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The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
More than half of festivals funding still to be rolled out
The national roll-out of direct government funding for festivals was first announced exactly a year ago by culture secretary Angus Robertson. Read more: At the time, additional funding was promised to provide greater recognition of festivals as 'a jewel in the culture sector and national life.' However the additional funding has only been allocated to major events in Edinburgh and Glasgow so far. The Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow is among the events which have had an increase in their Scottish Government funding recently. The additional investment in festivals announced in December was part of a proposed £34 million boost for the cultural sector hailed as 'game-changing' by Mr Robertson. The Scottish Budget includes £6m set aside for festivals – up from £2m last year. The Hebridean Celtic Festival is held in Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis, every summer. Of this £3m was earmarked for a significant expansion of the Scottish Government's Festivals Expo Fund to allow it to be expanded across Scotland. Originally created in 2007 with a £2m billion budget, the fund has been opened to a number of events in Glasgow in recent years, including Celtic Connections, Sonica and the Glasgow Film Festival, however its budget had dropped to as little as £1.7m in recent years. The Granite Noir festival is staged in Aberdeen each year. (Image: Aberdeen Performing Arts) Mr Roberson has promised that the revamped Festivals Expo Fund would be more than doubled in value to extend its reach beyond Edinburgh and Glasgow, while government arts agency Creative Scotland has told Holyrood's culture committee that it expected an additional £3m in new Expo funding to be rolled out this year. However the government has only confirmed a £1.1m increase for the Expo Fund to date, to boost support for event in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Further additional funding has been confirmed for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society and the Edinburgh International Book Festival, who have each secured £300,000 in recent months. The currently £2.3m shortfall has emerged a year on from the controversial shutdown of a Scottish Government 'open fund' for artists after more than £10m worth of arts spending commitments were put on hold or cancelled. The government eventually released £8.4m, including £3m which allowed the open fund run by Creative Scotland to return, following an angry backlash across the cultural sector and on-stage protests from performers as Edinburgh's festivals drew to a close. The spending squeeze had emerged weeks after the government promised more investment in cultural events and launched a new 'strategic partnership for festivals.' Other events which have been involved in talks over potential funding include the the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival, the Findhorn Bay Festival in Moray, the Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway, the St Magnus International Festival, the Wigtown Book Festival and Aberdeen Performing Arts, which organises a number of festivals in the city. At the time, Mr Robertson said: 'Scotland's arts festivals are a jewel in the culture sector and national life. They provide an invaluable platform for our performers and creatives, help provide hundreds of millions of pounds to the Scottish and local economies, are a cultural shopfront to the rest of the world and much more besides.' In a recent opinion column, Mr Robertson said Edinburgh was the 'undisputed centre of the cultural world' this month thanks to its festivals. He added: 'At every stage of their planning and their delivery, Scotland's festivals are renowned for ambition, creativity and excellence at home and overseas. 'As well as their outstanding work on stage, festivals provide hundreds of millions of pounds to the Scottish and local economies, supporting a pipeline of jobs and businesses. 'Festivals, like the entirety of the culture sector, have been hit hard in recent years by a series of challenges. Recovery from the pandemic and addressing the challenges brought by Brexit have been made more difficult by increased costs and inflation, together with a challenging public funding environment. 'The 2025/26 Scottish Budget has provided an important foundation for the work of festivals, recognising the importance of stability and certainty through long term sustained multi-annual funding to support festivals' ambitions for the future. 'Increasing investment in festivals, as part of the biggest ever increase in funding for culture, underlines the value the Scottish Government places on the arts. 'Through this increased investment we want to drive up opportunities for participation in creative pursuits, support the festivals commissions and collaborations on new and exciting works, ensuring Scotland's cultural output have platforms at home and abroad.' A spokesperson for the government said: 'As a result of this year's culture funding uplift, a record number of cultural organisations are now benefitting from multi-year funding, around a third of which run a festivals. 'In total, 251 culture organisations across Scotland, from Argyll and Bute to Shetland, Na h-Eileanan Siar, and the Borders now have stable, year-on-year funding, with 141 of those receiving multi-year funding for the first time, and those previously in the portfolio receiving a significant uplift. 'The Scottish Government has so far provided £2.8 million for the Festivals Expo Fund, £300,000 for the Fringe Society, £300,000 for the Edinburgh International Book Festival's school programme, and £200,000 for Festivals Edinburgh. 'We are committed to expanding the reach of the Expo Fund across the whole of Scotland. 'The culture secretary is working with festivals across the country through the Strategic Festivals Partnership to realise this commitment in the coming months. 'Ministers are committed to delivering the remaining funding promised for festivals this financial year. Details will be announced shortly.'
