A FREE online event is to be held to support performers who have lost work during the coronavirus pandemic.

It is being staged by Glasgow’s Southside Fringe after the cancellation of last year’s extravaganza resulted in more than 200 creatives losing income.

Rather than endure another fallow year, the fringe is launching a virtual alternative on March 26.

Called Plugged In & Wired, it will see more than 50 acts perform in genres such as comedy, music, spoken word and cabaret.

Headliners include comedian Viv Gee, Becci Wallace, Gabriel Featherstone and Cloud of Starlings.

Southside Fringe is the biggest community organised event in Glasgow and since 2013 has connected performers with local businesses, venues and the community.

Managing director Corinna Currie said last year’s cancellation had been “devastating”.

“As a community-led festival, it’s so important to all of us at Southside Fringe to provide support and encouragement to our local creatives, whether it’s comedians, musicians, performers or writers – these artists deserve platforms and opportunities to find their audiences, despite lockdown measures,” she said. “Additionally, venues, like our festival partners, The Icebox Arts and Music Centre, need vital lifelines to survive in the absence of live gigs.”

She said the cancellation of last year’s festival had a “profoundly damaging” effect on the registration process, which was in full swing, and saw the Fringe offering refunds to the 45 events and 26 venues that had signed up prior to lockdown.

“Our festival averages are 150 events and 40 venues and many applications in process were withdrawn,” said Currie. “Work had begun on our large outdoor community launch, which in 2019 attracted over 4000 Southsiders to celebrate with us at the Civic Square at Langside Halls.

“It was devastating to the team to be unable to deliver our festival. The cancellation led to not only our festival being financially impacted, but to some 200 plus creatives losing income. This pandemic has impacted so many industries, but especially the arts community.

“However, creativity is in our blood and we’re delighted to be able to host our virtual Plugged In & Wired. We’ve received incredibly heart-warming feedback from the acts, thanking the festival and venue for giving them hope and keeping the arts alive through such uncertain times.”

The online event was welcomed by comedian Gee who said it would let people know performers were still on the scene.

“Something like this keeps us all present and lets people know we are still going to be around when things get back to normal,” she said. “It is also good for our mental as well as our financial health.

“I think it is good for the audiences as well, judging from online gigs I have been doing. People are loving them and get a connection from them. You can hear them laughing and you can talk to them and, as much as it is never going to be as good as the real thing, it is the nearest thing you can get just now.

“Corinna has worked hard to get funding and Plugged In & Wired is a sign of hope.

“People will have the chance to watch things they might not have seen before. If they are not doing anything else they can have a look and see what the poetry is like, what the bands are like, what the comedy is like and then they might go and see it in the real world,” said Gee.

The virtual event will be streamed via Southside Fringe’s YouTube channel and will be free to watch from March 26 onwards.

For more updates and information visit southsidefringe.org.uk or Southside Fringe’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.