Who received the Keep It Fringe grants?

Fifty groups and performers get £2,000 of help going to Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Fringe has announced the 50 artists and companies who will each receive £2,000 to help bring their show to this year’s festival.

The Keep It Fringe fund as led by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and largely funded by the streaming income from the live stage version of her Fleabag one-woman show. It was topped up by individual donors and sponsors Edinburgh Gin.

It was massively oversubscribed, with 677 applicants for the 50 grants, highlighting the huge financial pressures involved in bringing a show to the festival.

The Fringe Society which co-ordinates the festival programme said: ‘Each application was reviewed by two assessors, who were on the lookout for shows that capture the defiant spirit of the Fringe and can take advantage of the festival as a unique platform to tell untold stories at all stages of their career. The 50 successful recipients represent the great breadth of variety and diversity that makes up the Fringe. ‘

The winning applicants for this pilot scheme also receive other benefits including free return train tickets to Edinburgh from Lumo and TikTok advertising credits.

Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: ‘The number of applications received for the Keep it Fringe fund reflects the current economic climate, and a need for significant support for artists coming to the Fringe’

She said she was ‘immensely grateful for Phoebe’s generous donation’ and put an appeal out to any other benefactors who might be able to help in future.

The full list of recipients os