OPINION: Want to Have Your Show Noticed at EdFringe 2026? Start With Your Story, and Let the Media Help You Tell It

Around this time of year I’m often drafted in by friends, acquaintances, distant cousins and, frankly, anyone with my email address for a bit of help drafting a press release. It’s a task I’m happy to do – we read hundreds, if not thousands, of them every Summer as we drift towards the orbit of the world’s largest arts festival yet again this August, and I would rather they did what they were actually suppposed to. But what are pen-pushing hacks like me actually hoping to read when we open our exorbitantly-stuffed inboxes each morning? The answer might surprise you (and no, this isn’t clickbait… alright, maybe a little).

It’s what’s in between the lines that matters most. If you’re looking to get widespread media coverage, there has to be an incalculably perfect balance of context and subtext in your press release that tells us why your piece of work is distinctively unique, but not what to think about your piece of work. In essence, we (the not-so-royal we) want to help tell interesting stories about creatives making interesting art, so give me a reason to be interested.

If you’re in the mindset of thinking that ‘what’s actually interesting about my story is that I’m just trying to tell jokes / just trying to put on a play / just trying to read poems’, and you’re hoping to bag a rung of great reviews, then you are in the ill-fated shoes of many who have come before you. The simple reality of the scale of a festival like the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is that, should you want coverage, there needs to be a public or personal interest in what you’re saying or doing on stage. Wanting to make people laugh, or feel, or sympathise, are all venerable aims and ones that require painstaking effort and drive. But that alone won’t get you attention, if that’s what you’re after, and we live in an arts environment that thrives off of the attention economy.

So what do I mean in practicality? Your press release shouldn’t read like promo material, it should read as an opportunity to connect with the media or industry professional on the other end of it. It’s a handshake, an introduction, where you begin to elucidate the artistic and logistical journey that your piece has been on, your creative origins, your missive, and the profiles of those involved. Tell me who, when, where, why, how – and do it succinctly. Let me fill in the gaps after.

If you’re after reviews, you don’t necessarily need to include the ones you’ve already gotten, unless they’re terrible, in which case that’s a unique point in itself. Imagine me, after having seen your show, wanting to tell our readership where this story emerged from, why you’re telling it now, and what I got from the experience both artistically and experientially. Give me points of connection, and let me draw the lines between them. The reviewer might be thought of as judge, jury, and executioner by – but in reality, all we want to be most of the time is engaged and intrigued. So intrigue and engage me.

The journey starts with the subject line of your email. And our inbox is open – editor@bingefringe.com

A practical checklist for your press release:

• Background information on the core creatives behind their show – their names, pronouns, and at least a short sentence about their career leading up to EdFringe 2026.
• Information about the origin of your show – Why are you telling this story? Why are you telling that joke? and why are you doing it now? What context does it have in 2026?
• Details on the journey of the show so far – Has it played at other festivals/venues? Does it have a story behind it that wouldn’t be evident from publicly available information? Has it won accolades?
• A full cast & production list, including roles and pronouns of those involved in the show.
• Dates, times and venues – don’t feel the need to offer a press ticket, accredited media organisations can arrange them themselves.

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Photo by David Ramírez on Unsplash