Aim

Supporting the highly skilled freelance theatre and live event specialists whose livelihoods have been devastated by the pandemic in 2020.

A festival of freelancers

By this time of year, the weeks of work to build venues, lay artificial turf and install the colourful array of show posters would be building up to a frenzy, as our first shows of the 2020 Festival begin. There would be an unparalleled buzz as people gather in Edinburgh for the largest arts and entertainment party in the world. I'm part of a small team of 12, which would have bloomed to nearly 900 individuals bringing it all together and supporting more than 1,000 performers and production staff.  

The impact of a lost summer in the city is immense on the incredible and diverse range of people who rely on it to support their livelihood, whether they be local, national or international artists, production staff, or the small army that make up our front of house, box office and catering teams, in addition to the countless suppliers that help us create this magical festival. 

In order to survive this incredibly challenging time we need your help to support a number of extremely valuable causes and help us make a difference this August:

• A hardship fund for the band of highly skilled freelance creators whose livelihoods have been devastated by the events of 2020.
• Supporting the artists who have lost the opportunity to put on work this summer.
• Ensuring the survival of Assembly Roxy, our year-round Edinburgh venue which is run by our sister charity Assembly Theatre.

What I'm going to do

It's August and we are missing the buzz of the festival, working with brilliant people, running around and working all the hours. Some of my colleagues are cycling, hula hooping, doing all sorts each day this month to raise money for this fundraiser.  

Being a music lover, I'm trying to get to grips with DJing and hope to bring some motivational playlists to them and you throughout the month.  I am certainly no good yet, but hopefully by the end of the month will be a little better, and maybe will even be able to beat match!  Just chuffed to be doing something with my evenings and to have worked out how to record in Traktor.  I'll try to do as many as I can while the Fringe would have been on and practice, practice, practice.

Think singer songwriters for through the week, something a little more upbeat around the weekend and wait for it, there may even be an Assembly xmas night out karaoke special. 

Check out the mix cloud page here https://www.mixcloud.com/carolinefraser/ where I'll be uploading some tunes to keep you going, the first short mix is up. All feedback very welcome, hey maybe someone can give me some tips.

Assembly Roxy and year round theatre

2020 would have been my 15th Festival – I started working with Assembly Festival in 2006 in the press office and returned in 2014 to run the Assembly Roxy with Assembly Theatre.  This building is key to Edinburgh's year round arts provision and I've been so lucky to work with some incredible people that come through the doors, whether it's for a theatre show, rehearsal or event-the numerous talented staff and visiting companies that we've welcomed over the years-there are so many of them.

Any funds raised will go towards helping freelancers and artists and this is a chance to give something back, especially at this time when we're most missing going to see a live act/show/performance.

We also need to make sure the Roxy continues post Covid and we want to try and secure a future for the Checkpoint building too. There are always numerous issues and costs associated with running old buildings and we want to be here for local artists and companies for years to come.

Assembly Roxy is run by Assembly Theatre which has charitable status and the sister company of Assembly Festival. We've made good progress over the last few years in our spaces, working with community groups, theatre makers and touring companies.
We need to make sure we're able to continue to do this going forward and support these people along the way.

Any donations are appreciated.  Thank you very much.

This project successfully funded on 3rd September 2020