“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

In each episode of Kind of a Big Deal you can listen to an exclusive and intimate conversation between our Features Editor and the kind of big deal folk our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

Listen again to Kind of a BIG Deal S02E02 ft. Dr Angela Bartie, historian and author of The Edinburgh Festivals: Culture and Society in Post-war Britain HERE.

This week’s conversation is between Dan Lentell and the Head of External Affairs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society

NEIL MACKINNON

“Any writer or artist that has something to say should have a space here where they can say it.”

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the organisation that underpins the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Its core value is to promote the Fringe as an open-access arts event – meaning that anyone with a story to tell and a venue willing to host them should be able to perform, with no one person or committee curating the overall programme. The society was formalised in 1958, to support the growing number of performers who came to Edinburgh, who weren’t included in the programme of the Edinburgh International Festival. Among other roles, it provides information to artists, publishes the Fringe programme and operates a central box office.

In this interview Neil discusses some of the history of the Fringe and the journey of the Society over the last 60 years, from audience protests to the changes in ticketing processes as technology becomes more advanced. He also shares his thoughts on the changing landscape of the arts in relation to politics, and just what he does after the festival finishes each year…

Dan Lentell talks to Neil Mackinnon

The jingle is used with the gracious permission of Moving On Theatre’s Laurene Hope Omedal (star of Piaf: Love Conquers All) and is voiced by Edinburgh Nights host Ewan Spence.

This season of Kind of BIG Deal interviews is supported by the good people at the superb Cult Espresso – the coffee lover’s Southside choice.

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