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Beyond The Central Belt

There’s a necessary, and major stage for northern creatives emerging to offer workshops, meet-ups, and sounding performances to encourage a wider pool of spoken word, dance, theatre, and accessibility for those in Highlands. Let’s Have A Gander at a vital shift in Scotland’s cultural landscape. For far too long, the lion’s share of Scotland’s festival spotlight, industry focus, and arts funding has gravitated towards the Central Belt. But this autumn, the narrative is officially shifting northwards. From 28th September to 4th October 2026, the capital of the Highlands is launching its very own dedicated Inverness Fringe Festival. This isn’t just another date on the arts calendar; it represents a monumental, long-overdue opportunity for performers, writers, and theatre-makers born or based across the Highlands to showcase their work on home turf.

Siobhan Neylon, Founder and Co-Director of Inverness Fringe, captures the spirit behind the movement: “We’re building something truly special for Inverness. This is not just another festival – it’s a celebration of the city itself. We have an incredible pool of local performers, students, and artists who deserve a proper platform, and our unique, intimate city-centre venues are the perfect setting. We want everyone – locals, visitors, and people from all walks of life – to feel part of this celebration.”

By bringing raw, exciting fringe arts—spanning theatre, comedy, live music, dance, cabaret, spoken word, and visual arts—straight to local venues, the festival offers regional talent a direct route to audiences without the prohibitive costs of heading down to the Edinburgh Fringe.

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Theatre Highlights & Grassroots Power: Raw Acts to Mountain Bothies

The week-long programme boasts over 25 ticketed events alongside pop-ups, poetry slams, and late-night cabaret.

Here is a look at some of the key theatre and performance highlights hitting the stages:

• Raw Acts & Emerging Voices: Embracing the true spirit of grassroots theatre, the festival shines a spotlight on platforms like Raw Acts, celebrating bold, uncompromising new work, raw talent, and vital theatrical voices from local creators who bring unfiltered energy straight to the Highland stage.
• The Opening Ceilidh: The festival kicks off on Monday 28 September in the Grand Hall of Inverness Town House with a vibrant blend of song and dance. Opening the night is Kate O’Connell’s Just Sing Choir—Inverness’s mixed-voice acappella ensemble—performing gospel, folk, and world harmony before the floor opens up for a proper Highland ceilidh.
• Intimate Local Drama: Independent venues across the city centre—including Leakey’s Bookshop, WASPS Creative Academy, and MacGregor’s—will play host to intimate one-person plays, raw contemporary drama, and fierce drag and cabaret performances.
• Bothy Tales – A Life in the Mountains: Renowned outdoor writer and performer John D. Burns brings his hilarious and inspiring one-man theatre show to the festival on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd October. Blending silliness, theatricality, and storytelling, Burns brings to life the eccentricities of mountain culture and the strange happenings inside remote Scottish bothies.
• Punk Night at the Gardens: Watch the magic of RipChord take over the Botanic Gardens for a spectacular Punk event, with very special guests
• Dogstar Theatre presents Three Kings Came A-Riding: Written by Ian McDonough. Cut off from a mainland wiped out by a catastrophic plague, Janie lives in solitary isolation on a remote Scottish island with her parents, Samuel and Anna—and an imaginary friend named Michael. Their quiet existence shatters when Samuel makes short-wave radio contact with a cluster of survivors on a neighboring island.
• Loch the Day Away – Cabaret: Inverness Fringe’s Edge of the World Cabaret performs on Loch Ness with fabulous entertainment from Venus Guytrap

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Accessible Art and Fair Pay for Performers

A significant point of entry for this inaugural Fringe is its radical commitment to community accessibility and artist support. To ensure no one is priced out of live culture, a huge portion of the festival’s events operate on a donation-only basis. Audiences are invited to pay what they can—whether that’s £5, £10, or £20—making live performance accessible to all while ensuring artists are paid directly and fairly for their craft.

As the festival team passionately explain: “Every donation helps us pay artists directly and fairly for their work, ensuring the incredible performers bringing our first-ever Fringe to life are properly supported. As a brand-new festival without public funding this year, every pound really does make a difference.‘

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Masterclasses, Workshops, and a Special BBC Writers Session

It’s not just about watching shows; Inverness Fringe is placing creative skill-building at the very core of its programme. Throughout the week, local artists and eager attendees can take part in practical workshops spanning scriptwriting, screenwriting, performance/acting, stand-up comedy, DJing, and contemporary dance.

In a major coup for northern writers, the festival is also hosting a dedicated session with BBC Writers. They will be on hand to introduce their prestigious screenwriting development programmes and offer invaluable industry insights to Highland creatives looking to break into television, film, and radio.

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The Artists Hub & ‘Make Your Mark’ Interactive Art

At the heart of the festival’s industry networking is the official Artists and Industry Professionals Hub, located within the Bishops Palace area at Eden Court Theatre. Spearheaded by Assistant Producer Betsy, the Hub serves as an accessible networking haven and green room.

Inside the SGL Boardroom, creatives can participate in structured speed networking and Spotlight pitch sessions. These 5 to 6-minute presentations allow performers and companies to promote their work, pitch new ideas, and connect with potential collaborators.

Over in the Chapel Room, artistic accessibility takes centre stage with ‘Make Your Mark’, an interactive art installation created by Highland fine artists Fiona Docherty and Helen Joy. Featuring a continuous roll of paper on a large central table, the installation provides free art materials and invites festivalgoers, passers-by, and artists of all skill levels to draw, write, and make their mark. Absolutely no prior artistic experience is needed—making it a completely barrier-free creative space for all.

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Join The Highland Cultural Movement

Whether you’re keen to catch Raw Acts’ fresh performances, experience John D. Burns‘ mountain tales, hone your scriptwriting skills with BBC Writers, pitch your show at the Eden Court Hub, or simply contribute to the ‘Make Your Mark’ paper scroll, the inaugural Inverness Fringe is set to be an unmissable gathering.

Head over to invernessfringefestival.co.uk or book tickets via FestivalPro to support the artists, and help usher in a bold new era for Highland culture.

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