It all began in 1947 with eight companies – six of them from Scotland – taking a risk, turning up uninvited and performing on the ‘fringe’ of the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival. Over 75 years later, the Fringe has grown to become one of the greatest platforms for creative freedom in the world, second only to the Olympics in terms of global ticketed events. In 2022, 3,334 shows took place in 278 venues across Edinburgh.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society was founded by artists to nurture and uphold the Fringe's values of inclusivity, experimentation and imagination. We exist to support, advise and encourage everyone who wants to participate in the Fringe, provide information and assistance to audiences, and celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world.
Purpose of the role
Leading up to and during the Fringe, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society provides a media centre for journalists and participants. The Fringe is an open access festival, and the Fringe Society is an impartial organisation, therefore the Media Office assists participants with help and ideas to promote their show at the Fringe and journalists to find what they are looking for without ever recommending or making value judgements about specific shows. The Media Office accredits journalists attending the Fringe and provides a media ticketing service for Fringe shows, as well as offering one-to-one advice to participants running their own PR and marketing campaigns.
The Media Office team consists of the Head of Marketing, Communications and Sponsorship, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Media Services Supervisor, Media Officer, two Media Assistants and a Media Office receptionist.
We are seeking to appoint a creative and organised individual to the role of Media Office Receptionist who will be the first point of contact for the hundreds of media attending the Fringe this August.
Role and responsibilities
In this role you will need the confidence and patience to deal with hundreds of people daily, primarily media attending the festival, in a fast-paced and hectic environment.
The successful candidate will perform a wide range of duties, including but not limited to:
- being the first point of contact for everyone who comes into the Fringe Central Media Office, offering face-to-face advice, help and support and signposting to the relevant person in the wider media team
- work closely with the Media Assistants on supporting media accreditation processes, including printing of passes
- performing general administrative duties and supporting the wider Fringe Central team with tasks including schedule management and events support
- supporting the day to day running of Fringe Central
- helping journalists with ad-hoc support.
Rate of pay and hours of work
The rate of pay for this post £10.90 per hour. From Monday 24 July, your working hours are 10:00 to 18:00, Monday to Friday with a one-hour unpaid lunch break daily. From Monday 31 July, you will be required to work 42 hours over six days a week on a shift pattern covering the hours of 10.00 to 18.00, Monday to Sunday. Your working hours will be organised according to a rota system which the Society will notify you of in advance of the Fringe.
We use positive action under section 159 of the Equality Act in relation to disability or race. This means that if we have two candidates of equal merit in our process, we will seek to take forward the D/deaf, disabled, Black, Asian or ethnically diverse candidate in order to diversify our staff team.
