The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a unique opportunity to showcase your work to audiences from around the world, and to build new relationships with artists, organisations and supporters to enable the continued development of your practice and career. However, every year the Festival becomes an increasingly inaccessible platform for many diverse, working-class creatives.

To support working-class artists or companies in their early or mid-career to make the most of the incredible opportunity the Fringe provides, the Pleasance Theatre have joined forces with COMMON for a second year to platform an exceptional theatre production (including shows for children and young people) made by a working-class creative or company through The COMMON Award.

The COMMON Award is the only opportunity of its kind which aims to support an exceptional theatre or children’s show made by an artist or theatre company from a working-class background to be presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Available 

• Up to £2,000 of financial investment towards the cost of presenting your show at the Festival, which may be put towards elements including travel, accommodation, Fringe registration and subsistence.
• A guaranteed slot for your show as part of The Pleasance Theatre’s Edinburgh Festival programme.
• A 60/40% or 55/45% box office split in your favour depending on VAT status of the company.
• Additional marketing presence and support with press coverage during the Edinburgh Festival as part of the Pleasance Theatre’s Pleasance Futures campaigns.
• In-kind support, mentoring and advocacy from The Pleasance and COMMON in the lead-up to and during the Festival, including (but not limited to): mentoring from the Pleasance to demystify the Fringe experience; development, rehearsal and work space in the lead-up to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at The Pleasance’s London theatre; support to find accommodation; and more!
• Access to COMMON’s network of industry relationships with venues, arts organisations and high-profile industry members.
• The full weight of COMMON behind your show to provide significant industry recognition and attention.
• Support from COMMON to secure attendance from representatives of additional Awards which are run during the Festival.
• Support to develop and deliver accessible performances as part of your run.
• An optional London transfer of your show post-Fringe at the Pleasance London.

To be eligible to apply for The COMMON Award, applicants must:

• Be in an early or mid-stage of their career.
• Identify as coming from a working-class or socio-economically disadvantaged background.*
• Have a commitment to taking a production to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2020.

Deadline:

10am on Monday 20th January.

COMMON have attempted to make the eligibility criteria for this opportunity as inclusive and accessible as possible for artists who come from working-class and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Should you feel strongly that your background is one of socio-economic disadvantage but the criteria are not inclusive of your lived experience, then please contact COMMON directly to tell us your feedback and we will be happy to discuss this with you in more depth.

https://commontheatre.co.uk/commonawardhome