Venue 13 Returns

Aim: Venue 13 returns to the Fringe! Help relaunch this iconic space for bold, emerging performance after a 6-year hiatus.

After a six-year hiatus, Venue 13 returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2025.

First established in 1980, Venue 13 has long been a cherished space for experimental, international, and early-career artists. With a reputation for thoughtful curation, affordable access, and artist-centered support, it has hosted over four decades of bold and boundary-pushing theatre, dance, and storytelling.

Now, as the Fringe faces rising costs and uncertain infrastructure, we’re bringing Venue 13 back—with a renewed vision grounded in sustainability, equity, and care.

✨ What We’re Building

Venue 13 will relaunch at its longtime home, Harry Younger Hall, at the base of the Royal Mile. Co-produced by Toasterlab (Canada) and VKind (UK), the 2025 season will present a curated slate of in-venue, hybrid, and site-specific works.

We’re focused on:

• A flat-fee model where artists retain 100% of ticket sales
• Transparent, inclusive production services
• Technical, marketing, and administrative support
• Sustainability-first operations and XR/hybrid performance capabilities
• An integrated community space: Market 13, featuring food, crafts, and informal engagement

💸 How Your Contributions Helps

Your support helps us:

• Upgrade core technical infrastructure
• Pay staff and provide artist services
• Support housing and logistics for international companies
• Activate Market 13 as a vibrant public space
• Provide access to livestreaming and XR equipment
• Ensure accessible, equitable pricing for participating artists

🎟 Programming Highlights

Venue 13’s limited 2025 season will include:

• Climate Change Theatre Action 2025 (CCTA2025) – the culminating 10-year edition of a global theatre project responding to the climate crisis. 
• A.I. Campfire – an immersive storytelling experience blending Scottish folklore, ecological grief, and cutting-edge digital scenography.

🙌 Why It Matters

Venue 13 is returning not just as a venue, but as a platform for new ways of working—artist-led, community-oriented, and future-focused. As artists face rising barriers to participation, we’re offering a rare model of stability, care, and creative possibility.

Whether you’re an artist, an audience member, or a long-time Fringe supporter: you can help write the next chapter of Venue 13.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 26th July 2025 at 3:04am