Festival moves towards a paperless and cashless future - Karen Koren

On Tuesday, eight Edinburgh Festival Fringe producing venues came together to launch Edfest.com, a new marketing website to sell tickets and give audiences a better experience when searching for good shows to go and see.
Arielle Souma, Russell Arathoon and Katherine Kenway - AAA Stand-up Late at Gilded BalloonArielle Souma, Russell Arathoon and Katherine Kenway - AAA Stand-up Late at Gilded Balloon
Arielle Souma, Russell Arathoon and Katherine Kenway - AAA Stand-up Late at Gilded Balloon

It will provide audiences with a central hub for easy booking, information and reviews from ‘the best curated shows on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’.

Edfest.com provides a centralised booking and reviews hub providing access to 1160 shows across comedy, dance, theatre and music at 140 venues, featuring 32 different countries. The curating venues compromise of Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, Assembly, Dance Base, Just the Tonic, Summerhall, Underbelly and ZOO.

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The new Edfest.com website has been designed to give audiences a more bespoke experience, allowing them to search and find shows they will love. Companies and venues will be encouraged to review shows and share with their friends. The new experience gives ticket buyers a more rounded view of what’s on offer, replacing the word of mouth and poster flyer experience.

In a sustainable future, paper leaflets and posters will become fewer and the beloved Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance and Underbelly brochure will be no more. Edfest.com will take over as principle marketing tool.

We’re also aiming for a ticketless system at the box office – as QR codes and mobile phones take over. We will still have an individual paper brochure at each of our venues, but it’s time to move with the times and become as paperless as we can.

Just as cash is not used so much – we will have “no cash” box office counters to make life easier for the public. We will still have cash counters for those who prefer. This will be the case at the bars and food franchises – very little cash will be used.

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We are all working very hard to bring the best of entertainment to the Fringe this August. We do hope that the public will embrace this new website and use it as much as possible. We will still be selling tickets through our own websites and through the Fringe Society. However, we hope we can prove that Edfest.com will be the better experience for discovering the best shows.

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