Inverness Fringe Festival
The Inverness Fringe Festival is a performing arts festival in Inverness, Scotland. Its inaugural festival is scheduled to take place from 28 September to 4 October 2026, with more than 25 events across venues in the city centre. The programme includes theatre, comedy, live music, spoken word, drag, cabaret and poetry, with both ticketed and free performances. It has been described as Inverness's first dedicated fringe festival.
History
Development of the festival began in 2025. Inverness Fringe Ltd, the company established to organise the event, was incorporated on 7 October 2025, with festival founder Siobhan Neylon as a director. Neylon is the festival's founder and co-director; the organising team also includes co-director and operations lead Mary Dawn Mohun, performing arts lead Steph Smart, dance and DJ lead Meiggidh Fraser, and assistant producer Betsy King.
In 2026, Inverness Fringe Ltd applied to the Inverness Common Good Fund for £15,000 towards the inaugural festival. Its application proposed a seven-day programme involving local performers, street performances, workshops and events involving students from the University of the Highlands and Islands. The Common Good Fund sub-committee recommended the award subject to conditions in April, and in August the Highland Council announced that £15,000 had been awarded to support the festival. Organisers also launched a crowdfunding campaign and sought commercial sponsorship ahead of the festival.
2026 festival
The inaugural festival is scheduled to run for seven days from 28 September to 4 October 2026. Its published programme contains more than 25 events, ranging across theatre, comedy, cabaret, drag, music, spoken word and workshops. Performances are planned in a mixture of pubs, clubs, studios, galleries and other spaces around central Inverness, including An Seòmar, Upstairs Inverness, Xoko, Inverness Creative Academy, Inverness Botanic Gardens, the Victorian Market and Highland Print Studio.
The programme includes work by artists from Inverness and the wider Highlands, alongside opportunities involving UHI students. Workshops announced before the festival included comedy, scriptwriting, contemporary dance and DJing.