FESTIVALS AND THE CITY

THE EDINBURGH FESTIVALS STRATEGY

June 2001

This report was researched and written by Graham Devlin Associates It was commissioned and funded by City of Edinburgh Council with financial support from the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian

Foreword
As the recently appointed Festivals and Events Champion for the city, I am delighted to welcome the publication of the Festivals Strategy. This document highlights the commitment the Council, the festivals and a wide range of partners have made to developing and enhancing the citys festivals. First and foremost, the festivals are important because they enrich our lives. But they also generate a large amount of cultural tourism, which makes a significant contribution to the economic wellbeing of Edinburgh and of Scotland as a whole. I view my role of Festivals and Events Champion as an exciting challenge and look forward to working with the festivals and other key partners to take forward the recommendations made by the Strategy.

Councillor Steve Cardownie Executive Member for Leisure and Culture Festivals/Events Champion

LIST OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY INTRODUCTION PART 1 THE CONTEXT 1.1 Why does Edinburgh need a Festivals Strategy? 1.2 Tomorrows world 1.3 Starting from today 1.4 Impacts 1.5 Comparators PART 11 THE VISION 2.1 The need for a shared vision 2.2 The vision 2.3 The practical application of the vision 2.4 Strategic objectives PART 111 THE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES 3.1 To sustain and develop a range of high quality festivals or festival-related events mainly concentrated in August but also taking place throughout the year 3.2 To develop the audience for the festival programme through advocacy, promotion and marketing 3.3 To increase the engagement of Edinburghs citizens with the festivals, and the benefit they get from them 3.4 To strengthen and clarify relationships within and between the festivals and the Council 3.5 To develop a strategic framework for the allocation and, where appropriate, the sharing of resources PART IV RECOMMENDATIONS Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4 Appendix 5 Brief to consultants List of documentation researched Individuals and groups consulted Plenary/Working group membership Festival factsheets

Page number i 1 4 7 11 18 24 30 31 32 34 36 50 62 72 85 92 101 105 107 111 113 128 129

ACTION PLAN Introduction Implementation Table

FESTIVALS AND THE CITY THE EDINBURGH FESTIVALS STRATEGY

SUMMARY
Context This Festivals Strategy has been developed in tandem with an Events Strategy for the city. These two documents should be read as sibling documents and implemented on a co-ordinated and integrated basis. Background Edinburgh is host to fifteen national and international festivals, as well as several community and participative festivals. The festivals are a vitally important part of Edinburgh's life, with principal impacts lying in the areas of cultural, social and economic benefit and civic profile. City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) recognises this importance, funding them to the tune of about 2.2m in 1999/2000 and they are also supported, in varying degrees, by SE Edinburgh and Lothian and the Scottish Arts Council. Compared with their peers in the UK and internationally, the festivals provide very good value to the city. Festivals with the turnover of Edinburgh's would, on a national average, expect to receive about 300k more in local subsidy while, internationally, public support accounts for approximately 42% of major European festivals budgets (against EIF 35.4%). Smaller festivals receive about 35% (Edinburgh 28%) and Fringe Festivals 11% (7%). Australian and even American festivals also enjoy a greater proportion of public support. Edinburgh cannot afford to be complacent about its place in the international festivals' marketplace. It must respond to external issues (such as an increasingly cash-rich/time poor society, the increased competition for leisure spending, and the current strength of the pound) and specific factors (e.g. the perception that a visit to Edinburgh in summer is becoming too expensive, or concerns about the quality of some areas of festival activity). The festivals will also need to take account of emerging demographic and cultural trends if they are to optimise their position over the next few years, including the possibility that changed audience expectations and demands will require different approaches to programming. The festival year Suggestions have been made by Council and other sources for a number of new festivals which might be created to fill festival-free parts of the Edinburgh year. These include Sport, Visual Arts, Food and Drink, and Dance. In addition, there could be a role for a new, re-focused Folk Festival. Expansion of the festival programme should, however, be approached with caution for a number of reasons: Funding need implications Impact on year-round cultural provision Limit of the potential available audience The need for fallow periods between festivals Loss of specialness

Losing residents sympathy through disruption to their quality of life.

