Target reached!
HOLD UP! We've just raised £7,500? That has absolutely blown our mind. Honestly we s...
Become a Greenside Hero
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Aim
Your donation will safeguard Greenside's future. Plus we'll donate 10% of your donation to Fringe Society's central relief fund.
We’re doing all we can to safeguard Greenside but we need your help.
1. Introduction
2. Where are we now?
3. What do we need your support for?
4. What you get in Return
INTRODUCTION
In March 2020 in collaboration with Festivals Edinburgh we made the heartbreaking decision that Greenside 2020 would not go ahead as planned. Like everyone the thought of cancelling the world’s largest arts festival, the world’s largest collection of art and culture seemed unthinkable. However pretty much everything thats happened so far in 2020 has seemed unthinkable.
The truth is we never (ever) could have predicted or mitigated for what has happened, a complete halt to our operation and the freezing of any opportunity to generate income for a year was never in our wildest nightmares a scenario that we thought could happen… But it did and here we are.
We're asking if you can donate the cost of a ticket to help Greenside get through this time. Plus we'll donate 10% of your donation to the Fringe Society's central relief fund for Artists & Venues. You can find out more about the Fringe's relief fund here
The level of UK Government support for Fringe Venues thus far has been woefully short. Even the glimmer of hope recently from the Government around the £1.5 billion support fund for Arts Organisations seems to be mainly focused towards ’the crown jewels’ such as large nationally recognised organisations with a permanent building and to a large extent we do understand. That does not mean however that we do not need support.
The whole cultural tapestry is interwoven, the Fringe and the transformative experience it offers to creatives is an invaluable part of the Cultural landscape. . The Fringe gives artist the platform to try, to fail and to to be found. In many ways the experimental training ground that is Fringe Theatre is the bedrock of the whole industry. We can pull no punches here.. the Fringe as we know it is under threat and sadly Greenside is too.
We are proud to have upheld the same philosophy we have had since day one when we had one studio and just four shows a day. The Festival should always remain an open platform for anyone to perform; irrespective of experience. Greenside has remained an open platform venue ever since. Almost 2,000 shows have graced our stages over the last sixteen years which translates into 10's of thousands of individual performances with 1000's of performers; many of whom had their first break at Greenside.
In the crowded, competitive and commercial landscape that the Edinburgh festival fringe is, we believe venues like Greenside are essential to the whole ecosystem. We have fought long and hard over sixteen years to become the Venue provider that we are today and we are determined to ensure we are here providing that infamous Greenside service and a much needed open platform for the next sixteen years and beyond...This is where you come in, we need you to be a Greenside Hero and also help other fringe artists at the same time.
Where are we now?
In many ways the Festival cancelling when it did happened at the very worst time it could… why? We had been working on Greenside 2020 since September 2019. For over six months we had worked every day on the immense planning required on bringing together 160 acts from around the Globe. We had been paying towards the 2020 festival since September 2019.
The only way we are even solvent now is by the immense loyality of our Greenside Family of 2020, those wondeful acts who should have been on our stages in August. We received the most outstanding flood of support and offers of help. We were utterly overwhelmed by the amount of Greensiders who have stuck with us. We are still walking such a precarious tightrope of trying to secure our survival and trying to help out our fellow artists who have been hit so hard. Our determination to survive into 2021 is as much for them as anyone else.
What do we need your support for?
The only way we have managed to even consider our survival is by planning towards 2021 with a dramatically cut budget. For Greenside to break even each year we have to sell at least 90% of our space to cover the immense overheads we have. In 2021 our budget is funded soley with the final payment that were due from our 2020 Greensiders and nothing more. Greenside has no private backers, no public or private funding and no sponsorship.
Spill the Tea, how bad is it? Our 2021 budget currently has a £120,000 black hole.
Tara and Darren have been crunching numbers, modelling, writing and re-writing budgets to achieve the real perfect juggling act; we still need to provide a wonderful space for our acts to perform in 2021, we still need to pay our suppliers, pay our staff the living wage right through to the boring things of paying for our bins (which is far more expensive than you would think!), licences, insurance, the list is endless.
Transparency
Last year alone we spent over £110,000 on paying every single member of our team (irrespective of age) the living wage during the six weeks of the lead up to, the Festival, and the get out. One main way we are looking to plug the £120,000 deficit is by reducing our team in 2021 by at least half, don't worry; we're still absolutely committed to our Living Wage pledge and will pay every single member of our reduced team the Living Wage irrespective of their age. So many of our wonderful people who relied on us for their summer employment will no longer have that option. Many of our workers at Greenside are at the beginning of their careers where they gain invaluable experience that acts as a springboard into the industry. It saddens us that we will not be able to offer that experience to as many people in the future. We anticipate using money raised from this Crowdfunder to directly increase the amount of people in our team. The money you donate will be going straight back into the industry by employing talented freelancers, and workers who are the backbone of the Arts and who sadly so often have been the least supported during this crisis.
- By running our venues in August we have the opportunity to run retail operations that bring in much needed income. This income goes straight back into the pot to for the following year. The cancellation of this years Fringe has reduced this retail income to zero.
- We have halted all our freelancers who usually work with us during the run up and during August. Countless talented, loyal individuals who would have had much needed income from us in 2020 and 2021 will now not.
- Our two full time members of staff have taken a 40% reduction for at least 12 months.
- All ’non essential’ spend has had to be completely halted. Really difficult decisions have had to be made.
