There Are Some Right Pillocks Around!
The Scotsman online gives its readers the opportunity to respond the news stories by uploading their comments. It’s just been carrying the story of Fringe venue managers Understairs Arts and the effect its liquidation has had on the companies booked into the venues. Among the comments are two by people who could well be in the running for the title Right Pillock of the Year.
One said:
Who does this really affect?
Some rich, work-shy Oxford and Cambridge students on a summer jolly to Edinburgh.
They really don’t deserve any sympathy.
This will give them the opportunity to do some real work this summer for a change - but I suspect that they’ll just spend August in mummy and daddy’s Tuscan villa!
There will be plenty of other crappy shows on offer for all the tourists who have somehow been duped into believing that there are some Fringe shows that are actually worth seeing!
I merely point this out: it isn’t worth commenting upon.
However there is another comment - “good.. stop wasting money on fringe… do some goodthings with that” - on which I will comment, for it reveals a monumental ignorance which should not be ignored.
The last I heard, Edinburgh City Council gives £60,000 to the Fringe. In return, last year the Fringe sold over one million tickets. At an estimated average price of £7, this brings in £7m, much of which will go straight into the local economy.
Then there’s the money spent by companies, audiences, promoters and journalists in the hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfasts, restaurants, cafes, pubs, shops, buses, taxis and so on and so on and so on. That will run into millions. Let’s say that altogether the Fringe brings in £10m to the Edinburgh economy. Not a bad return for a £60,000 investment. I wish I could find an investment which would give me that sort of return in just four weeks!