Festival Trading jobs

Background

The idea at the heart of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is simple: anyone with a desire to perform and a venue willing to host them is welcome. No individual or committee determines who can or cannot perform at the Fringe.

It all began in 1947 with eight companies – six of them from Scotland – taking a risk, turning up uninvited and performing on the ‘fringe’ of the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival. Over 75 years later, the Fringe has grown to become one of the greatest platforms for creative freedom in the world, second only to the Olympics in terms of global ticketed events. In 2024, 3,745 shows took place in 296 venues across Edinburgh.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society was founded by artists to nurture and uphold the Fringe's values of inclusivity, experimentation and imagination. We exist to support, advise and encourage everyone who wants to participate in the Fringe, provide information and assistance to audiences, and celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world.

During the Fringe, the Street Events team manages vibrant street performance areas in the heart of the city. These spaces become the focus of the carnival atmosphere that takes over Edinburgh in August, with thousands of locals and tourists mingling to see the spectacular acts that travel from all over the world to entertain the crowds.

The Street Events Stewards are on the front line of the biggest event of the Edinburgh Festivals. Working directly with performers and the public, the Street Events team will help with setting up and closing down the event each day, greet performers and make sure the performance areas are running to time, help to manage crowds to keep thoroughfares open, keep the event areas clean and free of litter and help to create a safe and fun environment for all the events users.

The Street Events team consists of the Street Events Project Manager, Administrator, Coordinators, a team of stewards, and a contracted security team. The management team works closely with City of Edinburgh Council, Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service to manage the event safely.

Role and responsibilities

You will perform a wide range of duties, including but not limited to:

• working with performers to manager various pitches and performance areas across the event space, ensuring shows run to time
• facilitating public safety in the Street Events area in line with safety plans
• managing crowds, keeping thoroughfares open and preventing overcrowding
• working with performers, police, security, business owners and the public in maintaining a safe and dynamic performance and trading area
• dealing with public enquiries
• report daily pitch-side data to management
• picking litter to keep event area clean and tidy

Person specification

Essential

• Experience of working with the public in a fast-paced environment whilst maintaining confidence and sensitivity.
• Effective communication skills; tact, diplomacy, assertiveness and confidence when dealing with crowds.
• Excellent time keeping and the ability to prioritise tasks in an effective way.
• Ability to use initiative in a busy environment.
• Ability to work in all weather conditions, be on your feet all day and remain helpful and happy.
• Knowledge and understanding of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Desirable

• First Aid qualification (with valid certificate).
• Experience of event/stage/festival management/artist liaison.
• An understanding of manual handling techniques.

Rate of pay and benefits

The rate of pay for this post is £13.45 per hour.

Normal working hours are 45 hours a week, worked in eight and a half-hour shifts with a one-hour unpaid break. Shifts are worked between the hours of 09:45 and 19:15, six days a week across Monday to Sunday. Your working hours will be organised according to a rota system which the Society will notify you of as far in advance as possible.

There will also be a compulsory training day on Friday 31 July, which will be paid to you in your first weeks' pay.

We are a flexible working employer and therefore are happy to discuss flexible working at any stage of the application process. We are unable to offer remote working for this position. We can offer varied start and finish times and core hours with flexibility around them.

We use positive action under section 159 of the Equality Act in relation to disability or race. This means that if we have two candidates of equal merit in our process, we will seek to take forward the Deaf, disabled, Black, Asian or ethnically diverse candidate in order to diversify our staff team.

The Fringe are active members of the Festivals Edinburgh Sustainability Working group and include climate action as one of the headline targets in the Fringe development goals. As part of the commitments of this work, all Fringe staff members are expected to assist with the Fringe Society’s environmental goals and consider these in all elements of your work.

We are also committed to maintaining the open-access policy of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all sectors of the community. We are also proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and aim to successfully employ and retain disabled people and those with health conditions. We expect employees to support these commitments and to assist in their realisation.