Despite austerity, committing just a fraction of the Scottish Government’s budget to the arts world would reap huge rewards, writes Joyce McMillan.
It always seemed almost too good to be true, the coming of Summerhall, back in 2011. In a UK where the wealthy often seem to prefer to stash their cash in offshore havens, here was one – Robert McDowell, of Edinburgh – who had decided to use his wealth to buy the old Dick Veterinary School building, a huge and rambling complex of clashing architectures on Edinburgh’s south side, and to operate it as an arts centre and music venue, complete with cafe-bars and glorious outdoor spaces.
The venue’s history has been a financial and organisational roller-coaster, of course; yet it it has also emerged as perhaps the leading venue on the contemporary Edinburgh Fringe, and a vital and much loved year-round cultural and social hub in Edinburgh... Keep reading on The Scotsman.
It always seemed almost too good to be true, the coming of Summerhall, back in 2011. In a UK where the wealthy often seem to prefer to stash their cash in offshore havens, here was one – Robert McDowell, of Edinburgh – who had decided to use his wealth to buy the old Dick Veterinary School building, a huge and rambling complex of clashing architectures on Edinburgh’s south side, and to operate it as an arts centre and music venue, complete with cafe-bars and glorious outdoor spaces.
The venue’s history has been a financial and organisational roller-coaster, of course; yet it it has also emerged as perhaps the leading venue on the contemporary Edinburgh Fringe, and a vital and much loved year-round cultural and social hub in Edinburgh... Keep reading on The Scotsman.