Edinburgh Reporter
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Reporter
Another successful Children's Festival is over
The Edinburgh International Children's Festival has just finished and has already been declared a major success. The festival was attended by 17,000 people which is an 11% increase from last year, with 87% of all tickets sold, and it will be back next year from 30 May to 7 June 2026. The event began with a packed Family Day at the National Museum of Scotland which was free to attend and which 7,460 people attended. This was followed by a week of shows attended by 3,615 pupils from 41 schools including nursery, primary and secondary schools. Festival Director Noel Jordan, said: 'From uplifting productions celebrating the diversity of our global sector and centred around the perspective and viewpoint of the child, to incredible industry panel discussions and provocations, what a fantastic week this has been. As my final Festival I could not have been prouder. With such an incredible and dedicated team behind it I am sure the Festival will continue to go from strength to strength. Thank you to all our audiences, funders, supporters and performers who make this festival such a joyous experience.' The shows included work from 7 different countries and the premiere of new commission Tongue Twister created and performed by Scottish artist Greg Sinclair and commissioned in partnership with Aberdeen Performing Arts. The show which features Greg attempting to say tongue twisters in as many different languages as possible, delighted its audiences with its language antics and gorgeous costumes. 'That was the bestest show in the world!' (child). Tongue Twister is touring to the Light the Blue Festival this weekend in Aberdeen. The Festival also enjoyed a run of the 2024 'must-see' Fringe show The Show for Young Men performed by Robbie Synge and young performer Alfie exploring topical ideas around masculinity and male friendship, and finished on a high with 6 sell-out performances of Double You, a raucous and high energy circus production from Belgium hosted in Portobello Town Hall. As well as families and schools, the Festival welcomed over 310 delegates from festivals and arts organisations in 30 different countries including Australia, Hungary, Thailand and Norway also attended the Festival. The delegate programme provided a platform for programmers, producers and artists to see and discuss high-quality work, share work in progress and network with peers from all over the world. In addition to the delegates who attended in person, 56 more attended the digital delegate programme online. The much-anticipated new commission the Unlikely Friendship of Feather Boy and Tentacle Girl which unfortunately was cancelled at the last minute due to a performer injury, plans to open in August for this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe as part of the Made in Scotland Showcase. The Edinburgh International Children's Festival will return in 2026 from 30 May to 7 June under new direction, following Noel Jordan's announcement earlier this year that after 10 successful years at the helm, he will be standing down and returning to Australia in November. Imaginate Family Day_National Museum of Scotland_24th May 2025 Counterflows_6 April 2025 Counterflows_6 April 2025 Imaginate Family Day_National Museum of Scotland_24th May 2025 Counterflows_6 April 2025 Counterflows_6 April 2025 Counterflows_6 April 2025 Imaginate Family Day_National Museum of Scotland_24th May 2025 Counterflows_6 April 2025 Young audiences from infancy to S1 at Edinburgh International Children's Festival. Young audiences from infancy to S1 at Edinburgh International Children's Festival. Young audiences from infancy to S1 at Edinburgh International Children's Festival. Young audiences from infancy to S1 at Edinburgh International Children's Festival. Like this: Like Related
The Herald Scotland
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
'A young man in his underpants is not a good look in Catholic Church'
Oran Mor, Glasgow Four stars 'A young man in his underpants is not a good look in the Catholic Church.' So goes one of Mammy Superior's brand spanking new set of commandments down at St Boaby's on the Knob. The gift shop isn't exactly doing a roaring trade under the watchful eye of this holier than thou demagogue and her frisky underling Sister Mary Mary. With the Cambuslang Cat Burglar on the prowl, the Old Relic of St. Boaby's seemingly easy pickings, and Mammy Superior's sights set on the Vatican, however, it's only a matter of time until someone is crucified for their sins. The Lord moves in mysterious ways in James Peake's riotous new comedy for Oran Mor's A Play, a Pie and a Pint season of lunchtime theatre. No sooner is a scurrilous nun-based post Easter farce programmed before real life events in Rome intervene, with the script requiring a couple of respectful tweaks lest assorted plagues fall down on the former church venue. Read more If such incidents recall the sort of stuff the plays of 1960s pop art farceur Joe Orton were drafted on, the content of Peake's script is equally playful in both word and deed. Even the Old Relic of St Boaby's seems to point a finger to Orton's oeuvre. The end result in Laila Noble's increasingly madcap production is an Easter parade of ecclesiastical wordplay, double entendres and one-liners that seem to have been resurrected from the local variety circuit. This makes for a pulpit load of comic salvation on Heather Grace Currie's set, a wilfully cluttered creation that is part place of worship, part charity shop. Laura Lovemore's Sister Mary Mary has a saucy gleam in her eye once Lee Harris' light fingered Craig turns up. Her overtures of long neglected passions simmer into view even after Craig gets the inevitable habit. Pauline Goldsmith's Mammy Superior, meanwhile, barnstorms her way to glory like a manic gazelle in a religious tat shop. While it is unlikely anyone will be saved in this collaboration with Aberdeen Performing Arts, Peake's sitcom style romp has nevertheless tapped into a world where the profane outdoes the sacred in a guffaw-inducing display that leaves him with plenty of material for his next confession. Hallelujah for that.
