Edinburgh Festival faces new demands to drop Baillie Gifford

The Herald Scotland

6 days ago

The Herald told last year how Baillie Gifford had more than £60 million worth of shares in the owner of Rosyth Dockyard in Fife, which has previously worked with state-owned Israeli arms manufacturers.
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The group, which has called on Scottish arts organisations to sign up to a cultural boycott of Israel, has suggested that the EIF is being 'funded by genocide' just days before the first performances are due to get underway.
Baillie Gifford was dropped by the Edinburgh International Book Festival weeks before last year's event was due to be held following a prolonged campaign over the company's links with the fossil fuel industry.
The Edinburgh International Festival was instigated in the aftermath of the Second World War.The targeting of the EIF has emerged weeks after the festival backed an open letter from arts organisations across the UK warning of the impact of 'relentless negativity' over corporate sponsorship.
Francesca Hegyi, chief executive of the EIF, has suggested there has been a 'wholescale collapse of arts sponsorship' since Baillie Gifford was targeted over its links with fossil fuel companies.
Baillie Gifford is currently the biggest corporate backer of the EIF, which recently secured record Scottish Government of £11.75m for the next three years, compared to annual funding of more than £2.3m in recent years.
In a statement launching the new campaign, the pro-Palestine group highlighted the EIF's support for Ukraine and Ukrainian companies following the invasion by Russia three years ago.
At the time, the festival severed its links with the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, who was made an honorary president of the event in 2011.
The EIF also joined forces with the Scottish Government to stage a free concert by a newly-formed "Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra."
[[Art]] Workers For [[Palestine]] has stepped up pressure on arts organisations in recent months, including the Glasgow Film Theatre and the Fruitmarket Gallery in [[Edinburgh]].
The Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow has been closed since a large-scale protest was staged on June 24. Its board and management have faced calls to resign over the handling of an "intended occupation" of part of the building, which saw the police called to break up the protest.
The pro-Palestine group said: 'After nearly two years of meetings, emails, and statements our ask to the Edinburgh International Festival has changed.
'We are no longer asking the EIF to merely speak to Baillie Gifford.
We are demanding they cut ties. Why? Because EIF refuses to act in good faith.
"Their own letter to us shows this clearly: 'We do not intend to adopt public political positions on international conflicts.'
'But the EIF has previously taken political positions. They promoted Ukrainian work with hashtags, programming decisions and marketing campaigns. So why is Palestine the exception?
'They're not neutral — they're complicit. Baillie Gifford is one of the EIF's biggest funders. They invest in Babcock International, a UK arms company supplying Israel.
'In plain terms: Palestinian death is making Baillie Gifford rich. And the EIF chooses to accept that money. This is blood money. This is the profits of the Palestinian genocide being used for 'art.'
'Our updated demand: EIF must cut ties with Baillie Gifford. No more conversations. No more delay.
"This is about the right to live — not institutional comfort. This is about Palestinian liberation."
Baillie Gifford is one of the main supporters of the Fringe Society and the National Galleries of Scotland, which is working in partnership with the Edinburgh International Film Festival next month.
Earlier this month the campaign group issued a statement warning Scottish arts organisations: "Transparency, accountability and ethical leadership are non-negotiable."
The latest statement targeting the EIF states: "Art is never neutral. Art can either resist — or it can enable.
"This is our collective call. This is our line in the sand. We will continue to support artists taking action. We will no longer spend unpaid energy convincing the EIF of the obvious. That art funded by genocide is artwashing.'
A spokesperson for the Edinburgh International Festival said: "We share public concern about the ongoing violence in the Palestinian territories, and other areas enduring conflict.
"The right to speak out, to demand change, and to protest these issues is fundamental to democracy.
"The Edinburgh International Festival gives voice to artists for important ideas, questions and stories to be freely presented and debated with nuance and empathy.
"Our 2025 programme tackles this and other important global issues head-on, from a range of perspectives.
"Our responsibility is to ensure the future of the festival, so that we can continue to offer public benefit and offer audiences transformational experiences.
"To do this we must secure funding from a balanced mix of public and private sources.
"Support from long-standing donors such as Baillie Gifford enables us to sustain our artistic ambition, remain accessible to the widest possible audience, and contribute meaningfully to Scotland's cultural life.
"Following a rigorous review, our board of trustees agreed to maintain the support from Baillie Gifford, which continues to endorse all that the festival does, from the August festival programme to our year-round work with Edinburgh's communities."