Arab performers at the Edinburgh Fringe festival faced with visa refusals: The exciting and promising Arab performances that were expected to feature at the Edinburgh Fringe festival are being hampered by visa issues. “The first showcase of Arab arts at the Edinburgh Fringe has been forced to cancel and completely rework several productions after nearly a quarter of the visas for their performers and organisers were refused more than once,” The Guardian reports. Egyptian playwright Sara Shaarawi, who lives in Glasgow, and is the Arab Arts Focus coordinator, says “the term Arab is very loaded in the media now, so we wanted to bring something that dismantles that and celebrates our region, breaks down stereotypes and creates space for people from the region to tell their own stories, because you don’t see that very often.”