Festivals

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has revealed a new sponsorship deal with JetBlue.

The deal involves JetBlue supporting the Fringe Society’s Keep It Fringe US fund. Launched in April, the scheme aims to raise $350,000 to support 50 US-based artists to perform at the festival in 2025.

The partnership follows a new route launched by the American airline to the Scottish Capital. 

Shona McCarthy, Fringe Society Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with JetBlue, whose value offering for transatlantic travellers will hopefully make it easier and more affordable for US artists and performing arts pioneers to visit Edinburgh."

More than 100 performers have cancelled appearances at the Great Escape music festival in Brighton in protest over claims that event sponsor Barclays Bank has increased its investment in arms companies that trade with Israel.

According to a report in The Guardian, 120 acts, around a quarter of those booked, have now backed out of performing as part of a campaign led by activist group Bands Boycott Barclays.

In April, the group sent an open letter signed by hundreds of musicians, including Massive Attack, Idles, and Eno, calling for Barclays to drop as the festival's partner.

A spokesperson for Bands Boycott Barclays said: “Barclays is bankrolling the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and then laundering its reputation by partnering with music festivals like the Great Escape. As musicians, we think that’s despicable.”

Barclays noted a previous statement from its annual general meeting: “Barclays is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ … in relation to these companies. We trade in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand, and that may result in us holding shares.”

Leaders of the Cheltenham Paint Festival have launched a fundraising appeal after Arts Council England (ACE) turned down their application for National Lottery Project Funding.

Writing on Facebook, the team behind the free annual event said: "After our 2023 event, the South West Director of the Arts Council of England, Phil Gibby, visited the festival and could not believe they weren't funding us and persuaded me to go for funding for the next event. Despite that, we have been turned down by them yet again.

"Sadly, this puts us in the position of, once again, asking you wonderful supporters to step in where they've failed."

Speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, festival Founder Andy Davies said: "I accept there's a process and it's hard times, and an increasingly larger amount of people are applying for an increasingly smaller amount of money.

"But what's galling is, having looked at [the projects ACE] does support...they are ticketed and gated, they have funds coming in.

"As a free arts festival, we don't have a gate, we can't charge people to get in to the town and it's very difficult to run without that sort of resource."

Davies also suggested that the perception of Cheltenham as being wealthy had been detrimental to his bid. 

The event was cancelled in 2023 due to a lack of funds but went ahead after a successful public appeal. Since its launch on 14 April, the current appeal has raised £1,890 toward a £20,000 target. 

ACE commented: "We're pleased to have supported Cheltenham Paint Festival on a number of occasions in the past, but the National Lottery Project Grants programme is highly competitive, and regrettably, there are always many more good applications than the Arts Council can fund.

"While the Festival's most recent application was unsuccessful, we welcome future submissions and remain in close contact with cultural stakeholders in the area."

Separately, The Elgar Festival has also asked for public donations after ACE cut its project funding by 40% to £29,999.

Kenneth Woods, Elgar Festival's Artistic Director, said: "ACE is operating under really difficult funding restraints which have built up over more than a decade of standstill revenues.

“But they have also made a number of strategic decisions to shift investment away from traditional art forms into community work, non-traditional art forms, urban renewal and social justice.

"All of these are worthwhile endeavours, but the Arts Council is the only dedicated state funder of the arts serving English communities and supporting English artists and arts organisations."

An Arts Council England spokesperson said: “Arts Council England is absolutely committed to creative excellence, in all the shapes and sizes it comes in, and across all the arts organisations, museums and libraries in which we invest. 

“We have a longstanding relationship with the festival and have awarded them £143,000 worth of public money since 2019, via our National Lottery project funding.

“Competition for this particular fund is very high and funding does not roll over from one project to another, nor is it guaranteed year after year. To that end, it is testament to the strength of Elgar Festival’s offering that we have been able to invest in them as often as we have.”

Two of Belfast’s biggest outdoor music events generated £30.8m for Northern Ireland's economy, a study has found.

According to an independent report, the 2023 editions of Belsonic Festival at Ormeau Park and Emerge Music Festival in Boucher Fields, also created nearly 6,000 paid employment opportunities.

Northern Ireland's Economy Minister Conor Murphy said: "Events such as Belsonic and Emerge are considerable economic drivers providing a much needed boost for our local tourism and hospitality industry.

"Employing thousands of people each year, they also engender a feel good factor and a sense of pride that shouldn’t be underestimated."

Two literary festivals in Glasgow have been cancelled after a funding application to Creative Scotland was unsuccessful.

Glasgow Life, the charity that runs the Aye Write and Wee Write festivals, said the events will not take place this year after it failed to secure financial support from the public body.

"While bids from events for funding support continue to exceed monies available—especially during the current difficult economic climate—some events will inevitably miss out, and we recognise that decision-making around funding award recipients is extremely challenging," the charity's website said.

"Unfortunately, our 2024 funding application to Creative Scotland was not successful, so Aye Write and Wee Write will not be able to take place as festivals this year."

The charity added that it will organise some pop-up events during 2024 and develop its funding application for next year.

Scottish authors have been among those raising concerns about the situation.

Val McDermid said it was “profoundly depressing” that Glasgow “cannot sustain a book festival”, while Stuart called it “unacceptable”. O’Hagan said the cancellation is “savage, and it shouldn’t be happening”.

Douglas Stuart also said there was “righteous outrage” over the cancellation.

“I have watched in horror, as Scotland has haggled over funding for the arts, has closed her libraries, and now has allowed the cancellation of a major literary festival in her largest city,” he posted on X.