What will the Fringe be like in 100 years?  While that is unknowable, one prediction can be made with confidence: future generations of performers, students, and scholars will be curious about us.

After two years in the planning stage, on 11 August 2009, with the recording of two original dance creations at The Zoo, a converted church on The Pleasance, the Fringe Performance Archive took the first step in creating a permanent archive of performance art reflecting the diversity of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.  We film a small but diverse group of shows each year, representing a sample of the theatre, comedy, children’s shows, dance, and music that constitute the largest concentration of performance art in world history.  A systematic selection procedure ensures that a representative group of performances and events is included.

The final product will be preserved in the National Library of Scotland and available for private viewing after a moratorium period of at least one decade.  The project is a rolling annual record of performance art for the English-speaking world.