Edinburgh festivals to receive £6m government fund

Published Friday 28 March 2008 at 11:10 by Thom Dibdin

Scottish-based artists are to benefit from a £6 million cash pot as the Scottish government announced its support of home-grown work at the Edinburgh festivals over the next three years.

The Edinburgh Festival Expo Fund is the result of an Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to support new productions, events and exhibitions involving Scottish-based participants that premiere at any of the city’s 12 different festivals.

Announcing the cash, culture minister Linda Fabiani said: “One of the key recommendations of Thundering Hooves report into maintaining the global competitive edge of Edinburgh’s festivals was that the festivals should undertake more collaborative projects. The Expo Fund will enable this.

“To give you an example, the Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival of Theatre for Children and Young People will work with Scottish theatre companies to remount and present their work in an international showcase of Scottish theatre for children and young people as part of their 2008 festival programme.”

Although £2 million has been promised annually, only £1.3 million is to be spent in the first year, due to the logistics of setting up new projects. But the balance will be rolled over into subsequent years’ budgets. The money has been allocated according to bids from individual festivals, rather from companies.

While Fabiani refused to be drawn on specific projects, The Stage understands the Edinburgh International Festival has been successful in a bid for a single large production, that would otherwise have been difficult to mount.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe will benefit in a slightly different way from the other festivals, according to its director Jon Morgan.

“As a non-programme festival there will not be an expo fund event during the fringe this year,” Morgan told The Stage. “We think the right way to support and present more work by Scottish Artists in the fringe, is to do so in conjunction with the arts community rather than doing it ourselves. We have been discussing with the Scottish Arts Council and the Federation of Scottish Theatres the best way of making it work.

“There will be a year-round programme of activity as well,” he said. “While it will have its manifestation at the 2009 fringe, we want to start work with artists as soon as September. So we want to announce it in August so that we can then start talking to artists at that point.”