The Stage

EIF’s £1m debt “will be recouped”

Published Tuesday 21 February 2006 at 13:15 by Nuala Calvi

Edinburgh International Festival management has revealed the organisation is £1 million in the red, largely due to losses made on the record number of self-produced shows in last year’s programme.

Despite selling 13% more tickets than the previous year, the EIF took less money than budgeted for in 2005 because of a “huge” take-up of discounts and special offers designed to attract audiences from more diverse backgrounds.

It must now recoup £850,000 invested in six productions, including John Adams’ opera The Death of Klinghoffer and David Harrower’s Blackbird, through future exploitation of the shows.

Managers are banking on the variety tribute Nuts CocoNuts following Blackbird into the West End and a possible film or TV adaptation of Shan Kahn’s Prayer Room, while Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River has already been sold to a major European opera house.

An EIF spokeswoman said: “The spend on these productions naturally appears in the accounts for the 2005 Festival, but any return on that investment through future exploitation of the shows will appear in both the 2006 Festival accounts and for years to come. Therefore we are currently showing a negative figure.

“We always aim to balance the budget over a number of years. We knew we were investing in new productions and that we would have to wait to receive all the financial benefits these might bring.”

Last year was the first that EIF heavily invested in making its own productions, in a bid to launch itself as a producing festival in the face of competition from around the UK and increased access to European cultural events thanks to cheap flights.

This year it will opt instead for more co-productions, enabling both the required investment and potential risks to be shared. Details of the shows are due to be announced next month.

News of EIF’s trading deficit comes despite a £300,000 cash injection from the Scottish Executive and £300,000 from the City of Edinburgh Council’s City Growth Fund last year. However, the council argues that the festival should be supported as a national event by the Executive.

The spokeswoman added: “Being able to plan properly with confirmed levels of support is vital to continuing the Festival’s success. We welcome all discussion about how the Festival can be properly supported, to help secure the financial future of the event.”