Arts Column – Is Fringe work experience worth it?

If you are a young budding creative then going up to the Edinburgh Fringe can seem like a really good idea. After all, you’re effectively going to a city that is about to completely devote itself to the arts for a whole month, which means that you should have the chance to see a variety of different shows and also meet lots of like-minded people.

Having said that, for many students this is a costly adventure, and a lot of people find themselves looking for a job on the festival circuit, but is working at the Fringe a positive experience or just an advanced form of slave labour? Before we go any further it seems sensible to point out that employers are aware that a lot of students really want to go to the Edinburgh Fringe. It is all too easy to get sucked into the enthusiasm of going to the festival and forget the fact that the job you have applied for may not actually specify how long you are going to work for, or whether or not your expenses will be paid either.

One Warwick Student that I spoke to, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the main reason for getting a job had to be “Simply because you love theatre and art. You’re unlikely to get paid, you’ll be exhausted and you’ll be living off a tight budget in digs so you need to love what you’re doing it for.” So if you were planning on seeing lots of shows whilst earning a large amount of cash then please consider yourself forewarned.

Having said that, the Edinburgh Fringe is definitely still one of the best places to see emerging companies produce innovative work, and there is real joy in coming across a truly wonderful show that you know you would never normally have got the chance to see. A crummy room in some truly dire accommodation can be balanced out by great conversations with other aspiring artists, and the chance to experience the buzz of what is, arguably, the greatest arts festival in the world. So on balance perhaps it is best to look at it this way: if you love theatre then some of the more boring jobs can be made to seem worthwhile, but it is still probably best to be clear about just what it is that you are signing up for.