Tag: Festivals Edinburgh

Festivals Edinburgh appoints new Director

After a worldwide search, Festivals Edinburgh has appointed Lori [Lorraine] Anderson as its new Director, succeeding Julia Amour who is stepping down from the role in October 2024.

Lori Anderson will lead the organisation in the next stage of development, as it takes the steps needed to achieve the ambitions mapped out in the 2030 Festival City Vision.  She brings unique experience to the position most recently as Director of Culture Counts, the network of arts, heritage, and creative industries organisations in Scotland, and previously with Scotland + Venice, Creative Dundee, Collective Gallery, and Museums Galleries Scotland.

Simon Gage, Chair of Festivals Edinburgh said: “Lori joins us at a moment of significant change in our festivals landscape.

“We’ve bounced back from the covid pandemic but remain fragile, as does the wider culture eco-system. There are many challenges to be confronted in the coming years, but also many opportunities to be seized, and in Lori we believe we have found an exceptionally authoritative advocate to help shape our collective future.”

A post-pandemic study has shown that the Edinburgh Festivals are an even stronger draw now thanks to their unique, ‘must see’ reputations, which support the regrowth of jobs and livelihoods. As well as realising more cultural and economic impact with a lower carbon footprint, the Festivals engagement with local communities and schools has also risen by more than a third since 2018.

The new Director will take up her role just as changes are underway in both festivals’ strategies and wider culture & tourism policies, including the planned introduction of a Visitor Levy by City of Edinburgh Council – the first in the United Kingdom – and the national campaign for all political parties to reinvest in culture, building on Scottish Government commitments to increase funding by £100m over coming years.

Commenting on her appointment, Lori Anderson said: “The Edinburgh Festivals are amongst Scotland’s greatest cultural assets, recognised at home and abroad as bringing immense cultural, economic and social value to the country and its people.

“The fragility of our cultural landscape is all too familiar to me, but the agility of the Edinburgh Festivals in responding to change has always impressed me, and I look forward to taking up this crucial role at the heart of the festivals family.”

Platforms for Creative Excellence: Edinburgh festivals receive £633,396

Recognised the world over as platforms of creative excellence, festivals in Edinburgh have received a total of £633,396 of additional funding from the Scottish Government through Creative Scotland to support continued strategic development activity. 

Launched in 2018 and ending in December 2023, the Platforms for Creative Excellence (PlaCE) was developed in partnership with the Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council and Festivals Edinburgh and was designed to help festivals to: 

  • diversify their year-round partnerships with the culture sector across the city and Scotland 
  • drive transformation and creative innovation through long-term programming approaches 
  • increase career and skills development capacity for creatives and young people 
  • build new and lasting relationships with less engaged communities. 

An independent evaluation report from BOP Consulting has found that PlaCE funding played a significant role in festival resilience through the pandemic and 97% of community partners reported high levels of satisfaction from engagement with the festivals.  

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.” 

This additional funding on top of the transformative PlaCE programme will allow festivals in Edinburgh to continue delivery of this strategic development activity into the next year and beyond.  

The following festivals have received this funding: 

Festival Funding amount 
Edinburgh Art Festival £50,000 
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 
Scottish International Storytelling Festival £75,000 
TOTAL £633,396 

Edinburgh Festivals call for exclusion of residents’ homes from short term lets legislation

Appearing today before the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, the Edinburgh Festivals call for the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government to look again at the inclusion of residents’ personal primary homes in the planned short term lets legislation. 

The Festivals welcome plans by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government to extend the licensing date for existing hosts, as a valuable opportunity to reconsider how the national framework is being interpreted across the country, and to adjust provisions at the margins to avoid unintended consequences.

Commenting ahead of her Committee appearance, Julia Amour, Director of Festivals Edinburgh said: “Edinburgh’s Festivals are frustrated at the extent of plans to regulate brief stays in residents’ personal primary homes – compared to commercial secondary lets where we understand the need for regulation – especially when the regulatory plans have no apparent regard to the collection of evidence or the assessment of impact.”

