Tony Lankester, chief executive of the Fringe Society

Jane Bradley, arts correspondent, speaks to Tony Lankester, who started his role as chief executive of the Fringe Society last week.

Transcript

00:00I'm Tony Lancaster, the CEO of the Edinburgh Festival Film Society.

00:06And you've been in post now, Tony, for I think eight days.

00:10So can you tell me a little bit about what you've found so far in your time in Edinburgh?

00:15I've really enjoyed being here over the last week.

00:18It's a little bit like being lowered into a sea of treacle,

00:21delicious, warm, cosy, huggy treacle,

00:24and being told, here's a map, find your way around.

00:28So I've really enjoyed stepping into the environment, getting to know the team,

00:33getting to understand what turns them on,

00:35what makes them excited about coming to work in the mornings,

00:38and beginning to understand some of the challenges

00:41and some of the things that I'm going to be occupying my time with over the next couple of years.

00:47And it's obviously very early days, but what do you see as the vision for The Fringe over the next few years?

00:54I would love for The Fringe to get to a point where it's a more innovative organisation,

00:59where it's using technology, where it's embracing digital,

01:03and where it is coming up with entrepreneurial solutions to the many, in some cases, very old problems that we deal with.

01:12So I would like to bring that kind of thinking into the organisation,

01:17and I would like to find the pockets where it's happening already, because it is happening,

01:22and elevate those a little bit.

01:24Look, I think The Fringe is a solid organisation, it's a solid event,

01:30and what happens here every summer, I think people who live in the city

01:34and people who put it together across the whole ecosystem can be justifiably proud of it.

01:39So there's not a huge amount that needs to be done in terms of improving the event,

01:44but there's a lot that we can do to make the experience even better,

01:48and to make the experience live up to the expectations of the artists who come here,

01:52the producers who bring work here, the audiences who sit in the seats,

01:56and everyone else who forms part of this broader ecosystem.

02:00So I'd love to see all of that happen.

02:02I'd also love to see The Fringe Society have a deeper, ongoing relationship with its city

02:06that's more meaningful, that's more authentic, that's more robust,

02:09where we are constantly speaking throughout the years to the city,

02:14and giving people who live here another reason to be proud of the city that they live in.