Edinburgh International Festival reveals new budget blow

The Herald Scotland

4 days ago

They have admitted they are facing 'big questions' over what form future editions will take, despite securing record funding of £11.75m.
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The festival has warned that some of its future plans may have to be dropped or put back as a result of its funding settlement, which was almost £6m lower than hoped for.
The shortfall, which has emerged after months after a scaled-back programme was announced for this year's event, has left the festival 'doing a lot of number crunching' for future editions, according to its chief executive.
Francesca Hegyi has declared that a significant effort is needed from the festival's key funders to 'stabilise and consolidate' the event, adding that it had been left to struggle with 'suboptimal' levels of public funding for years.
Dancers from across Africa appeared in the 2024 Edinburgh International Festival show The Rite of Spring. (Image: Maarten Vanden Abeele)She said the 78-year-old event was only just emerging from a period of 'huge instability and insecurity' which had left it 'stuck in first gear' for years.
Ms Hegyi suggested the business model of the event and the way decisions are made on its funding needed to change if the festival's long-term ambitions are to be realised.
Francesca Hegyi is chief executive of the Edinburgh International Festival. (Image: Gordon Terris/Herald & Times)
She said the festival had been forced to operate with a 'Sword of Damocles' hanging over the event because its future funding has been so uncertain.
She said the 78-year-old event was only just emerging from a period of 'huge instability and insecurity' which had left it 'stuck in first gear' for years.
Opera-Comique performed the opera Carmen at the 2024 Edinburgh International Festival. Picture: Andrew Perry
Ms Hegyi suggested the business model of the event and the way decisions are made on its funding needed to change if the festival's long-term ambitions are to be realised.
She said the festival had been forced to operate with a 'Sword of Damocles' hanging over the event because its future funding has been so uncertain.
Edinburgh International Festival chief executive Francesca Hegyi. Picture: Gordon Terris
She called for a faster roll-out of further new investment in festivals which has been promised by the Scottish Government and urged Edinburgh City Council to ringfence some of the income expected to be generated by its forthcoming 'visitor levy' is re-invested in improving the experience of visitors to its cultural events.
The EIF was by far the biggest recipient of Scottish Government funding when Creative Scotland revealed a long-delayed new multi-year spending programme in January.
The announcement saw a record 251 festivals, venues and organisations secure three-year funding deals, 141 of which had previously only had annual funding.
However a £40m increase in the government budget for the long-term funding programme is being rolled out over two years.
The EIF is thought to have applied to Creative Scotland for almost £18m for its 2026, 2027 and 2028 programmes.
Its annual core funding has increased from £2.3m a year £11.75m for the next three years - £3.25m in this financial year, then £4.25m for both 2026-7 and 2027-8.
However Ms Hegyi pointed out that the festival had been kept on 'standstill' funding for 17 years before the increased support was confirmed in January.
Creative Scotland's announcement, made after a scale-down programme for year's EIF programme had been finalised, was delayed by several months after the government refused to allocate a budget to its arts agency for its first round of 'multi-year funding' decisions since 2018.
Ms Hegyi told The Herald: 'It feels like we are on a firmer footing now. We have greater certainty now than we have had for a very long time.
'We were on standstill funding for 17 years and that was only ever confirmed year on year. We have always had a sort of Sword of Damocles hanging over us.
'The multi-year funding settlement has given us a degree of stability and the ability to look further ahead than the next 12 months. That is just critical for us because we plan up to five years in advance and can make more commitments now.
'We are feeling more optimistic and that allows us to be a bit more confident. We are thinking about how we can capitalise on that. It feels like the foundation stone has gone back in and we can build on it.
'We didn't get everything that we asked for over the next three years and that is a challenge in itself. We got about 65% of what we asked for over. That has left us with some really big questions to answer.
'We were encouraged to put forward our ambitions for the next period, which we did. Now we can only deliver two thirds of that plan, or we have to figure out a way of meeting that gap.
'We are doing a lot of number crunching on what does that mean and what gives.'
Ms Hegyi said the festival's spending plans had focused on maintaining quality and international competitiveness, being as accessible as we can possibly be, and securing the audiences and artists of the future.
'They all rely on one another. It's quite a complicated Jenga tower that we are building all the time. That's why the foundation is so important.
