Nouveau Riche highlights racism at EdFringe as part of open letter

Nouveau Riche has highlighted incidents of racism experienced by its company at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 as part of an open letter calling for a radical overhaul of the event to reflect the diversity of wider society. 

The theatre company, which won The Stage Edinburgh Award for its production of Queens of Sheba in 2018, this year presented Nicole Acquah’s CASTE-ING, which explores the issues faced by black women in the industry. 

According to Nouveau Riche, during the run of the show, the cast experienced instances of being mistaken for actors from other productions with black performers and were asked by a man interviewing them if he could call them "coloured". 

As part of its call to action, Nouveau Riche said: "Nouveau Riche expected a different festival this year, a more diverse and safer festival for our company and community. 

"We write this letter in distress and frustration to request solidarity and change in the structure of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe so that 2023 may see a festival that reflects the society we live in and work from diverse perspectives."

The organisation said in the open letter that it was surprised "little had changed in terms of diversity and safety" for black and global majority artists since it performed at the fringe in 2018, despite the wider industry taking steps towards inclusion and anti-racism. 

The letter also highlighted the festival’s increasing lack of affordability for people from working-class backgrounds due to upfront costs, such as the Fringe Society’s administration fees, venue fees and accommodation costs.

It added: "On the Edinburgh Fringe website (edfringe.com) it says: ‘Anyone who has a story to tell and a venue to perform in can put on a show here.’” This quote truly sums up the essence of the festival, there is no limitation to what graces the fringe stages. 

"However, we, artists of colour like many marginalised groups, struggle to find truth in this statement. This does not truly reflect the struggle and the financial strain for artists of colour and working-class artists to produce a show at the Edinburgh Fringe."

The open letter follows widespread criticism of the ongoing lack of diversity at the Edinburgh Fringe 2022 by artistic directors including Chinonyerem Odimba and Matthew Xia.

At the start of the fringe, Nouveau Riche held an event in collaboration with Piece of Cake Theatre Company that was designed to be a safe space for black and global majority artists to network. Piece of Cake, which held a second event later in the fringe, said that artists and some residents who attended had described the events as "desperately needed". 

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has been contacted for comment. 

Nouveau Riche’s open letter in full

This year Nouveau Riche brought CASTE-ING, written by Nicole Acquah, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It is about the issues Black women are facing in the industry. Sadly, many of these issues explored in this gig-theatre piece became a reality for our cast and team working in Edinburgh.

We were surprised that little had changed in terms of diversity and safety for Black and Global Majority artists from when we were at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018 with Queens of Sheba, written by Jessica Hagan. As the theatre industry has slowly begun taking steps in the direction of inclusion and anti-racism, it truly feels like Edinburgh Fringe 2022 is at a standstill. 

In 2018, fellow Edinburgh Fringe artists were shocked we were paying the cast of Queens of Sheba a fee to perform at the Festival. This year, we were shocked that the majority of artists are still relying on profit shares as payment for their work. This just isn’t feasible for our community.

Before the Festival even begins, there’s a host of upfront costs to cover such as administration fees, venue fees, accommodation costs (which are rapidly increasing every year) and travel. All this while artists still have rent and bills to pay at home and are relying on a profit share from ticket sales. The lack of public funding available makes it near impossible for working-class artists of colour to be included in this festival.

It doesn’t stop there, throughout the festival our company has had to work twice as hard, being not just artists but also activists. The cast has reflected feeling like the token Black women, very often performing to mostly white audiences, being mistaken for actors from other productions with Black actors, and no effort was made to learn their names. One such incident, was when a man who wanted to interview the cast, asked the cast if he could call them ‘coloured’. Although the team apologised, they used his age as an excuse for his lack of education. The constant fight and expectation to educate those around as well as performing over 20 shows has taken a toll on the team. This has been disheartening for our cast, which has tarnished their first experience of Edinburgh Fringe.

On the Edinburgh Fringe website (edfringe.com) it says: “Anyone who has a story to tell and a venue to perform in can put on a show here.” This quote truly sums up the essence of the festival, there is no limitation to what graces the fringe stages. However, we, artists of colour like many marginalised groups, struggle to find truth in this statement. This does not truly reflect the struggle and the financial strain for artists of colour and working-class artists to produce a show at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Nouveau Riche expected a different festival this year, a more diverse and safer festival for our company and community. We write this letter in distress and frustration to request solidarity and change in the structure of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe so that 2023 may see a festival that reflects the society we live in and work from diverse perspectives.