Venue managers agreement

Updated: 10/01/24

VENUES’ AGREEMENT 2024 

This Agreement has been developed through joint discussions between Brighton Fringe Ltd (‘Brighton Fringe’) and Brighton Fringe venue managers (‘venue managers’) in relation to working arrangements for the annual Brighton Fringe festival (‘the festival’). 

We aim for this Agreement to benefit all Brighton Fringe stakeholders. It is designed to be a statement of intent and commitment and must be agreed to before taking part in the festival each year. 

All transactions through the Brighton Fringe box office are ringfenced in a separate bank account to the trading account of Brighton Fringe Ltd. This account is monitored by our third-party financial managers.

Brighton Fringe agrees to: 

1. Operate in a fair and impartial manner and treat Brighton Fringe venue managers and artists with respect at all times. Reports of mistreatment will be treated seriously and will follow internal disciplinary procedures. Actions considered unacceptable include, but are not limited to physical violence, abuse, written or oral language that leads one to feel afraid, written or oral language containing expletives, hate speech, defamatory statements, inflammatory allegations, unwanted physical attention, sexual harassment, unreasonably persistent communications and unreasonable time scale demands. 

2. Make details of venues and spaces available to potential artists via. Eventotron as well as viewable by the public on our website. 

3. Sell tickets on behalf of registered Brighton Fringe events at all participating venues via the Brighton Fringe Box Office. 

4. Have a member of Box Office staff available on the telephone the weekend prior to the Fringe (27 and 28 April) between 10.00-18.00 in addition to normal working availability the week prior to the Fringe. 

5. Promote Brighton Fringe in online and physical formats. In 2024 we will print a short run of listings for those who are digitally excluded, and a Family Guide for our print materials. 

6. Provide promotional material to help identify venues during the festival. 

7. Maintain and develop the Brighton Fringe website. 

8. Communicate any updates that impact artists and venues. 

9. Provide a direct email address ([email protected]) and contact number (01273 764 907) and respond in a timely manner to questions. Brighton Fringe Ltd. and its staff endeavour to respond to phone and email communications within two working days outside of Fringe, and 24 hours during the festival (3 May–2 June 2024). 

10. Provide and maintain both The Brighton Fringe Networking Group and a venues’ specific Brighton Fringe Facebook group 

11. Hold regular venue managers' meetings throughout the year both in-person and available online and send minutes of those meetings to all venues. 

12. The Chair will email each venue after each Board meeting with details of discussions and decisions and will keep venues informed of the direction Brighton Fringe is taking. 

13. Reallocate ticket allocations upon request to a venue’s own box office where more than 30% allocation has been sold via the Brighton Fringe box office and the venue’s own box runs out of allocation. This will ensure that artists and venues maximize ticket sales. 

14. Pay out box office settlements no later than six weeks after the end of the festival. 

Venue Managers agree to: 

1. Treat Brighton Fringe staff with respect at all times. Reports of mistreatment of Brighton Fringe staff will be treated seriously and may lead to the removal of your events from the Brighton Fringe programme. In serious cases, you may be blacklisted and unable to return to the festival. Actions towards Brighton Fringe staff considered unacceptable include, but are not limited to physical violence, abuse, written or oral language that leads staff to feel afraid, written or oral language containing expletives, hate speech, defamatory statements, inflammatory allegations, unwanted physical attention, sexual harassment, unreasonably persistent communications and unreasonable time scale demands. 

1. Provide up-to-date venue details and specifications to all companies and to Brighton Fringe, including licensing requirements and accessibility information. 

2. Reply to emails, phone calls or messages regarding Brighton Fringe in a timely manner. 

3. Ensure that Brighton Fringe has the contact details of at least one member of each venue's management team. 

4. Ensure that all participating companies are issued with a contract, written in plain English, which outlines any hire charges, box office and door splits, financial obligations, settlement schedules and other fees or penalties that may apply. Venue Managers should have a sample contract prepared to show to prospective companies if requested. 

5. Comply with applicable licensing, employment and health and safety legislation. 

6. Ensure that all information regarding events taking place at your venue(s) are inputted correctly in Eventotron. 

7. Provide a minimum of 30% allocation of tickets to all performances of all events to the Brighton Fringe box office, including concession-priced tickets. This includes all ticket types such as family tickets, personal assistant tickets or any other special ticket types. 

8. When the 30% allocation held by Brighton Fringe is sold out, venues are asked to increase the Brighton Fringe allocation again. This is particularly important to ensure that our artists are best supported and that no sale of tickets is missed by lack of stock, audiences do not face multiple booking fees and we cooperate to maximize venue footfall.   

9. If reallocations exceeding 50% are subsequently sold out, a click-through button can be installed upon request free of charge on Brighton Fringe website by 12.00 the next day (during the festival) or the next working day (prior to the festival), directing customers to the venue’s own box office website. 

10. All venues operating their own box offices are asked to provide a telephone number and/or email address for customer enquiries during their box office opening hours. This is a recommendation for venues with a capacity of 150 or less but a requirement for venues with capacities of 151 or more who must provide at least an email contact. Brighton Fringe can advise methods of meeting this requirement if needed. 

11. Venues will inform the Brighton Fringe Box Office of any seating plans, seating arrangements, allocated seating and restricted views at the point of registering. Brighton Fringe cannot be held responsible for any errors due to the provision of incorrect information, or the non-provision of information, by artists or venues and we will not refund tickets if a customer complains about something the venue has not informed us of. 

12. Venue Managers must endeavour to ensure that all events start on time and do not over-run. 

13. Venues must communicate details of cancelled or changed events to the Brighton Fringe Box Office as soon as possible and contact any audience members who have booked through the venue box office in good time. Please note, Brighton Fringe requires a minimum notice time of 48 hours to guarantee that changes are pushed through to our website. If cancellation occurs within 48 hours of a performance, we cannot guarantee notification of ticketholders. 

14. Venues must aim to make their venue as accessible as possible. 

15. Venues must aim to reduce the environmental impact of the festival and encourage sustainability, in line with the Brighton Fringe Environmental Policy. 

16. Venues must display the Brighton Fringe venue board in a prominent location on the exterior of the venue and display any relevant Brighton Fringe publicity including bunting, posters and flyers in prominent locations throughout their venue. 

17. Venues must forward any monies owed to participating companies within four weeks of receipt of your Brighton Fringe Settlement and to notify Brighton Fringe of any occasions where this has not taken place, together with details as to when payment will be completed. 

18. If a dispute arises with a participating company that cannot be resolved, seek to arrange mediation by Brighton Fringe. If Brighton Fringe cannot help resolve the dispute, we will provide details of third-party mediators e.g., small claims court, Citizens Advice Bureau and ACAS. 

19. Venues must work together with participating companies and Brighton Fringe for the development of the festival and its future by regularly attending Venue Managers' meetings, reading and responding to Brighton Fringe communications and attending regular events such as The Future of Fringe and Brighton Fringe registration launch. We value and appreciate constructive dialogue with our partners. 

20. Venues must provide proof of Public Liability Insurance to Brighton Fringe no later than Wednesday 1 May 2024, in the form of a policy number and supplier name via Eventotron. 

21. Venues must provide a venue Risk Assessment to Brighton Fringe no later than Wednesday 1 May 2024.  

22. Venues should familiarise themselves with all PRS and PPL licence fee tariffs and deductions and Brighton Fringe commission so as to accurately inform artists. Full information is on the Brighton Fringe website here.