'We are now looking at how we flex our plans to still speak to all of those ambitions that we have got, but perhaps phase them in a different way, or make some choices about what we can or can't do now.
'We are going through a process of going: 'We want to be here. We have got this much. How do we bring it together?'
The Scottish Government has ringfenced £4m from a promised £34m in new arts funding for the current financial year for festivals across Scotland.
However ministers have also created a 'strategic partnership for festivals,' which involves the government agencies EventScotland, VisitScotland Creative Scotland, to help decide how the new investment is allocated.
Ms Hegyi said: 'I really hope we don't miss an opportunity here. I really hope that we collectively take the opportunity to look at what is needed structurally, organisationally, reputationally and ambitiously, rather than defaulting back to some of the ways we have done funding schemes in the past.
'There is a really loud ask from parts of the cultural sector for stabilisation. There is a lot of work to be done stabilise festivals and other arts organisations so that we can take the opportunity to breathe and then plan for growth.
'We've got to do that work to ask what it will take to be organisationally sustainable over the next few years. Investing in that is really important.
'My real hope is that we take the challenge of stabilising the business of culture really seriously, because that is what is needed right now.
'The people who know best what is needed to ensure that festivals thrive and grow are the festivals and organisations themselves. It is about asking each of us what we need.'
Ms Hegyi said a key priority for the EIF was ensuring that decision on its future funding were made far earlier.
She said: 'The challenge is that the deadline that festivals are on can't move. We have to make decisions about what happens in future whether funding streams have been confirmed or not.
'Sometimes, whether it is the Scottish Government or Creative Scotland, they could perhaps try to understand the pressures we are under to make operational decisions in a timely manner.
'Funding decisions don't always align with cultural planning decisions. It's the job of people who run festivals to try to manage that. Sometimes it gets really challenging when delays happen.
'If we can get to a point where we have multi-year commitments and they get confirmed in good time that would be something to aim for. What is not helpful is getting a funding settlement in April for an August festival. That just doesn't work for us. It's far too late.'
Edinburgh's festivals have spent several years lobbying the Scottish Government to give the city's annual cultural celebration 'mega event' status.
Ms Hegyi said: 'The footprint of Edinburgh's festivals is far bigger than just Edinburgh or even Scotland. They are almost by definition international events.
'Whether it has an official designation or not, Edinburgh is a mega-event. I don't quite understand the argument that says 'no, you're not.'
'It would be great to think about how each of those layers of government could make the most of the fact we have this global mega event and be strategic about it.'
Ms Hegyi said she was optimistic that progress would be made through a new festivals leadership group involving Edinburgh City Council, the Scottish and UK governments, and representatives of the city's major cultural events.
She added: 'We've been having some really useful discussions on where things go in future.
'This group has the right people around the table, everybody is very solutions-focused and recognises there are challenges, not least with accommodation, transport and other practical infrastructure challenges, but also that we have a real asset that we need to maintain and make the most of it.
'There is a degree of comfort that everybody takes from the longevity of the festivals.
'There isn't the same degree of mobilisation of public agencies or government around the festivals.
'That is why we are arguing for 'mega event' status, to enable us all to work better together, relieve some of the pressures on pinch points in the city and take a properly strategic view of what goes on, in the same that you would when the Commonwealth Games or Tour de France comes to Scotland. I really hope that is where we end up.'
Ms Hegyi said she believed that Edinburgh's proposed visitor levy, which is expected to be applied to accommodation bookings in the city from July 2026, had 'fantastic' potential if the income it raises is 'applied intelligently.'
She added: 'There are certainly things around the city's infrastructure, such as the cleanliness of the streets and signage, that could really be improved to enhance everybody's experience.
'What I would love to see, if the festival does receive any funding from it, is that it can be used to consolidate what we do rather than forever inventing new things. There is a requirement in almost every funding stream that funds need to be spent on something additional or new.
'What we actually need is a period of consolidation, making what we have got better, rather than having to create new things.
'People are already coming here in large numbers for something that is clearly of value to them. There is a valuing of the new over improving the existing that I think we need to really come to terms with.'