The Edinburgh Fringe remains the envy of fringe festivals the world over, with the programme of theatre, comedy, dance and music acts growing bigger every year. August is make-or-break time for actors, writers, comedians, artists, journalists, and almost anyone who has the vaguest connection with the arts. 

With so much to see and choose from, here's a small selection of SmartCity favourites:

C venues C venues offers you the best theatre, with new writing, brilliant revivals, and high quality shows for children. With over 170 shows from 150 companies, it's the largest programme of theatre on the Fringe.

The Bongo Club - a unique outlook on clubbing and trading arm for the Out of the Blue charity - a hotbed of music by night and art café by day. Out of the Blue provides studio and production space for Edinburgh's cultural community, fostering innovative and accessible creative projects.

Holyrood Too @ Faith: In 2008 Rare Birds' will host a mixture of music, drama, cabaret, story-telling, film and comedy shows from lunchtime through to late night at Venue 38, 207 Cowgate, Edinburgh EH1 IJD.

With 108 productions this year, Sweet Venues, will be showcasing talents at 12 theatres, in 4 different venues, including Sweet Grassmarket, Sweet ECA, (Edinburgh College of Art), Sweet Teviot Place (a new venue beside Bristo Square) and Edinburgh's only swimming pool venue (Sweet Grassmarket Pool)