- All Greenside improvement plans and upgrades have been shelved.
We have taken drastic steps already to help us plug that shortfall and we know that with even more deep cuts we will, by the skin of our teeth make it to Fringe 2021 but there will be a huge cost to that.
Your donation will go someway to fill that £120,000 black hole - it will enable us to do more in 2021, employ more people, secure the survival of our business and ensure that we can be a big shining green light of inclusive Fringe theatre for many years to come. Plus we'll donate 10% of your donation to the Fringe Society's central relief fund for Fringe Artists & Venues
We’re not expecting to plug the 120k gap with this Crowdfunder, our expectations are on the floor! We know that we are all facing so many difficult and heart breaking financial decisions especially all our wonderful Creatives who support Greenside. We know you will also have so many other cultural organisations that you want to support, please; only make a donation if you are able.
Even if this Crowdfunder enables us to hire one extra member of staff or bring back our valued freelancers during the build up to August it will have been worth it.
What you get in Return
You’ll obviously get that warm fuzzy feeling of knowing you have done something lovely but we’re also offering a series of REWARDS for donations;
£9 - AJ Bell Fringe on Friday – a 60-minute Fringe variety show and fundraiser
This new digital show will stream every Friday during the Fringe (07, 14, 21 and 28 August) and will showcase a snapshot of the festival across a range of genres, including comedy, cabaret, dance and music. Each show will feature nine different acts and will go out live at 9pm. The full line-up for each show will be announced the Wednesday before the Friday broadcast.
The first show will be hosted by Suzi Ruffell, with Nigel Ng, Jayde Adams and Courtney Act also confirmed to host later editions.
Further acts confirmed so far include Abandoman, Magical Bones, Daniel Sloss, Fern Brady, Briefs, Bernie Dieter, Craig Hill, Michael Odewale and Sadia Azmat.
* The unique link and access code will be emailed to you directly by crowdfunded follow your purchase..
£10 - Donate the Cost of a ticket
⭐ The average cost of a ticket at the festival is £10, if you were planning on checking out a show with us this year, this would be a great way of helping.
£15 - Get yourself on our Hero Wall!
⭐ Your name included on our ‘Greenside Heros’ virtual supporters wall
£30 - Hero Wall AND Super Special Raffle
⭐ Your name included on our ‘Greenside Heros’ virtual supporters wall
⭐Entry into the Raffle to win x1 Greenside Emerald Hero Bundle
£50 - Greenside Hero - T-shirt Bundle with Hero Wall AND Raffle
⭐ Your name included on our ‘Greenside Heros’ virtual supporters wall
⭐Entry into the Raffle to win x1 Greenside Emerald Hero
⭐A wonderful Greenside Hero T-Shirt (Before anyone say's it.... YES! this design is shit, Darren did it on paint... the final design will be MUCH better.. promise...)
£75 - Greenside Green Hero Bundle
⭐Your name included on our ‘Greenside Heros’ virtual supporters wall
⭐Entry into the Raffle to win x1 Greenside Emerald Hero Bundle
⭐ A wonderful Greenside Hero T-Shrit
⭐A limited edition Greenside green hero card and lanyard issued at Fringe 2021 - Let the world see that you're a hero!
£150 - Greenside Silver Hero Bundle
⭐ Your name included on our ‘Greenside Heros’ virtual supporters wall
⭐Entry into the Raffle to win x1 Greenside Emerald Hero Bundle
⭐ A wonderful Greenside Hero T-Shrit
⭐A limited edition Greenside silver hero card and lanyard issued at Fringe 2021 - Let the world see that you're a hero!
⭐ A Limited edition Greenside Pin Badge
⭐ x2 tickets to our exclusive Hero reception at Fringe 2021
£300 - Greenside Gold Hero Bundle
⭐ Your name included on our ‘Greenside Heros’ virtual supporters wall
⭐Entry into the Raffle to win x1 Greenside Emerald Hero Bundle
⭐A wonderful Greenside Hero T-Shrit
⭐Limited Edition Gold hero card and lanyard issued at Fringe 2021 - Let the world see that you're a hero!
⭐ A Limited edition Greenside Pin Badge
⭐ x2 tickets to our exclusive Hero reception at Fringe 2021
⭐ Your smiling face on our Greenside Golden Hero wall of Fame displayed in our venues.
⭐ £30 credit to spend at Greenside credit to spend at our bar or Greenside 2021 shows
£500 - Greenside Emerald Hero Bundle
⭐ Your name included on our ‘Greenside Heros’ virtual supporters wall
⭐ A wonderful Greenside Hero T-Shrit
⭐The most exclusive Greenside Platinum hero card and lanyard issued at Fringe 2021 - Let the world see that you're a VERY Special hero!
⭐ x2 tickets to our exclusive Hero reception at Fringe 2021
⭐ A Limited edition Greenside Pin Badge
⭐ Your smiling face on our Greenside Golden Hero wall of Fame displayed in our venues.
⭐ Dinner with Darren and Tara in Edinburgh (most likely at City Cafe.. don't get too excited!)
⭐ Producer credit for our 2021 programme
⭐ A cocktail named in your honour sold across our bars.
⭐ £50 credit to spend at Greenside credit to spend at our bar or Greenside 2021 shows
PHEW.... THE END! If you got this far well bloody done. We think we've said HERO as many times as this wonderful lady did.....
This project successfully funded on 31st August 2020