Whilst CEC should be wary of creating or supporting new festivals before securing and stabilising the existing framework it could consider helping forward a new festival which met a number of essential criteria. Most existing festivals have chosen their present dates for good reason, and any re-scheduling would need to be supported by a cost benefit analysis. In practice, there are two windows in the year for additional festivals the late autumn, leading up to Christmas and the spring period around Easter. In the autumn, it might be possible to create a longer winter celebration of traditional arts, based on the Story-telling Festival and involving a revived Folk Festival and/or the Edinburgh Mela. The spring might also provide a home for a revived Folk or traditional arts Festival - or a new festival proposition. The festivals currently in this period have strong family appeal and attract local audiences; any additional festival might benefit from being compatible with that image, and should add positively to the critical mass. It is too early to come to a considered conclusion about the consequences of the Fringe's change in dates. Audiences for both Fringe and EIF will need to be monitored over the next 2-3 years whilst other activity is developed for the weeks when the two do not overlap. Edinburgh can also nurture greater diversity and quality throughout the year via: Collaborations between its cultural institutions including festivals Out-of-festival return visits from festival artists On-touring of festival events, locally and nationally The development of cultural weekends which target the short breaks market (in the OctoberMarch period) The proposed establishment of a well-maintained, accurate and easily accessible clash diary of events Dialogue with the Scottish Executive ministerial task force to promote cultural tourism Audiences, information and infrastructure About 1,266,000 tickets are sold for five summer festivals and around 400,000 of the citys annual visitors are attracted, to a significant extent, by the festival programme. There is a widelyheld public perception that, in the summer, a single Edinburgh Festival takes place. The critical mass of the summer festivals (including free events and galleries) is a vital component in their success, to be maintained and strengthened through additional support. For example, The Audience Business (TAB) research suggests developing a focus on the international marketplace for the second part of the summer festival period. Two important messages to be disseminated locally and further afield are that: The summer festivals attract a large, comparatively high-spending raft of visitors from all over the world and provide considerable economic benefit to the city. The spring festivals, whilst not generating the same level of inward investment, attract a more local, family-based clientele and fulfil important goals in terms of local engagement and social inclusion.

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The City could spread these messages through a coordinated campaign of advocacy and public relations, including linking its name with the festivals through its brand for target markets. The strength of such communication would be helped by the production of new and accurate data on these benefits, both economic and non-economic. TAB is beginning to address the city's historically inadequate market research base in order to ensure that more dependable data is collected on a consistent basis. The citys capacity to market the festivals relies in large part on the quality of the festival experience, and a competitive approach to pricing, both of festival events and of other aspects of visiting the city (including hotels, car parking etc). It is important that the Council - with Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG) continues to monitor and analyse developments affecting tourism as it is now doing through the creation of an Events/Festivals sub-group within ETAG. This will facilitate a stronger dialogue between festivals and the tourism industry. In approaching all such issues, the Festival Strategy will be integrated with the Events Strategy. Information held by different Council departments should be coordinated into a more readilyaccessible resource whilst a closer working relationship between CEC and the festivals could also help the festivals to manage their own information resources. In addition, the future of the Councils own ticketing operation needs to be monitored and ways of facilitating compatibility between festival box office systems explored. There is a belief among festivals that some venues are insufficiently equipped to cater for their needs (and that the city needs an additional 500-seat venue). Any investment programme would need to be based on an analysis of the tangible benefits. CEC will also need to work closely with the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and other potential host venues to ensure that the facilities and activities offered by the city to the more industry-related festivals (e.g. Television) remain at the forefront of this market There is some disquiet about the cost of renting CEC owned venues. This situation has also been addressed in the draft Events Strategy which recommends that: The Council.. reconsider the charging policy [towards].. its own venues". This report endorses that recommendation. The look of the city during festivals (banners, street advertising etc.) is very important in creating the requisite sense of excitement and buzz. CEC have recently taken the lead role in this area and should develop its intervention further. Edinburgh's citizens and the festivals Currently, the festivals all attract a significant local public as well as visitors to the city, spread across the social classes with AB and C1 attenders comprising over 75% of the total. Many factors affect the public perception of festivals accessibility, including: The range of programme content Ticket pricing and purchasing arrangements: Relevance, appeal, and accessibility of marketing material: Timing of events (including relationship with school holidays). Accessibility of venue by car and public transport: Location and venue facilities: Arrangements for disability access: City centre management issues, such as street lighting iii

