Quality, not size is festival's focus ARTS: EDINBURGH FRINGE ARTS:

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Jul 29, 2007 | by Barry Didcock

A SHOWCASE for Scottish work, a touring selection of Fringe highlights, and a new millionpound box office - just a few of the things on incoming Fringe director Jon Morgan's to-do list as he prepares for the start of the world's biggest arts festival this week.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Sunday Herald, Morgan also gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to the capital's contentious tram scheme, revealed his role as middleman in the increasingly bitter fight over the future of the Assembly Rooms, stated that the Fringe's decade-long growth spurt is unlikely to continue, and made the traditional Fringe director's plea: more cash, please.

Morgan took up his new post on June 25, but just a month on the firefighting has already begun. Last week the London Evening Standard's comedy critic Bruce Dessau launched a broadside at the Fringe saying it was a juggernaut whose size was stifling creativity. In the same week Edinburgh-based promoter Understairs Arts announced that it had gone into liquidation, leaving 58 shows with no venue.

In the spare moments when he isn't dealing with these and other problems, Morgan is plotting the means to take the Fringe forward.

Most immediately, he plans to implement a code of best practice for Fringe venues and, while not conceding Dessau's points, admitted that size isn't everything where the Fringe is concerned.

"I don't think it's critical that the Fringe continues to grow and get bigger and bigger, " he said. "Growth isn't the only signifier of success. The quality of experience for audience and performer is what's really important, which is why a lot of what I want to focus on is how to make that experience better." Former Fringe director Paul Gudgin's admission that the Fringe didn't reach out to the whole of Scotland is high on Morgan's agenda. But rather than bring Scotland to Edinburgh, he wants to take the Fringe to Scotland.

"The Fringe is a national treasure which ought to be enjoyed nationally. It would be good if there were ways of making a mini- Fringe programme available around the country."

IDEALLY that programme would consist of the best of the Fringe's international work, he said. Meanwhile he also wants the Fringe to host a Scottish showcase.

"A lot of the foreign embassies set up showcasing events to highlight the work of their compatriots. I think Scotland should be doing the same." It's one of many issues he will raise with culture minister Linda Fabiani.

In terms of the capital's infrastructure Morgan is unfazed by the ongoing pressure to find new venues.

But he admits that the row between Assembly Theatre promoter Bill Burdett Coutts and the City of Edinburgh Council over the latter's plans to put retail outlets and a restaurant into the Assembly Rooms as part of a GBP10million revamp needs to be resolved soon.

"I would like the city council to go ahead with refurbishment of some kind because it's much needed, " he said. "But I think that has to be done in a way that allows Bill to go on doing his work at the Assembly Rooms. He has a concern that I need to address." As for the city's tram scheme, Morgan approves. Being able to cross the city more easily will push the Fringe beyond its traditionally tight city centre boundaries and into outlying communities such as Leith, Newhaven and Granton.

Any subsequent traffic reduction would also improve the festival experience for the capital's thousands of visitors.

As with his predecessor, money is one of Morgan's major issues. The Fringe Society's only direct funding is a grant of GBP47,000 from the City of Edinburgh Council but Morgan said a more realistic sum would require an increase of "hundreds of percent". "We're going to have to change our box office system for next year and for that alone I would say we would need GBP1 million." He also bemoaned the Fringe's lack of television presence; the BBC dropped its long- running Edinburgh Nights show in 2001, greatly reducing the networked coverage of the Edinburgh festival and its inability to market itself.

"I think we owe it to the venues and the artists and the promoters to really increase our marketing hit. But that needs extra money, " he said. "We can afford to advertise on bus sides in Edinburgh but we can't afford to do it anywhere else in Scotland, far less somewhere like New York." Word of mouth is effective enough in its own way, but in the era of global brands and mass marketing is it enough to maintain Edinburgh's dominance as the world's premier festival city? Jon Morgan doesn't think so.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe starts on Sunday and runs until August 27.