Dan le Man: Field Notes: Lessons from 20+ years on stage and in startup rooms. What works, what doesn't, and why it matters + absolutely no guru stuff.
Edinburgh Fringe and Adelaide Fringe: festivals that collectively bring in millions of visitors, thousands of artists, and represent the absolute peak of what a Fringe festival can be, showed up in Estonia to meet local artists, share resources, and talk about collaboration.
Yet, unfortunately it might be said there was weak interest this time.
It appeared almost as if there was a misunderstanding about competition.
As if these organizations might be here to compete with existing festivals and artistic development practices.
But here's the thing that fascinated me about the whole experience: Edinburgh and Adelaide weren't here because they saw us as competition. They were here because we're not.
The Myth of Competition
When people hear that Tallinn Fringe exists alongside Edinburgh Fringe or Adelaide Fringe, the immediate assumption is that we're competing for the same artists, the same audiences, the same attention.
But that's not how Fringe festivals work.
If we copied the entire Edinburgh Fringe program tomorrow and brought it to Tallinn, we probably wouldn’t steal tons of the audience members from Scotland.
Because the people who go to Edinburgh Fringe are in an overwhelming majority local and regional. Similarly, the people who come to Tallinn Fringe often cover the Baltics, the Nordics, and our own region.
We're not taking anything from them. We're all creating more opportunities for artists.
That's it.
Why Sharing Works
Edinburgh Fringe hosts about 1,800 producers every year, people actively looking for new work to book, new artists to champion, new shows to bring to their venues and festivals around the world. All exciting stuff.
But not every artist is ready for Edinburgh. Not every artist wants Edinburgh.
Good Artists, just like Good Business people in general need to know why they do what they do.
Taking part in a Fringe Festival requires you to ask questions and be able to answer them precisely. Are you:
Are you practicing a long show run to see what your stamina is like to see if you can tour with your colleagues for a long period of time?
Are you measuring your promotion and marketing strategy to see if it pulls in your ideal audience?
Are you building a portfolio of independent reviews of your work to expand your reputation so you can improve your chances of producers coming along to see your show?
Are you looking to network and see inspirational work for your own professional development?
Are you there to make money?
This is where the global Fringe network comes in. There are over 300 Fringe festivals worldwide, and we're all working together, not competing, because we understand that the more places artists can develop, the better the entire ecosystem becomes.
Edinburgh and Adelaide get that. That's why they came to Tallinn. That's why they're supportive of Fringe festivals like ours growing and thriving.
Because you don't become brilliant the day you graduate. It takes time. It takes hard lessons. It takes room to fail and learn and try again in front of a real audience.
Fringe festivals give artists that space.
What This Means for Tallinn
Tallinn Fringe just finished its 10th year.
We started with 3 days, 1 venue, and about 120 people in the audience. Last year we ran 22 venues, over 200 shows, and brought in more than 10,000 people.
We've built strong relationships with Fringe festivals across Europe and beyond. We've become part of the Baltic Nordic Fringe Network. And now, artists who perform at Tallinn Fringe have a direct pipeline to festivals like Edinburgh, Adelaide, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Minnesota, and dozens more.
But we're still building the community here.
We still need more people to understand what Fringe is and why it matters. We still need local support, from audiences, from media, from cultural institutions, from the city, to make this sustainable long-term.
Because right now, the global Fringe community sees what we're doing. They're watching. They're interested.
The question is: will Estonia?
The Bigger Question
This isn't just about festivals. It's about how we think about competition in any creative or business ecosystem.
When you see someone else doing something adjacent to what you're doing, the instinct is often to protect your turf, guard your audience, worry about being overtaken.
But the truth is, in most cases, you're not in competition at all.
You're building different things for different people in different contexts. And when you collaborate, share resources, and support each other's growth, the entire ecosystem gets stronger.
That's what Edinburgh and Adelaide understand. That's what the global Fringe network understands.
And that's what we're building here in Tallinn.
Business for the Culturally Bold,
Dan le Man
Want to be part of it?
Tallinn Fringe runs 18th August -18th September, and we're always looking for artists, volunteers, venues, and audiences who want to be part of something special. Follow along at Tallinn Fringe or reach out if you want to get involved.
And if you're working on building something in the creative or startup world and want coaching on how to pitch it, communicate it, or grow it: book a 15-minute discovery call.
No guru stuff. Just honest support.