To extend their reach into Edinburghs communities, the festivals run active education and outreach programmes, some of which occur within the main festival periods. Much of this outreach work takes place outwith the city centre, although most public events during the festivals take place in central venues. For festivals to extend outreach into communities beyond the city centre, invitations and/or integral connection with the local culture should be sought. Such connection could be facilitated by: Linking festival artists with other year-round organisations' outreach programmes Extending the outreach programmes of festivals where there is no year-round organisation better placed to do it. Complementing the year-round work of other agencies in festival time Developing a specific relationship between a festival and a community arts development organisation Sharing databases and mailing lists with others Pursuing connections with the informal education sector Continuing support for and communications with the community festivals The Capital City Partnerships recently commissioned study into arts development in five priority areas may identify new opportunities for the festivals to increase their effective work in the area of social inclusion. The contribution of the festivals to the Councils Community Learning Strategy, which acknowledges the important role arts organisations will play in delivering its aims, should be explored further. Festivals may also be able to address social inclusion through training and employment initiatives, perhaps in collaboration with Capital City Challenge and SE Edinburgh and Lothian. . In any such initiatives, ongoing festival needs should be borne in mind: Core and project funding for such work Specialist advice to festivals about selection of schools with which to work Contact points for community education work Information about training programmes into which the festivals could link The festivals have the potential (and, with additional resourcing, the capacity) to contribute more in the areas of outreach, education and training. They would like to explore the following possibilities: The creation of a common database of casual workers A map of the temporary employment needs of the festivals through the year Inter-festival contracts to provide continuous employment for short-term employees Accreditation for festival volunteers Joint volunteer training initiatives including fire prevention, customer care Links to an arts management training course at, for example, QMUC, involving festival management staff, and providing festival work experience The festivals sector could also work with the Council in areas of professional development, training and life-long learning. Many of the Councils staff working in this area are highly skilled. These qualities could be preserved and disseminated through training and apprenticeships for other staff, including secondments, monitoring and exchanges.

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To pursue fully the training and education opportunities identified in this study, the festivals need to agree their priority activities, the skills and information required and the potential funding sources for their implementation, perhaps accessing CEC resources for some specific initiatives which could acting as a trigger for additional investment from other social-inclusion centred agencies. Relationships There is much more co-operation between festivals than ten years ago. Festival representatives meet collaboratively through the Joint Festivals Working Group (JFWG), TAB and Edinburgh and Lothian Tourist Board. These fora should be maintained and strengthened, while channels of communication between them and the CEC need to become clearer. This would be helped by a simplification of CEC structures with regard to the festivals; specifically by the creation of a onestop shop (festivals unit) to deal with all independent festivals. A senior CEC elected member could be identified as the festivals champion, responsible for advocacy and overview both within and outside the Council. Clarity would also be aided by the publication of a protocol about the role of elected Councillors on boards. JFWG members need to spend time thinking together about potential resource sharing, including the possibilities of collaborations between smaller sub-groups of festivals. If festival groupings develop particular projects and initiatives, they may require additional resources to carry them out. Some project investment from the Council and/or SAC or SE Edinburgh and Lothian may be appropriate for a variety of initiatives Since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, a new range of relationships has been developing. These relationships will evolve over time and need to be nurtured and monitored by regular meetings between CEC, the Scottish Executive, SAC, tourism agencies and SE Edinburgh and Lothian. Once a strategic framework for the support and development of festivals has been agreed, it will be possible to link decision-making about the festivals to the desired strategic outcomes. CEC could clarify the position by making explicit the criteria by which festivals are assessed. The consequent financial relationship should then be expressed through funding agreements reflected in a three-year business plan. The Council and SE Edinburgh and Lothian should work with the festivals to develop relationships with the private sector by establishing best practice from other cities, identifying benchmarks and maximising the benefit that can be gained form them, and constantly reviewing the issue of private sector funding opportunities. Outcomes, Quality and Resources Different festivals have different impacts. CEC, in implementing the Festivals Strategy, must avoid the temptation to see the outcomes of the festivals in purely (or even predominantly) economic terms. While every festival must have identified cultural outcomes and associated criteria, some will offer only marginal economic benefit and others may have less obvious social impact. It is neither possible nor desirable for all festivals to be assessed against the same absolute standard. However, CEC should apply a set of consistent but flexible criteria to them.

The festivals provide economic, cultural and social benefit considerably in excess of the sums invested. It is impossible to produce an arithmetic formula to prescribe the investment required to produce particular outcomes. It may, therefore, be more useful to try to base assessment of the festivals overall financial needs on their position in the national and international marketplace. Comparisons indicate that: To attain the mean investment (as a proportion of turnover) of other British festivals, CEC would need to invest an additional c300k To match the European averages, the national and local funding bodies would need to invest an additional 520k To restore the festivals funding to their 1995/96 levels (the last year before unitary authority status), the funders would need to find an additional 340k, in addition to the additional 100k awarded to EIF for 2001/02. These indicators all suggest that the Edinburgh festivals as a group receive significantly less investment than their peers and, indeed, considerably less than in the past. If the festivals are to retain their edge of attractiveness and competitiveness, this imbalance will need to be addressed. Any additional funds should be apportioned on the basis of a detailed assessment of the needs and quality of each festival.

