckley Hill used the Free Fringe message board to update acts on the venue situation. He posted: "I am writing to keep you informed on the latest situation on Cowgatehead. The venue is in the effective control of the Waugh family; there are three active generations, all called Kenny, whom I shall refer to as I, II and III. Kenny II has been our main contact throughout; a difficult man to get hold of. It was he who gave us use of Cowgatehead in 2013, and it was he who promised us use of Cowgatehead in 2014."

He added: "On the promise given to me in December, we have booked four rooms worth of shows into Cowgatehead. It came to our notice in January that the breakaway 'freestival' was also claiming Cowgatehead. It came as no surprise that they had tried; they have been round all our venues trying to capture them. That's the sort of people they are."

Following further details about the venue's ownership and the Fringe office's involvement in the situation, Buckley Hill explained: "We cannot now be sure whether we have Cowgatehead as agreed. Equally, we cannot be sure that we do not. I have always been of the view that Kenny II's word can be trusted. In the event of Cowgatehead not being available, the Artistic Directors will redeploy all shows scheduled and accepted for that venue, as a priority over all other commitments. A slot will be found, if at all possible, for every show that has accepted a Cowgatehead offer. To assist in that process, I shall cancel my own double-length show at the Canons' Gait, thus creating two further slots for the redeployment of shows. And if my faith in the word of Kenny II turns out to have been misplaced, I shall not come to the Fringe."

In the most recent update, he has now concluded that his organisation will not run Cowgatehead: "This evening I have received notification, still via an intermediary, that Kenny II has decided to go with the freestival people."

As a result of this, Buckley Hill has indeed confirmed he will no longer be attending the festival. Talking to the acts, he added: "I am extremely confident in the current team including the artistic directors and the Edinburgh-based team. They are all dedicated and have worked tirelessly on your behalf, as indeed have I for 17 years."

Giving his thoughts on what the Free Fringe now needs to do, he said: "I will say that it is a priority to get more venues. Others say not, but they are wrong. In an ideal world a large empty space would be found that could be converted into many stages; we have plenty of contacts who could provide bars. We have invested in chairs. It would be an enormous mistake to allow freestival to soak up any acts that we cannot place; we should do our utmost to place them.

"They have shows that they are happy to pay venues to use them; this is a development which if unchecked will lead to the end of the entire free movement within five years. I have fought for these principles for 17 years; it is now up to others to continue that fight. It is important to see all the implications of free shows and the integrity of the model; no other organisation putting on free-admission shows has seen the wholeness of the model."

Related Links:

About PBH Free Fringe

Peter Buckley Hill's message board post in full

About Freestival

Interview with Freestival organisers

Laughing Horse Free Festival

This year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs from the 1st to 25th August. British Comedy Guide will once again be providing full listings of all 4,000+ comedy shows performed there, as well as regular news, features and more from the city via comedy.co.uk/fringe.

Published: Thursday 20th March 2014

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