Edinburgh Festival Fringe announces partnership with TikTok 

TikTok and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society have announced that the entertainment platform will become the festival’s first official Virtual Stage Partner this summer.

The performing arts festival, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, will livestream performances to a global audience on TikTok from across the festival’s venues throughout August and beyond.

An Edinburgh Festival Fringe Hub on the app will host all the festival content in one place for TikTok users to access.

Meanwhile, two digital screens on the Royal Mile will be used to showcase TikTok content, allowing festivalgoers to discover emerging comedy, music and theatre created by users of the app.

TikTok will also co-host the Official Taster Stage with the Fringe. Selected TikTok creators will be invited to the festival to perform live and TikTok will also run workshops for Fringe artists and performers on how to use the virtual platform to reach larger audience and test new material.

“TikTok's expertise in the creative spaces make it the perfect partner for our Official Virtual Stage,” said Shona McCarthy, CEO at the Edinburgh Fringe Society.

“We look forward to joining artists together with TikTok's unique virtual creativity, bringing the Fringe to a new global audience. For the Fringe, it’s about offering anyone a stage and everyone a seat, and this partnership will allow us to offer this to audiences wherever they are in the world.”
 
James Stafford, Head of Partnerships & Community at TikTok, described the festival as “a unique moment that brings together emerging artists in a celebration of creativity”. 

“Our partnership places TikTok's global community at the heart of the iconic festival, and celebrates our joint belief that creativity is for everyone,” he said.