The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (commonly known as The Fringe) started in 1947 when 8 theatre groups turned up uninvited to the first Edinburgh International Festival (EIF). Over the years, more perfomers came to Edinburgh to perform on the outskirts of the EIF and by 1958 the Festival Fringe Society was formed to provide information, a central box office and a published programme of all the Fringe shows. Central to the society’s constitution was the policy that there should be no artistic vetting from the society. Which still holds true to this very day.

The Fringe caters for the biggest names in showbiz to the performers in the street and covers all sorts of art forms such as theatre, comedy, children’s shows, dance, physical theatre, musicals, operas, all genres of music, exhibitions, and events. In 2008, hundreds of groups participated in putting on 2,088 different shows with a total of 31,320 performances in 247 venues.

http://www.edfringe.com/