Paul Gudgin - Associate Director

Paul was Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival, for eight years from 1999 to 2007. Paul has a strong track record of achieving considerable growth at the Festivals with which he has been involved, with the Fringe effectively doubling in size during his tenure. The 2006 festival featured 28,014 performances of 1,867 shows in 261 venues selling 1.5m tickets and generating £75m for Edinburgh’s economy. During his time at the Fringe he instigated a number of IT initiatives that now sees the Fringe sell over half its tickets online and the website achieve over 70 million hits in August. He was also responsible for developing the Fringe’s profile and coverage both internationally and within the UK.

Paul was instrumental in commissioning the 2005 Economic Impact Study of Edinburgh’s Festivals and Thundering Hooves the 2006 report on maintaining the competitive advantage of Edinburgh’s Festivals. He helped create Festivals Edinburgh as a consortium which collaborates on marketing and organisational issues.

Prior to the Fringe, Paul was General Manager of the Queens Hall Edinburgh for four years, ran the Bury St Edmunds Festival for five years and was Concerts Manager at Aldeburgh Festival for four years. He has recently been involved with a number of significant arts and tourism projects including a Scottish Executive initiative in New York and as a member of the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group which involved major public and private sector players within the tourism industry.

Paul’s festival expertise is in demand both within the UK and overseas and he has recently been appointed Visiting Professor of Festivals and Events at Leeds Metropolitan University. In 2007 he was presented with the inaugural award for Leadership in the Arts from Arts and Business, Scotland.