Performer union Equity has announced what it calls a “landmark collaborative partnership” with the organisation behind the Brighton Fringe, which is “designed to celebrate the vital role of fringe festivals as champions of grassroots talent” while also “actively raising standards in fringe theatre”.

Welcoming the partnership, Equity’s Milly Arnott says “gigging performers and artists working in fringe theatre face some of the most precarious conditions in this sector and so ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our members in the workplace is an absolute priority”.

The new agreement between Equity and the Brighton Fringe, she adds, “marks a major step forward in raising standards and strengthening protections for performers across the UK fringe festival sector”.

Fringe festivals usually operate on an open-access model, meaning any performer or producer who can find a performance space in wherever the festival takes place during the festival’s dates can be part of the official programme.

There will usually be a central organisation that coordinates things and runs a central box office, and the venues that host the shows provide key infrastructure, but each show is its own enterprise.

A lot of the shows will be produced by the performers themselves – who will then contract with the venue they are using – while other shows will be presented by a production company or promoter which is the financial risk taker, or a venue might basically act as a producer of a show in some scenarios.

But even when a producer, promoter or venue is involved on the commercial side, shows still often operate on particularly tight budgets.

This can make performing and producing at fringe festivals as stressful and tiring as it is enjoyable and fulfilling, and concerns have been expressed over the years regarding the working conditions at some festivals and venues.

From an Equity perspective, it also means that – with many fringe festival shows – there isn’t quite the same producer/performer relationship that is more common elsewhere in the theatre industry.

And the organisations that oversee each fringe festival – like the Brighton Fringe company – can only encourage best practice within their community of producers and performers.

But the Equity partnership with Brighton Fringe will formalise that process while also providing useful resources. Or, in the words of the union, it creates “a collaborative framework to support participating artists and venues in implementing and achieving best practice”.

Equity continues, “central to the partnership is the provision of accessible, templated resources to help venues operate safely and transparently”, and “Brighton Fringe will work closely with participating venues to ensure robust policies and procedures are in place for registration”.

The agreement also “clearly sets out how Equity and Brighton Fringe will work together to ensure all performers, creative team members, and stage management are protected at a producing level under employment law”. And it also “ensures that everyone involved in a production is properly credited for their work”.

Brighton Fringe’s Executive Director Jonathan Maydew, says the agreement with Equity “will empower and support the artists and venues who make Brighton’s fringe festival such a special and transformative space”.

“Fringe festivals play a vital role in the UK’s arts ecology”, he goes on. “They’re where so much new talent finds its feet and where bold new work is developed and platformed. This agreement ensures we can provide the collaborative guidance and support to make that happen: giving venues the resources to do it even better, and artists the confidence and security to focus on making their best work”.

Arnott adds that she hopes the partnership with Brighton Fringe can be repeated with other fringe festivals, concluding, “We encourage other fringe festivals to reach out to Equity about using similar agreements”.