Christabel Anderson works in the Edinburgh Fringe offices as Head of Participant Services and has been coming to the festival since she was a teenager. She has worked in box offices, stage managed at venues like the Pleasance, covered front of house and worked for ThreeWeeks. Here she gives her advice for those taking shows up this year.

I head up all the advice, support and facilities for anyone taking part in the Fringe. That’s all the performers, companies, venues and people who come to the festival to look for new talent and to find work to present in their own festivals or venues - or to co-produce. It’s about supporting people who come to the Fringe and helping them make the most of their time.
 
At this stage, think about getting your show ready. Rehearse it and make it as good as it can be, always keeping in mind the peculiar situation of the Fringe and that you won’t have much time to set up. Think about the logistics.

The society operates the participant centre Fringe Central, which is next to George Square. This is where you can come and pick up their passes, get access to the centre and the workshops. We’re always available for a chat, particularly if it’s your first time in Edinburgh. We’re open for questions about anything - your show, the Fringe, the city. We’ll have guides on services and how to find things in Edinburgh as well.

It’s important to remember the festival’s a whole month; you need to think about conserving your energy and not using it all up in the first week or so. Of course when you’re really busy and in an unfamiliar city the tendency can be to not look after yourself. Edinburgh’s a small city and there are lots of opportunities to walk! There’s also the temptation just to eat from the chip shop every night, but there’s a load of healthy eating options as well.

We run the arts industry office for people who come up and want to book work. We do networking events for them - if you want to find out more about that you can contact the arts advice centre. We help people develop their shows if they want to tour. I think networking can be something people shy away from a bit.

The Fringe is an amazing opportunity to meet people and it doesn’t have to be this nasty difficult thing. It’s being open to the opportunity of meeting people. We run some more formalised opportunities - workshops where you get to speak to people leading in their field and meet potential collaborators. That’s important for people who haven’t come to the Fringe before to know. It’s about being open-minded, attending our events and talking to people there.

The best thing about Edinburgh is how exciting it is to have all of this work in one place. There’s nothing else like it, nothing on this scale and there’s nothing with quite the spirit. You never quite know what you’re going to find - that’s the best thing. There are so many people here and so many shows different from each other. A day in Edinburgh can lead you to very unexpected places.

Christabel Anderson was talking to Miriam Zendle