UK Government promises Edinburgh festivals new investment

The Herald Scotland

7 hours ago

He pledged that the Government would work to ensure the city's festivals - which date back to the aftermath of the Second World War - remain at the 'pinnacle' of the global culture scene in the face of growing competition.
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He said it was essential for the UK and Scottish governments to work together to tackle concerns over the cost of accommodation for performers and public transport provision during the festivals.
Mr Murray said the Government wanted to build on initiatives like an official partnership recently been formed with the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo to help promote Scotland around the world.
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray at the Filmhouse cinema in Edinburgh, which the UK Government has helped refurbish and restore ahead of its reopening this month. (Image: Ian Georgeson) He stressed the importance of investing in the city's cultural infrastructure, including venues like the Filmhouse cinema, which will reopen next week.
The Government has provided the bulk of the funding for a £2m revamp of the Filmhouse, the historic home of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Edinburgh's festivals have been running since 1947.Both were forced to shut down suddenly in October 2022 after the financial collapse of their operator.
The Government has also committed £2m to an ongoing restoration of the King's Theatre, one of the Edinburgh International Festival's key venues, which will reopen next year.
The cast of Pentheselia, which was staged at last year's Edinburgh International Festival. (Image: Newsquest)
A further £10m has been pledged for a project that will create Edinburgh's first new purpose-built concert hall for a century, which will also host festival performances from 2029.
Other major infrastructure projects expected to require funding in the next few years include a refurbishment of Leith Theatre, which was last open permanently in the early 1980s, and an overhaul of the Ross Bandstand, which opened in West Princes Street Gardens in 1935.
The work nearing completion at the Filmhouse, which screened its first films in 1979, involves the refurbishment of its café-bar, box office and foyer spaces, while its screening rooms will reopen with a reduced capacity, but with more leg room and more comfortable seats.
The Government has provided £1.5m for the project, which was instigated by a group of former Filmhouse employees.
A crowdfunding campaign they launched in September 2023 has raised more than £330,000 to date after it was backed by stars including Jack Lowden, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Emma Thompson, Dougray Scott, Kate Dickie and Timothy Spall.
Speaking during a visit to the Filmhouse, which is due to reopen on June 27, Mr Murray said: 'The Filmhouse is a cultural institution, not just for Edinburgh but for the whole of Scotland.
'It has been refurbished after group of film-lovers who had been involved in the Filmhouse came together after it closed to say: 'We are not going to let this go.'
'Their dreams have come alive and it will reopen for film lovers from all over the world.
'I think the UK has a real role to play in cultural institutions like this.
'They are not just about arts and culture, they are about economic development, jobs, education, skills.
'When you talk to people who have been involved in the Filmhouse project, they've been ushers, they've sold popcorn and they've worked in the box office.
'This is about our cultural heritage. It is really important for both the UK and Scottish governments to invest in these institutions like the Filmhouse and the King's Theatre.
'There is a whole list of things in Edinburgh and right across Scotland of things that have to be done.
'When the doors open at the Filmhouse, people will realise that it is is the kind of thing we have to be putting funding into.'
The UK Government has not traditionally supported Edinburgh's festivals, with their public funding coming from the Scottish Government, its agencies Creative Scotland and EventScotland, and Edinburgh City Council.
However there was a significant breakthrough two years ago when the then Conservative Government agreed to provide £8.6m for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe.
Around £1m has been invested in a "Keep It Fringe Fund," which is supporting 180 artists and companies from across the UK to bring work to the festival this summer, while £6m is ringfenced for a new headquarters for the Fringe Society, the arts charity which oversees the event.
It was announced in April that the Scotland Office had formed an official partnership with the Tattoo, which will celebrate its 75th anniversary this year. Announced during the Tartan Week celebrations in New York, the deal will see the Tattoo represented in key 'Brand Scotland' trade missions around the world.
The UK Government is now part of a new 'Festivals City Leadership Group,' which was instigated by the city council to help shape the future of Edinburgh's major cultural events over the next five years.
Mr Murray pointed out that Edinburgh's festivals had faced competition from festivals within the UK, including in Brighton and Manchester, and as far afield as Australia.
He added: 'We are world leaders in festivals in culture in Scotland. Everybody across the world knows that. But we are not alone in having festivals. They have been replicated across the UK and overseas.
'What we are doing in Edinburgh is very much unique and world-leading. But it is going to take a lot of effort to keep them there, so have to work with the festivals to make sure they stay right at the pinnacle of the international cultural scene.
'They are not just Edinburgh's festivals. They are international festivals which happen to be in Edinburgh and we are very lucky to have them here.
'I want to work with the festivals make to sure they don't just stay as they are, but that they can flourish and develop.'
Mr Murray, who has been an Edinburgh MP since 2010, suggested the Government wanted to recognise and capitalise on the full range of benefits delivered from Edinburgh's festivals, which were valued at £407m to the economy in 2023.
He told The Herald: 'Our cultural organisations are really good door-openers for all sorts of things to do with trade and diplomacy, and to bring people here to enjoy themselves, and to invest, live and work here.
'The festivals are cultural institutions that we should nurture.
'We need to bring new money into them, but there are a whole host of structural things around the festivals that need to be dealt with, for example the cost of accommodation for people coming here, transport and connectivity, and pushing the festivals out of the centre of Edinburgh into more of our communities.
'We are working with them to make sure that we can put in place not just funding, but also the regulatory environment to make sure they can thrive.
"It is about both governments working together. We should be working together to make sure we get maximum back for the taxpayer buck when when it is going into these kind of cultural institutions.'
Mr Murray said he fully supported calls for Edinburgh's festivals to secure a share of the city's new tourist tax, which will be applied to all bookings in the made for next summer on or after October 1 this year.
He added: "The visitor levy is about having visitors contributing a bit into the city in order for the city to give a bit back. That should be going into culture, public realm and connectivity.'