There's a conversation about to get started on Beth Marshall's MySpace about juried vs. non-juried festivals. She quotes and article from the Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) newspaper. Here's a bit of it:

In Edinburgh, venuemanagers choose their plays. Professional work, which deserves a wider audience,debuts at the festival. Producers and talent scouts swarm the city, expecting andenjoying a certain level of quality.By contrast, the lottery system that has sustained and nurtured festivals throughoutNorth America contains a flaw that will always curtail growth. Truly challenging andtruly brave theatrical art drowns in a sea of amateurism. Edmonton's most talentedwriters, directors and performers launched their careers at the festival, using it asan opportunity to learn and grow, but it's hardly a destination for the country's -- oreven the city's -- best players. Some nights, sitting with two other people in Acacia Hall, as an accountant stumbles through a series of cliches about his cat, thedarkness of divorce and globalism, the Brave Fringer can't help but wonder:

Shouldn't I be watching a real play, or sleeping in my bed?

Surely Mayne and his colleagues know this, but the Fringe needs better plays, notbetter access to tickets, for a genuine breakthrough. And the only way to ensurequality is to circumvent the lottery system, partially at first, with juried venues.