The Edinburgh Festival Fringe opened Friday for its 79th edition, with more than 4,200 shows from 74 countries scheduled across the Scottish capital through August 31.
The same day, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society opened Fringe Central, a permanent year-round home on Infirmary Street in the Old Town. The building was inaugurated by Culture Minister Ian Murray, Fringe Society Chief Executive Tony Lankester, Fringe Society Chair Benny Higgins, City of Edinburgh Council Leader Jane Meagher and Councillor Margaret Graham.
The Fringe Society said Fringe Central will offer artists support in developing and marketing their shows, guidance on career development and connections to the industry, and will serve as a base for the Society's own team. It credited the UK government, the City of Edinburgh Council and other funders for making the project possible.
The 2026 programme spans cabaret and variety, children's shows, comedy, dance, physical theatre, circus, music, musicals, opera, spoken word and theatre.
The Fringe is an open-access festival with no selection process, meaning anyone who can secure a venue may perform. It began in 1947 when eight theatre companies arrived uninvited at the first Edinburgh International Festival and staged work alongside it.
In 2025 the festival ran 25 days and sold more than 2.6 million tickets, with 53,942 performances of 3,893 shows across 301 venues and participants from 68 countries.
The Edinburgh International Festival, the curated programme the Fringe originally grew alongside, runs concurrently. Its 2026 theme is All Rise, marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.