Crunching the numbers after Assembly Festival

The Fringe already seems a long time ago – but in reality it only ended last week and now all the major venues have had time to crunch the numbers.

The Assembly Festival issued more than 500,000 tickets with 1,000 artists from 32 countries providing the Fringe programme for Assembly which has venues at Assembly Hall on the Mound, Assembly Rooms, and Assembly Roxy.

And between them their shows earned more than 4,000 stars.

Zoë Bullock won a Bright Spark Award at the Scottish Theatre Awards for emerging Scottish talent.
Love Beyond, from RAW Material and Vanishing Point, taking the Leading Light prize at the Scottish Theatre Awards, and A Giant on the Bridge, part of the Made in Scotland Showcase, picking up a Fest Magazine Bestie in the second week.
Ten Thousand Hours were named Best Circus by Theatre Weekly
The Unburdening of Dolly Diamond was chosen as the Best Cabaret by Theatre Weekly
Triptych was named Best Show from Adelaide in the inaugural List Festival Awards and picked up a coveted Mervyn Stutter Spirit of the Fringe
Recirquel: Paradisum and Trygve Wakenshaw: Silly Little Things were further winners at the Seoul Arts Awards which is awarded to work at the Fringe that transcends language barriers. The cast of LIVE MANGA was named Outstanding Male Performer in the Asian Art Awards. Mochinosha Puppet Company’s Shadow Necropolis was given a Jury Prize at Edinburgh Horror Festival’s first Spookies Awards. And diversity at the Fringe was celebrated with Jordan Tweedie, writer and performer of Pillock, winning the ADHD Comedy Award from Neurodiverse Review, Dylan Mulvaney: FAGHAG and TERF both won a Fringe Award from Scotland’s LGBTQIA+ Magazine Somewhere For Us, with Scottish comedy legend Susie McCabe winning the Fringe Icon Award.
Reuben Kaye was shortlisted for the prestigious Don and Eleanor Taffner Best Comedy Show Award from the Edinburgh Comedy Awards for his show Live and Intimidating. There was praise for newcomers Will Owen and Paulina Lenoir from Entertainment Now in the WoW Awards; and Dylan Mulvaney marked her debut winning Best Comedy and Best Solo Performance from Entertainment Now and Theatre Weekly respectively.

Artistic Director William Burdett-Coutts said: “The Festival Fringe is a remarkable phenomenon, and I salute all the incredible people who make it happen. 2024 has been a marked improvement on last year and puts the festival back on the road to recovery. That said, the Fringe is a fragile event, and we all need to work together to build resilience and ensure that the future works for all participants. Assembly is proud of the place it has as one of the cornerstones of the event that sets the standard across programming and the entire festival experience.”

Managing Director Dani Rae added: “This Fringe has been an extraordinary celebration of arts and culture, with Assembly’s incredible programme front and centre. We’re extremely proud of our artists and staff, including those freelancers backstage and in front. We too are shaken by the Scottish funding announcements in recent days, the impact of which affects our entire sector. We call on the Scottish and UK Governments to remember, there is no art without artists, there are no Edinburgh Festivals without artists.”