LUDLOW Fringe Festival is turning to Europe for support in order to take on a paid co-ordinator that it believes is needed to grow.

Organisers of the three week event in the town staged in the summer estimate that it brought £400,000 into the Ludlow economy and they have plans to double this to more than £1 million over the next five years.

A report prepared for Ludlow Town Council shows that the Fringe made a loss of nearly £500 in 2015 but was able to keep in the black thanks to balances of more than £2,400.

The biggest cost was nearly £10,500 paid in fees to performers.

However, in her report the organiser Anita Bigsby, said that in order to have any chance of meeting its potential the Festival will need to recruit a paid part time co-ordinator.

A bid is being prepared for funding of £11,350 from the European Regional Development Fund for someone to work 75 days a year at a rate of £150 a day.

‘Ludlow Fringe Festival has been hugely successful in terms of growth, delivery and development,’ said the report.

‘However, without the injection of funding that was applied for from the Arts Council, it is again having to continue to rely on voluntary staffing contributions which is proving to be unsustainable if it is to reach its growth potential.’

It will also be looking for £13,700 to enable it to launch a monthly listing brochure that would be intended for distribution beyond Ludlow and south Shropshire but also in the West Midlands, Marches and Borders.

Most of the money needed would be for the set up costs and it is hoped that the listing would eventually be self-financing.

The Festival is hoping to get a grant of £2,000 from Ludlow Town Council for 2016 but this will not be enough to fill the gap and enable it to engage the paid support that it believes is needed.

Organisers of the Fringe found themselves having to fill the breach when the previous organisers of the main Festival pulled out because they could not make it financially viable.

The Fringe in 2015 was held in and around the town between Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, July 5.

It involved more than 100 events in 40 different venues and the programme included classical music, Shakespeare, comedy, street theatre, cabaret, arts, crafts, literature and events for children.

Ticket prices were capped at £12 with many events priced at £5 in line with an ethos of ‘Arts for Everyone.’

It is estimated that 1,000 people took part as performers, artists, volunteers and organisers with 95 per cent of them from Ludlow and the surrounding area.

However, there were also performers from New Zealand, North America, Africa, Spain and Ireland.

The report on the Fringe Festival identified a number of areas for improvement.

Included in this was more effective programming to avoid clashes that resulted in people having to choose between two events when they would have liked to have attended both.

The Artist Market may have to be taken out of the programme next year unless better arrangements can be made for the stalls and gazebos.