Exclusive:Finances of running Fringe venue 'precarious' warn Gilded Balloon bosses as flagship Teviot reopens

However, mother and daughter team Karen and Katy Koren, directors of Gilded Balloon, warned the revamped Teviot venue had a smaller capacity than pre-renovation, revealing they had sold £50,000 less in tickets than the same time in 2023 due to the reduced number of tickets on sale.

The Korens called for Fringe performers to be exempt from Edinburgh’s tourist tax, which they said was pricing out performers from the event and warned the lack of affordability was “changing [the Fringe] in plain sight”.

Katy Koren said: “I’m extremely worried about this year, because the costs are out of control. Accommodation costs, infrastructure costs, all of our supplier costs have gone up. At the same time, the cost of our tickets as not gone up at the same rate. The balance between income and expenditure has never been more precarious.

She cited a 16 per cent rise in haulage costs, while accommodation costs for Gilded Balloon-produced artists at Edinburgh University’s Pollock Halls has risen from £1,500 for a single room with a shared bathroom for the month to £1,650.

“We rent two of those, minimum [for our performers],” said Katy. “They’ll be saying the same thing, their costs have gone up. But the city needs to subsidise what they’ve got and artists coming to the city, subsidise their accommodation.”

Gilded Balloon is the only one of the big four Fringe venues which has a year-round headquarters in Edinburgh. It also operates the Gilded Saloon, a pub and event venue opposite Bristo Square which it opened last year.

Teviot reopened as a student union in March, after a two and a half year refurbishment. The building, which is run by Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA), was due to be unveiled in spring of 2025, in time for last year’s festival, but was blighted by delays.

Gilded Balloon, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2025, took on temporary space at Appleton Tower during last year’s Fringe in place of its Teviot performance spaces. In 2024, Teviot’s closure forced Gilded Balloon to operate a significantly-reduced programme at just two venues, Patter House on Chambers Street and the Museum.

The Korens said the capacity at Teviot venues had reduced since the refurbishment and revealed Gilded Balloon had raised concerns with EUSA about the impact of the change to the building. In the Debating Hall main venue within Teviot, the number of seats has dropped from 350 three years ago to 307 now.

Karen said: “At Teviot, the capacity has gone down, which is a huge thing. Obviously the capacity of the overall building is the same, but the space we are able to convert into theatres is not. We lost three of our original performance spaces and we have managed to add three, but they are smaller capacity.”

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Katy added: “At this time in 2023, last time we were in Teviot, we had sold £50,000 more tickets then we have now and that is due to the capacity, to us not having as many seats. The shows are selling well, but the rooms have gone down in capacity. I think it has changed a lot more than we had anticipated. We had thought we could replicate a lot of things, but it is our first year back and now we’re in, you can see how things could move around and possibly fit.

“Hopefully it will be a different picture at the end of the Fringe. This is our strongest programme in some time. The artists are really excited about being back in, back in Teviot. Being in the centre of everything again is just exciting and I’m really proud.”

She said a trend in recent years for artists to cut short their Edinburgh run to one or two weeks - or to perform in Edinburgh every two or three years rather than annually - had changed the pattern of the Fringe and created a “jigsaw puzzle” for venue owners.

The Gilded Balloon will still be announcing new shows up until the last minute amid the scrabble to fill spaces. “That has always happened, but not on this scale,” Katy added.

Commercial sponsorship deals have all but dried up, with Gilded Balloon forced to launch a fundraising arm, Gilded Futures, to support performers. Comedian Tim Minchin and his wife Sarah donated £10,000 to launch the Gilded Balloon Show Support Fund, helping five emerging solo artists cover financial barriers like travel, accommodation, and marketing

Edinburgh City Council’s visitor levy came into force earlier this month, putting a five per cent tax on overnight accommodation. Fringe venues have complained that the funding pot from the levy has not been allocated to support the festival.

“The artists shouldn’t be paying that,” said Katy. “Artists coming to the city for the Fringe should be exempt because they can’t afford it.”

She added: “The way people interact with Edinburgh is already changing, but because it’s happening relatively slowly, no-one is doing anything about it. People don’t realise that there’s less quality coming, or fewer people coming. People don’t realise it’s changing in plain sight and it will become less relevant for artists.

“What the Fringe has always been about is bringing people together in one place and if it becomes too expensive, then it is not that hub of creativity, then people will start looking elsewhere.”

Karen, who founded Gilded Balloon in 1985 and admits she is the “risk taker” in her partnership with Katy, is optimistic for the future.

“We don’t want to make it a sob story, because we are still fighting and still enthusiastic,” she said.