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Dateline: 22nd January, 2007
Gudgin Leaves the Fringe Paul Gudgin, director of the Edinburgh Fringe since 1999, is stepping down. He is leaving to produce a variety of festival and event-related projects both in the UK and internationally. Baroness Elizabeth Smith, Chair of the Fringe Board of Directors said, “I’m personally very sad that Paul is leaving the Fringe but after eight years I recognise that he needs to explore other opportunities. Paul has contributed an extraordinary amount to the Fringe during his time in office. The growth in ticket sales, performing companies and new venues has been headline news for many years. It’ll be a huge loss for me personally but I’m sure Paul will make a fantastic contribution to any organisation he works for. I wish him all the luck in the world.” “It’s been a great privilege to run the world’s largest arts festival for the past eight years and I’m pleased that as an organisation we’ve passed some impressive milestones and seen such exponential growth. But it’s time for me to move on,” Gudgin said. “While I’m leaving at a time of strength for the Fringe, there are still many challenges that my successor will face but fortunately they’ll also be inheriting a wonderful job and the opportunity to work with a fantastic group of people from the Fringe staff and board to the venue managers, performers and other festivals.” In his time as director, the number of tickets sold grew from 860,357 to 1,531,606 and ticket income from £6,218,348 to £13,735,041. He began his career in 1986 as Concerts Manager for the Aldeburgh Foundation. He was appointed manager of the Bury St Edmunds Festival in 1989. Over the five years he spent there, he extended the event from a small cluster of productions over two weekends into a busy sixteen-day showcase described by The Times as “one of the best small Festivals in Britain”. He moved to Edinburgh in 1995 when he became General Manager of the Queen’s Hall and was appointed Director of the Fringe in April 1999. Paul Gudgin will remain with the Fringe until the launch of the 2007 programme on Thursday 7th June. It is anticipated that the post of Director of the Fringe will be advertised in the next few weeks with interviews taking place in the Spring. Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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