# Help Me Raise Funds for Secure Scotland at Edinburgh Fringe 2026

## Aim

Help me use *The Martin Talk Show* and the extraordinary platform of the Edinburgh Fringe to raise funds and awareness for Secure Scotland and its community space, Words and Actions for Peace.

## Taking a message of peace, equality and positive change to the Fringe

Hello, I’m Martin Colton, host and creator of *The Martin Talk Show*.

From 7 to 31 August 2026, I will be taking the podcast back onto the streets of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This year, every conversation will be connected by an additional purpose: to raise funds and awareness for Secure Scotland.

Secure Scotland brings together people and organisations who want to rethink what genuine security means. Rather than accepting fear, inequality and division, its work asks how Scotland can better respond to people’s basic needs, protect the environment and contribute to peace.

Secure Scotland also manages [Words and Actions for Peace](https://www.wordsandactions.scot), a community drop-in centre, resource space and activist hub in central Edinburgh. It provides a welcoming place for conversation, collaboration, creativity and community action.

Throughout the Fringe, I want to help more people discover this important work—and encourage them to support it.

## Why Secure Scotland matters

Security should mean more than borders, weapons and responding to threats.

It should mean having a safe place to go. It should mean being able to meet your basic needs, participate in your community and live without fear. It should mean protecting people and the planet while creating the conditions for peace, sustainability and equality.

Secure Scotland challenges conventional, fear-based ideas about security and creates space for constructive alternatives.

Through Words and Actions for Peace, those principles become something practical: a public space where people can meet, hold events, access resources, share ideas and work together for the common good.

It has hosted community conversations, film screenings, acoustic performances, panel discussions, coffee mornings, vigils and campaigns. It is also somewhere people can simply make a cup of tea, use the Wi-Fi and have a conversation.

Spaces like this matter—and they need our support to continue.

## What I will be doing at the Fringe

From 7 to 31 August, I plan to:

* Take *The Martin Talk Show* onto the streets of Edinburgh.

* Speak with artists, activists, community leaders and changemakers.

* Ask people what security, peace and positive change mean to them.

* Share the work of Secure Scotland and Words and Actions for Peace.

* Encourage audiences, artists and visitors to donate.

* Record interviews, street podcasts, after-show conversations and reviews.

* Create short, accessible social-media clips throughout the festival.

* Use my platforms to amplify positive voices and introduce people to Secure Scotland’s work.

* Continue sharing the conversations after the Fringe has ended.

Every conversation will build towards the question at the heart of *The Martin Talk Show*:

**“How would you make this a better world?”**

## Where your donation will go

This campaign is about raising money for Secure Scotland—not charging artists to appear or funding a commercial project.

The money raised will support Secure Scotland and the continued work of Words and Actions for Peace, helping it remain a welcoming centre for community engagement, education, creativity, collaboration and conversations about peace, sustainability and equality.

I have received media accreditation for the Fringe and have also been generously offered accommodation in Edinburgh. I will not ask artists or changemakers to pay to participate in the podcast.

My microphone and camera will simply become fundraising tools—helping Secure Scotland’s message reach people throughout Edinburgh and far beyond the festival.

## My Fringe journey so far

In 2024, I took the podcast onto the streets of Edinburgh for the first time. I fell in love with the city, its people and the Fringe’s glorious creative chaos.

[Watch the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe collection](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGnZRd991NmpNSbZkVmbBo1XgWv-scQv2&si=-9Q6Pbhp4-RgtzwH)

In 2025, I returned and created more than 60 Fringe-related episodes, speaking with independent performers, writers, producers and creatives.

[Watch the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe collection](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGnZRd991NmqtEFKGXGIbu_Ez2FQtFYZ3&si=ZVCrxv4nVukxI0dz)

The amplification has already begun through my 2026 preview series:

[Watch the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe previews](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGnZRd991NmoilhuluZwsGrdB1nBLoiyB&si=Ey_22oO2Vo9EYWy2)

Since beginning with little more than a phone and an idea, *The Martin Talk Show* has grown to more than 550 episodes. We celebrated episode 500 at the Cannes Film Festival in 2026.

Across YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, social media and [The Martin Talk Show website](https://www.themartintalkshow.com), the podcast has reached a combined audience of more than one million, with approximately 120,000 social-media views each month.

This year, I want to use that audience to support an organisation working to build a safer, fairer and more peaceful future.

## Every contribution matters

Whether you donate £5, £10, £50 or more, you will be helping Secure Scotland continue its work and maintain a space where people can connect, collaborate and turn words into action.

If you cannot donate, please share this page. A share can introduce someone new to Secure Scotland, bring another person into the conversation and help this campaign reach the supporter who can make a real difference.

Throughout August, I will share updates from Edinburgh so you can follow the journey, meet the changemakers I discover and see how your support is helping us amplify this message.

## Care, consent and accessibility

Some conversations may involve young people, disabled artists, neurodivergent creatives or adults with support needs. I will use appropriate consent procedures, involve a responsible adult where required and treat every sensitive story with care.

Content will never come before somebody’s wellbeing. Everyone featured will be treated with dignity and will be able to pause or stop a conversation at any time.

## Join the journey

The Edinburgh Fringe brings people together from across the world. It creates a remarkable opportunity to begin conversations, challenge assumptions and imagine something better.

Help me use that opportunity to support Secure Scotland.

Please donate what you can, share this page and join a journey built around peace, sustainability, equality, creativity and positive change.

Together, we can turn conversations into action.

As always, with gratitude, thank you for being part of the journey.

**Martin Colton**

*The Martin Talk Show*

[www.themartintalkshow.com](https://www.themartintalkshow.com)

Learn more about [Secure Scotland and Words and Actions for Peace](https://www.wordsandactions.scot).