This year was the 39th year that Gilded Balloon produced a season on the Fringe, but the first without the facilities of the University’s Teviot buildings which are under refurbishment.
Even though the capacity for shows was different Gilded Balloon operated in three venues – Patter House, The National Museum of Scotland and Edinburgh Street Food. Some of the biggest hits of the Fringe were part of their roster including Mhairi Black and Chemo Savvy.
The Fringe operators sold 128,914 tickets for 2,484 performances in their main venues and in 12 other venues which they managed. There were 440 sold out shows and 86 comedy shows.
The winner of So You Think You’re Funny? was Alana Jackson out of 597 original applicants. Khawla Ibraheem won the Filipa Bragança Award for her part in Oliver Butler’s A Knock on the Roof.
Local brewers Newbarns sold more than 1,500 cans of Hiya Pals IPA.
Karen and Katy Koren, Artistic Directors of Gilded Balloon said: “2024 was another fantastic year, and Gilded Balloon’s 39th, at Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We welcomed over 128,912 people to our venues to see some outstanding shows across comedy, theatre, musical and kids, as well as sell out runs for Scottish shows including Mhairi Black: Politics Isn’t For Me, Chemo Savvy and Jack Docherty in The Chief. We’ve cemented schemes like Support the Artist, which puts money back in our artists’ pockets and even introduced our own pop up bar this year in collaboration with local brewery Newbarns.
“Our first year in over 23 years without our main venue Teviot Row House has, of course, seen changes to our capacity and amount of shows we could programme, so we’re really looking forward to returning for Fringe 2025. Next year will be Gilded Balloon’s 40th anniversary and we have some hugely exciting plans in the works for returning to a refreshed and refurbished Teviot Row House.
“We’re also so proud to have crowned Glaswegian Alana Jackson as this year’s outstanding winner of So You Think You’re Funny? alongside Ciara O’Connor and Ayo Adenekan in second and third place. From 597 applicants to 10 finalists, it was a fiercely competitive year and, as ever, SYTYF? is a real bright spark for us as comedy producers with so many talented newcomers on the scene.
“However, in a time of constant cuts facing the arts scene, the future of competitions like SYTYF? are precarious and it’s harder than ever for new artists to make their way in the industry. We’d like to say a huge thanks to everybody who has supported our artists this year by buying a ticket to their shows this Fringe – it’s more important than ever to support artists where you can, and we’ll see you next year for a pinktastic celebration back at Teviot!”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
