More Than a Directory: Building the Connections Behind a Sustainable Fringe
What began as an idea for a Sustainable Services Directory is evolving into something much bigger: a collaborative initiative exploring how Edinburgh's creative and climate communities can work together to make sustainable Fringe production easier.
Over recent months, conversations with artists, producers, local businesses, climate organisations and community leaders have highlighted a shared challenge. While there is growing enthusiasm for more sustainable ways of creating work, turning that ambition into practical action can be difficult without the right connections.
How do artists find a local prop hire company instead of buying new? A costume maker specialising in repair and reuse? A printer using recycled materials? Or simply a business that shares their environmental values?
These conversations have helped shape the vision for the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Services Directory (prize for anyone who can come up with a better name!) - a resource designed to connect artists with trusted local suppliers, services and organisations that support lower-impact festival production.
One development has been the formation of a new partnership with 2050 Climate Group, bringing together expertise in climate leadership, community engagement and youth participation. Alongside creative collaborators Jessie Lindsay and Bee Asha, the partnership reflects a shared belief that lasting climate action is built through collaboration, knowledge exchange and community participation. Rather than designing a resource behind closed doors, the ambition is to co-create it with the people who will use it.
The project has opened early conversations with organisations already leading important work in this space, including Future 13, whose proposed Sustainability Toolkit for Performing Companies shares a similar ambition to support more sustainable productions. While these discussions remain exploratory, they highlight the potential for practical tools and strategic guidance to complement one another, helping artists move from sustainability ambition to practical action.
At the heart of the initiative remains the Directory itself, but the Directory is the starting point rather than the destination.
The wider ambition is to build the relationships, trust and practical infrastructure that make sustainable festival production easier. By connecting artists with local businesses, creative services, climate organisations and community partners, the project aims to strengthen Edinburgh's local economy while making sustainable choices more accessible - and easier - from the earliest stages of production.
The next opportunity to shape that vision will be a Climate Café on 22 August, 10:30-12:00 at Fringe Central (6 Infirmary St, Edinburgh EH1 1LT) bringing together artists, producers, local businesses, climate practitioners and anyone interested in the future of sustainable festival-making. If you have an interest, do come along! No sign up required with tea, coffee and snacks provided.
Climate Cafés are informal, welcoming spaces designed to encourage conversation rather than present finished solutions. This event will provide an opportunity to explore how initiatives such as the Directory could develop, identify the practical challenges facing artists, and consider how stronger collaboration across the creative and climate sectors can support a more resilient Fringe.
Whether attending as an artist, venue, supplier, community organisation or simply someone passionate about climate action, everyone is invited to join the conversation.
Building a more sustainable Fringe isn't something any one organisation can achieve alone. It starts by building the local relationships, shared knowledge and practical infrastructure that enable creative communities to thrive together.