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INTRODUCTION
Preface
1. We have been invited by City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) to undertake a review of the existing festivals in the city and to develop a strategy for the further development of Edinburgh as a Festival City. For the purposes of this study, we are concentrating on the following: Edinburghs Hogmanay The Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival of the Environment The Edinburgh Folk Festival1 The Edinburgh International Book Festival The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) The Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festival The Edinburgh International Science Festival The Edinburgh Mela The Edinburgh Puppet Animation Festival The Edinburgh Tattoo The Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival The Scottish International Childrens Festival The Scottish International Storytelling Festival2 In addition, we recognise the significance of community festivals within the citys cultural ecology, the contributions of the Fiddle and Harp Festivals, and the desire in some quarters to encourage and develop new festivals to complement the existing provision. Our full brief is contained in Appendix I.

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Methodology
4. In undertaking this research, we reviewed existing documentation (listed in Appendix II) and carried out a number of individual and group interviews (listed in Appendix III). The work was guided by a steering group made up of representatives from the festivals and from the funding stakeholders, chaired by CEC Director of Recreation (Appendix IV). It should be noted here that this report sets out to be a strategic overview of the Edinburgh festivals ecology. It is not intended to focus judgementally on individual festivals. It would not, therefore, be appropriate to analyse individual festivals' performance or their cost-centres in order to suggest particular rationalisations or savings.

5.

Background
6. In 1999 the Council approved a Cultural Policy for the City, to form the bedrock for the development of the Councils current and future artform strategies. The Festivals Strategy will be a key tool in the implementation of this policy, alongside the existing

1 2

Ceased trading in 1999 For brief descriptions of each festival, see Appendix V

Music and Theatre Strategies. This document has been developed during summer 2000, at the same time as two other strategies which impact profoundly on it the Scottish Executives National Cultural Strategy and CECs Events Strategy (currently in draft). We have also drawn on a concurrent research study on the shape of British Arts Festivals being undertaken on behalf of the British Arts Festivals Association by Phyllida Shaw and Keith Allen. We are grateful to them for sharing their interim results with us. 7. The Events Strategy, by its nature, will cover much similar ground to the present document. In practice, festivals should be regarded as a particular type of event and so most of the recommendations in the draft Events Strategy should be seen to apply to them. As annual landmarks with national and international significance, however, the festivals should also be acknowledged as the jewels in the events crown with some additional needs, and bringing with them some particular issues. The Festivals Strategy must, therefore, be seen in conjunction with the Events Strategy. Its articulation and implementation will be highly dependent on the vital groundwork done by the Events Strategy interdepartmental working group and the two should be managed and developed in a wholly integrated manner. This document will, accordingly, refer frequently to the Events Strategy. The National Cultural Strategy was published towards the end of our consultation process and has proved very useful in identifying some of the key organising principles which underpin the Scottish Executives approach to culture, in particular its beliefs that: Participation in cultural activities can improve the quality of life of individuals and communities, promote social inclusion, raise self-esteem and confidence, and widen horizons. Culture is at the heart of education The creativity of citizens is a key national resource Disability should be no barrier to cultural access National and local cultural organisations need to work in partnership with the community from which their audience is drawn These principles will also underlie the Festivals Strategy. In addition, it should be noted that the Scottish Executive is encouraging local authorities to develop cultural strategies, an initiative in which Edinburgh is very much in the lead. Finally it should be noted that CEC, in common with other local authorities, has had to operate over recent years within strict financial constraints. Despite this, the various departments of the Council have maintained their commitment to the cultural sector and to the festivals in particular. Indeed, the current study is itself an indication of that commitment, for which the Recreation Department and the Council are to be congratulated.

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Report Structure
12. This report is structured in four parts: Part I provides some context for the development of the strategy, including observations about the historical, current and possible future environment in which the Edinburgh festivals operate. It also offers an analysis of the different sorts of impacts that the festivals have, and makes some comparisons with other British and international festivals. Part II sets out a vision for the future of the festivals in the city, arising from the analysis in Part I. Part III focuses on five key strategic objectives which flow from the vision and identifies a number of tasks under each objective Part 1V summarises the recommendations arising from Part II and suggests an implementation programme.

The Big Idea?

