Edinburgh fringe festival director quits
EDINBURGH (Reuters) - The director of the Edinburgh Fringe arts festival quit on Thursday after just 18 months in charge following a 10-percent drop in ticket sales blamed on computer glitches and bad weather.
“Following discussions with the board I have now decided to step down with immediate effect,” Fringe director Jon Morgan said.
Problems in printing and delivering tickets affected some of the record 2,088 productions during the month-long Fringe that, along with the Edinburgh International Festival and Book Festival, makes up the world’s biggest annual arts festival.
Officials also blamed unseasonably heavy rain and the distraction of the Beijing Olympics for cutting into sales.
While sales were down 10 percent from last year, officials said the festival had achieved its target of more than 1.5 million sales for a third year in succession.
Nearly 19,000 performers, including more than 3,000 from abroad, took part in the Fringe which ended last weekend.
Morgan joined as director for the 2007 festival from the Manchester Contact Theatre where he had been executive producer.
“The roll of Fringe director has taken me away from my first love: producing and presenting exciting performances to audiences and my intention is to return to that more direct relationship with artists and audiences,” he said.
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