NEWS
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ANNOUNCEMENTS, LINE-UPS AND OPINION Karen Gillan stars in Not Another Happy Ending which closes this year’s EIFF
FRINGE FACTS
The big daddy behemoth of Edinburgh’s August calendar, the Fringe, has finally launched. We bring you the festival in numbers (with a few handy facts thrown in)
• This year’s line-up boasts 45,464 performances . . .
• . . . with a whopping 2,871 shows in total. • Over 24,107 artists will perform . . .
• . . . in a mighty 273 venues.
• That, fact fans, is a 6.5% increase on last year’s programme. • The festival doesn’t mean you need to break the bank. 2013 boasts a sizeable 713 free shows.
• The Fringe programme app – edfringe.com/app – should save you lugging about the hardcopy version, which weighs in at 605 grams. • Street acts on the Mound and Royal Mile offered up 4,175 hours of entertainment last year.
• Never a festival to shy away from a first, there’ll be 1,585 world premieres.
• 41 different countries will be represented from around the globe.
• Recent studies suggest the Fringe generates £142m annually for Edinburgh and the Scottish economy. • New venue Topside, launched as part of the Underbelly programme, has a capacity for 200.
• The Traverse celebrates its 50th anniversary this Fringe.
• Ticket sales suggest numbers coming from Glasgow last year was up 19% on 2011. ■ Check out the next issue of The List for our Edinburgh Festival Guide bringing you the best shows to see and places to go.
13 Jun–11 Jul 2013 THE LIST 7
ECA SWEEPS BOARDS AT GRADUATE FASHION WEEK Kevin Williamson are just some of the highlights on offer. See dounetherabbithole.co.uk for more.
Here at List HQ, we’re always impressed by the Edinburgh College of Art’s creative output – so big congrats where it’s due to the ECA’s fine efforts at the recent Graduate Fashion Week, in London. Lauren Smith (pictured above) picked up the George Gold Award for best collection, while ECA undergrads also won the Menswear Award, with fashion student Shauni Douglas and jewellery student Olivia Creber celebrated for their creative collaboration.
NEW ROLE FOR TRON KIRK The Tron Kirk in Edinburgh is to be revamped as a visitor centre, as part of new plans to tell the history of Scotland’s World Heritage Sites both in Edinburgh and around the country. Willy Roe, chairman of Edinburgh World Heritage, said the centre would have ‘fascinating stories’ to tell.
RABBIT HOLE LINE-UP REVEALED One of Scotland’s best-named festivals, Doune the Rabbit Hole, has announced its line-up for the August jamboree in Stirlingshire. This year’s programme has been brought together with the help of online music platform Ten Tracks and music-poetry collective Neu! Reekie! On Fri 23 Aug, look out for Asthmatic Astronauts, Numbers are Futile and Ryan Van Winkle; while on Sun 24 Aug, The Sexual Objects, The Machine Room and
BLOODY GREAT PROGRAMME The great and good of crime-writing will appear in Stirling this September, for the second year of literary event, Bloody Scotland. Jack Reacher writer Lee Child is just one of a long list of impressive names, which includes Val McDermid, Stuart MacBride, William McIlvanney and Louise Welsh, as well as Nordic crime writers Jo Nesbo and Mons Kallentoft. This year’s festival will run 13–15 Sep. See bloodyscotland.com.
CREATIVE SCOTLAND CHIEF ANNOUNCED Three cheers, the new chief executive of Creative Scotland has finally been announced. Current director of dance at Arts Council England, Janet Archer, will take up the post in July, following months of intense speculation. Archer is perhaps best-known in Scotland as chair of the artist-led organisation The Work Room in Glasgow. The former dancer and choreographer said of her upcoming role: ‘I’m simply delighted to have the opportunity to contribute towards Scotland’s creative future and look forward to working with people everywhere to unlock talent, drive opportunity, and grow artistic and cultural capital for this amazingly ambitious nation.’