This is an emergency situation.

The imperfect perfection of funding rejection
And audience adulation

Pay-to-play players as a product of government complacency
And alternative priority

Powers that be, slow to see the reality of the part
That grassroots art plays in societal sanity

Major funds to monolithic organisations.
Scraps that remain to up-and-coming creations

And yet.
Here’s the best bit:
We did it.

We survive and thrive through grit
We put aside the fears

We triple in size in nine years

The Fringe gives a voice to the unheard
The culture of the nation
Through deed and word
The power of bloody-mindedness and inspiration

Culture is healthcare, welfare, education
Culture is self identification

We may not all win a prize
But we win through the willingness to try

So let’s celebrate what has been done

And contemplate what is to come

Meanwhile let’s enjoy the party.