Speaking to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee this morning, Ms Amour will ask Committee members to note the following:

  • Personal primary letting (home-sharing or home-letting) is being conflated with the more complex area of commercial secondary letting whereas it needs to be treated differently
  • Personal primary letting has no effect on the current housing crisis, given that it is simply individuals using their own homes rather than purchasing additional properties 
  • Personal primary letting is being treated similarly to commercial lets, in terms of regulations and costs, having an effect on income opportunities for residents in their own homes during a cost of living crisis
  • The national regulation scheme excludes certain categories (eg visiting homestay students where arrangements have been approved by an educational institution) and so why not others (eg visiting homestay event workers)

The Committee will also be asked to note that although the Cabinet Secretary has said temporary exemptions of up to six weeks do not need to comply with mandatory and additional licence conditions, the City of Edinburgh Council has decided to apply many such conditions to temporary exemptions for primary letting.

Ms Armour said: “These local interpretations highlight that the provision in the framework for local temporary exemptions is not achieving its intended purpose, and we now have an opportunity to look at this again and apply an exclusion at national level.

“The Edinburgh Festivals are concerned that these developments will be a serious disincentive to city residents who want to open their own homes to guests for a brief period.

“Without the use of primary home lets, the Festivals estimate that 27% of people in the city for August peak season would not be able to find accommodation, with such lets of particular importance to the workers, artists and performers who transform Edinburgh into the world-leading festival city.

“The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society estimates a third of their programme could be lost in 2024. This contraction would obviously have a negative impact on the 4,000+ jobs and over £200m in direct additional economic impact which the Festivals bring, as well as weakening the wider leisure and visitor economy employing 44,000 in Edinburgh alone.”

Ms Amour will conclude: “We ask the Committee to recommend that Scottish Government consider excluding primary residential letting activity (home-sharing and home-letting) for major festivals and events from the proposed legislation, in the knowledge that such activity has no effect on the housing crisis in the city and will safeguard the major economic, cultural and social opportunities that the festivals provide to city residents and to Scotland as a whole.”

Bigger than Hogmanay!

Report finds Royal Highland Show contributes more to Edinburgh’s economy than Hogmanay celebrations

An independent economic impact report commissioned by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) has found that the Royal Highland Show contributes £39.5 million annually to Edinburgh’s economy – more than Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations. 

Held every year in June, the event attracts in the region of 200,000 visitors across four days to celebrate the best of Scotland’s food, farming and rural life. Appealing to both rural and urban audiences, the Show is a major marketing platform for producers, exhibitors and businesses from across Scotland and the wider UK. 

Staged in Ingliston at the Royal Highland Centre, the Royal Highland Show sees up to 6,000 animals competing, with other attractions including a food & drink hall, Scotland’s Larder, sheep shearing, musical entertainment, rural crafts, forestry, show jumping, machinery and educational experiences. The Royal Bank of Scotland is a long-term partner of the Show, having been its headline sponsor for 41 years. 

With an average visitor spend of £147, the Show is a key sales opportunity for exhibitors.  Visitors spent more on accommodation (21%) than any other expenditure category, with overnight visitors typically staying in Edinburgh for 2.5 nights. This is closely followed by spending on food and drink on site, and other spending (both 19%). This other spending includes purchases of agricultural equipment. 

This is the first time that the economic impact of the Show has been assessed on a comparable basis to Festivals Edinburgh.

Carried out by BOP Consulting, it finds that the Show generated additional output in Edinburgh of £39.5m – with this corresponding to a Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) employment of 674. The Show has a wide reach, with 74% of visitors travelling from across Scotland to attend. 

Royal Highland Show 2022

RHASS Director of Operations, Mark Currie, commented: “The economic impact and reach of the Royal Highland Show is significant, and this report demonstrates the importance of the Show as one of Scotland’s largest and most well-attended events. 

“Visitors and exhibitors come from far and wide to connect, be entertained, to sell and to buy, and it is widely acknowledged to be the best platform for rural Scottish businesses in the country. 

“We are fortunate to have a loyal and engaged audience, and one that is only growing as the Show evolves into a truly global event – this year more than 200,000 people from around the world tuned in to watch the Show online.” 

The full report can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/RHSreport

The 2023 Royal Highland Show takes place 22nd – 25th June 2023.

For more information, visit royalhighlandshow.org.