For the first time in twenty years, Underbelly has had to close its doors to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The purple cow is deflated, the Cowgate remains a carpark and our hubs and bars are silenced.
Each year artists, performers, producers, technicians, stage managers, lighting, sound and set designers, to name but a few, spend months carefully cultivating exciting, innovative, ground-breaking and daring work that will be performed tirelessly for 25 days in a row. Often this gruelling month of blood sweat and tears, launches careers, shines light on new stars and shakes up the cultural world as we know it.
Head here to donate to Underbelly’s artists fund
For many the cancellation of the 2020 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the restrictions placed around live performance will pose serious challenges financially and creatively to those working in this field and will no doubt force some to look elsewhere. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a place for everyone and everything, it’s important and necessary and it is vital we retain the artists that make it what it is.
220 Underbelly shows have been lost this year and countless numbers of artists and those working behind the scenes have been placed in dire financial situations, and that accounts for only a small percentage of the overall Fringe. Without their input into the creative world the cultural landscape for the future will change forever.
We would love to support and help everyone but what we feel we should do at this time is to support those artists that were due to perform at the Underbelly this year. So we are asking you to help us support these artists to get through this most difficult of all times and more importantly keep them working in an industry that needs and values them. Without them there is no Underbelly, there is no Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Head here to donate to Underbelly’s artists fund
WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?
DONATE! No matter how big or small, 100% of all donations received will go towards Underbelly artists that were due to perform this year. If you’ve ever visited the Underbelly and enjoyed the incredible array of shows on offer then these artists desperately need your help to ensure this can continue. By donating the cost of a ticket, £12, you can help artists bridge the loss of actual ticket sales they would have hoped to receive this year. If you can stretch further and donate more we have lots of moo-vellous and exciting rewards on offer, so scroll through and pick the one that grabs your eye. Anything and everything is gratefully received.
WHO ARE UNDERBELLY?
Underbelly is a live entertainment company that began its life at the Edinburgh Fringe in the year 2000. Opening its door with just three shows, it is now one of the biggest venues on the Fringe, presenting and supporting over 200 shows each year. In 2009 the Underbelly Festival in London was born, one of London’s first pop up theatre spaces and bringing a taste of Edinburgh to the capital for six months of every year. When COVID-19 hit and the gates came down, we had programmed over 300 shows into both our London festival and the Edinburgh Fringe. After countless conversations with artists we are only too aware of the worry and anxiety that this situation has placed upon a whole community and the support they now need in order to survive.
WHAT EDINBURGH MEANS TO US
Edinburgh is where it all started, in a dingy cave, twenty years ago. It’s our life blood, our spiritual home, a place where genuinely anything can happen and incredible memories have been made. To not be there this year is heart-breakingly devastating but it is also a time for reflection and understanding that for this year, we must step back and put the safety of others first. Our deepest sympathies go out to all of those have been affected by Covid 19 and our most heartfelt thank moo’s to those on the frontline who have been working tirelessly to keep our country moving.
Thank you for your support. We will see you next year.
The Underbelly Team.