THE Edinburgh Festival Fringe could see a dramatic fall in European and international acts next year if a 'No Deal' Brexit causes visa chaos.

The chief executive of the Fringe, the annual international celebration of culture officially begins in Scotland's capital this week, has admitted she is concerned about foreign artists and cultural workers will not come to Edinburgh's festival after Brexit.

Shona McCarthy said the potential visa restrictions might "be a step too far" for European acts and workers, who will choose to perform elsewhere in the future.

She has instigated a series of lobbying and advocacy initiatives for the festival in Europe, including a major showcase in Brussels next year.

Ms McCarthy has also attended a reception with the Prime Minister, Theresa May, where she made her concerns about the looming visa situation known.

The Fringe and the Edinburgh International Festival currently hold the status of being non-permit festivals, where many artists only need an invitation to enter the UK and work at the festival, but there is no guarantee this will continue after Brexit.

This could lead to European artists and companies deciding to avoid Edinburgh's Fringe, as it could be easier and cheaper to perform on mainland Europe instead, Ms McCarthy said.

At this year's Fringe, which begins on August 3 and has 3,548 shows in total, there are 159 shows from EU countries, not counting the UK.

The US and Australia remain the biggest artistic visitors to the Fringe.

Ms McCarthy said: "I would be lying if I didn't say it is a worry.

"It is a concern.

"Collectively we enjoy permit-free status, and if you were projecting forward into Hard Brexit and the idea of Europeans having to apply for a visa, there's two things in that: the bureaucratic demands, and the cost of it.

"It could just be a step too far for people.

"They could decide: 'Well, actually it is way easier for me to go to a festival in Ireland, or a festival in some other part of Europe.'

"So it is a concern, and not just for the artists and performers...it is also about that enrichment of the skill base and the talent of the people who come to work at the festivals as well."

Last week a House of Lords committee report warned about the cultural hit the UK could take if the visa situation is not settled.

Without new arrangements for the movement of people between the UK and the EU, a decline in visits and collaborations with foreign artist will be "to the detriment of the sector, and represent a significant loss to the audiences that enjoy seeing talent from across Europe performing in the UK", the EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee said.

At present the Fringe is frustrated and concerned, as is much of industry and society, by a lack of information about what Brexit will mean.

The Edinburgh Festivals have previously warned of the 'Thundering Hooves' of rival festivals gaining on the Scottish capitals pre-eminent position as a festival capital: but that was before Brexit provided a new threat.

Ms McCarthy said: "It's just such a vacuum isn't it?

"We are doing what every festival is doing, and being even more proactive in our positioning internationally, being more proactive in our engagement with Europe, which probably in our international strategy in the past we might have taken for granted a bit, because of the ease of access and movement."

Ms McCarthy has upped the Fringe's engagement with Europe, and has recently returned from a trip to Portugal to talk about the Fringe, while other staff have attended events in Berlin and Avignon.

She said: "We are renewing a Fringe presence in wider Europe."

"It's just about being more vocally present as part of a wider European conversation, which before we perhaps took for granted a little bit."

The "significant" Brussels showcase will be in May or June next year and she said the timing "is no accident, it is to say these festivals are open and connected, and we want to continue to attract European artists, but not only that but wanting to continue collaborations and co-productions."

Ms McCarthy said she is also to look into whether the Fringe Society needs to put more resources into helping artists negotiate the visa system, especially if it becomes a "significant barrier" to artists attending.

She added: "There's no crystal ball, and people have been talking about the size and scale of the Fringe since the 1950s, so it is literally into the unknown.

"There could be [a retraction in scale] but we just don't know.