Festivals in Edinburgh will share more than £600k of funding from the Scottish government through Creative Scotland as community engagement programme winds down.
© Andrew Perry
Creative Scotland has announced that festivals in Edinburgh will receive an additional £633,396 of funding from the Scottish government to support “continued strategic development activity” and community engagement.
The grants of up to £75k are supplements to the Platforms for Creative Excellence (PlaCE) programme, which will end next month.
PlaCE is a partnership between the Scottish government, the City of Edinburgh Council and the Edinburgh Festivals, which has provided funding of £1m per year since 2018.
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The project was conceived to help the city’s festivals develop long-term programming approaches, increase career development for creatives and young people and build relationships with less engaged communities.
This additional funding has been provided to help festivals in Edinburgh to continue delivering the programme’s activities into next year.
Cuts to arts funding
Leaders from Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), Edinburgh Fringe, and Festivals Edinburgh have been highly critical of cuts in public funding for arts and culture in Scotland after the government decided to proceed with plans to slash funding for Creative Scotland by £6.6m from £63m to £56m – a reduction of more than 10% - despite previously abandoning the proposals.
In a submission to the Scottish parliament’s constitution, Europe, external affairs and culture committee, in September, EIF Director Nicola Benedetti said: “This ongoing constriction of public investment diminishes EIF’s and, therefore, Scotland’s standing on the world stage.
"This is particularly disappointing when recent independent research demonstrates that collectively, Edinburgh’s festivals return £33 for every £1 of public funding invested.”
Committed to culture
Speaking about the additional funding from PlaCE Scottish Culture Minister Christina McKelvie said: "The Scottish government's commitment to investing in arts and culture remains strong, which is why we have continued to provide support, through Creative Scotland, to Edinburgh's festivals.
“Communities right across the city will benefit from almost £640,000 in PLaCE funding. We hope this will allow Festivals to continue their development and deliver more fantastic work in our schools and with our local communities."
Those festivals in receipt of extra PLaCE funding include Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society (£75,000), Edinburgh International Book Festival (£53,450), Edinburgh International Festival (£75,000), Edinburgh International Film Festival (£75,000), Edinburgh International Science Festival (£60,000), Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival (£75,000), Festivals Edinburgh (£19,946), Imaginate (£75,000) and Scottish International Storytelling Festival (£75,000) and Edinburgh Art Festival (£50,000).
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