A new Community Interest Company set up by working-class artists is launching at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August, introducing a daily performance platform and a £1,500 cash prize for self-funded acts.
The London Arts Facilitation Society (LAFS) will establish its base at Hoots @ Nicolson Square, aiming to offer direct assistance against the financial pressures facing independent artists. While debate over festival entry costs remains an annual fixture in Edinburgh, the economic pressure on working-class acts in the arts is a familiar problem. High personal expenditure and scarce safety nets have long defined the independent end of the Fringe. Rather than lobbying institutional bodies for policy shifts, LAFS is attempting to provide practical backing where public funding falls short.
The Banneret Award and daily platform
Running daily at 12:00 PM from 7 to 31 August, ‘1 Hour of LAFS’ will occupy the Nic 7 space at Hoots @ Nicolson Square. The daily mixed bill will highlight acts eligible for the society’s newly established Banneret Award.
The prize consists of a £1,500 cash award aimed at an act from any artistic discipline that exemplifies the commitment required to bring self-funded work to Edinburgh. The organisers emphasise that performers on the lower-cost, independent circuit often take on significant financial risk while receiving far less media coverage and institutional backing than those in established commercial venues. That is undeniably true – the Free Fringe might lower the entry-fee for participation, but too many stakeholders view Free Fringe appearances as a stepping-stone to the bigger ‘proper’ stages.
Shortlisted acts will be highlighted across the society’s media channels during the festival. The process will culminate in an award presentation and networking gathering at Bannermans on Cowgate on 24 August at 7:30 PM.
From South London studio to Edinburgh stage
Though making its Fringe debut this summer, the organisation has spent the past year establishing its infrastructure. The initiative began taking shape in late 2025 as a self-funded venture in South London.
“LAFS started becoming real in August 2025,” said co-founder Maria Fedulova. “We started with building the space and installing all the equipment for the podcast studio in South London, hosting shows and offering financial support to small arts festivals. Then we proceeded with making and releasing content on YouTube and Instagram, so we had something to show people – this was our first goal. With that completed, we’re now moving on to the ‘awareness’ stage, which involves making sure people know we exist, and what we have to offer.”
Direct action over public funding
For the founders, establishing a dedicated prize and performance space stems from direct personal experience on the live circuit. Fedulova points to a systemic shrinkage of entry-level opportunities across the performing arts, alongside the persistent absence of public grant funding for stand-up comedy.
“Being working-class performers ourselves, we’ve seen a massive drop in ‘entry level’ arts jobs, how hard it is to get any sort of government or Arts Council support, and just how difficult it is for a working-class person to get anything they make seen, let alone create the time necessary to write and protect art through performance,” said Fedulova.
“We decided, since waiting for the Arts Council to give more funding or allow comedy to get grants, we were better off building a platform that can promote, fund, and entertain, as well as help people build necessary networks for artistic success.”
“Being working-class performers ourselves, we’ve seen a massive drop in ‘entry level’ arts jobs, how hard it is to get any sort of government or Arts Council support, and just how difficult it is for a working-class person to get anything they make seen…”
LAFS Co-Founder Maria Fedulova
Founder projects at Fringe 2026
Fedulova established LAFS alongside fellow comedian Sam Rhodes and theatre producer Jason Weinberg. Alongside running the society’s midday bill and managing the award, all three founders are presenting work in Edinburgh this August:
- Sam Rhodes: Makes his Fringe debut with Toy Cocoon, a comic examination of collector culture and adult male identity. The show runs at 21:50 in Hoot 5 at Hoots @ The Apex.
- Maria Fedulova: Returns with Literal Saint, her follow-up to 2024’s Russian. Mafia. Family. The piece explores the personal pressure of inheriting the legacy of a canonised Russian Orthodox relative, playing at 22:50 in Hoot 3 at Hoots @ The Apex.
- Jason Weinberg: Chairs the judging panel for the Banneret Award, while hosting the daily midday bill at Nicolson Square and the awards event at Bannermans.
The real math behind a £1,500 subsidy
While £1,500 might appear modest when measured against the five-figure budgets often required by commercial super-venues like Assembly, the Pleasance, or Underbelly, it goes considerably further on the grassroots circuit. As my recent calculations for the Edinburgh Inquirer demonstrated, a bare-bones, low-overhead Fringe run in 2026 can come in at under £3,000. For an independent act operating in that space, a £1,500 cash injection covers roughly half their total festival expenditure—a substantial subsidy by any measure.
“This award is about amplifying the voice of those brave enough to risk it all for a month of no work and high costs, just to get their art seen,” added Fedulova. “Support for LAFS is support for those who fight hard to get their voices heard.”
A single £1,500 cheque and a lunchtime platform won’t alter the broader commercial mechanics of the Fringe. However, LAFS deserves credit for stepping into the breach with actual funds and physical stage time rather than rhetoric. In a festival environment quick to diagnose its own affordability flaws but slow to find solutions, their pragmatic, peer-led initiative is a commendable addition to Edinburgh this August.
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