13. Strategic documents are often commissioned when the organisation or activity to which they pertain is in difficulty. The commissioner is looking for A Big Idea to bale it out of trouble. The present case is, however, somewhat different. The research process has not uncovered any horror stories. Rather, it has confirmed what most outside observers would automatically assume that the Edinburgh festivals are a success story of a high order and the Council is supportive of them. Consequently, whilst this report makes a number of specific recommendations, its big idea is a very simple one. The festivals should be celebrated and enthusiastically supported by the city, the statutory authorities and funding bodies. To that end: The relationship between the festivals and CEC should be rationalised and made more transparent; and The funding agencies should continue to explore a range of ways through which to support the festival sector (including the option of increased resources) in order to offer it the opportunity to develop in an international marketplace that is becoming increasingly competitive.

PART I THE CONTEXT

1.1
14. 15.

Why Does Edinburgh Need a Festivals Strategy?

At the outset, we should ask why Edinburgh needs a strategy for its festivals. And, indeed, what is the value of festivals? Throughout the world, festivals have proved one of the great cultural success stories of the last twenty-five years. In Salzburg and Sydney, Holland and Hong Kong, Adelaide and Aix, cities, governments and the private sector have all invested in creating, sustaining and developing a wide range of festivals in order to reap a number of benefits. These include: improvements to the quality of life in the city creative activity the growth of audiences the creation of partnerships recreational and educational opportunities economic and social benefits national and international profile-raising; and meeting civic objectives As an example, Georges Freche, ex-deputy mayor of Montpelier in France has explained how the creation in 1981 of a Dance Festival in his small city (population 208,000) has attracted visitors, caused a summer school to be initiated, led to the establishment of performing arts courses at the local University and helped grow the student population to 45,000. As a direct result, theatre-going in Montpelier tripled in seven years and M. Freche concludes that the citys economic policies and well-being now rely to a large extent on its cultural life. Dance and the Festival are, in M Freches view, vote-winners3. Similarly, the new Mayor of London stated at the outset of his term that he regarded festivals as being vital to the quality of life in the city and to its tourism appeal. The cultural strategy for London, currently being developed will undoubtedly pay considerable attention to this area. (Incidentally, as a consequence of this perception, it is highly likely that London could become a significant competitor in the international festivals arena). At a different level, the city of Salzburg regards its Festival as the most important factor in its economy, claiming that it employs 4,000 people during the summer whilst the largest private enterprise in Austria, Porsche Holdings employs only 1,400 in the city and province. The Salzburg Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Economics at the University have calculated that the Festival causes additional turnover in Austria of 2.5bn schillings (c 111m) in support of which the city and state cover the Festivals deficit, resulting in subsidies of 177.2m schillings in 1999 (about 7.9m)4. Edinburgh holds a special place in this story. As one contributor to this project observed: The city is the Festival; the Festival is the city. Edinburgh is the city of the Enlightenment with magnificent architecture providing a backdrop for a plethora of

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from an interview quoted in Stepping Forward, ACGBs strategy for dance in the 1990s. See also Part 1Section 1.5

exciting and popular festivals unmatched in the UK or Europe. Indeed, during August the city becomes effectively the cultural capital of the world. As a result, there are many throughout the world who know Edinburgh primarily (if not solely), through its image as a Festival City. That image brings with it associations of sophistication, modernity, civilisation and attractiveness. It undoubtedly helps make the city a desirable place to live. 20. Since the creation of the International Festival (EIF) in 1947, Edinburgh has been a trailblazer. In subsequent years, the following festivals have been created in the city. All, other than the two marked with an asterix, were started with the support (and, in some cases at the instigation) of the Council: Fringe Film Tattoo Television* Jazz and Blues Folk Harp* Book Puppet Animation Science Children Environment Hogmanay Storytelling Mela Fiddle Capital Christmas So successful have these initiatives been that, around the world, a number of cities have developed festivals based on the Edinburgh model. There are, for example, Fringes in Adelaide and Toronto and Science Festivals in Canberra, Luxembourg and Pittsburgh (while the Tattoo has even exported itself to New Zealand) and the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which has enjoyed a longer unbroken run than any, is one of the premiere non-competitive film festivals in the world. The Council has long recognised the importance of the festivals sector. Despite the stringent pressures on its budgets over recent years (exacerbated by the move to unitary status in 1996), the Council has continued to fund the festivals to the tune of about 2.2m in 1999/2000. In addition, CEC plays a number of other different roles. At different times and in relation to different festivals, CEC is licensing authority, landlord, creator (the Science Festival), direct promoter (the Festival of the Environment), partner with commercial agencies (Hogmanay), provider of infrastructure, grant-giver (ranging from 300 to the Fiddle Festival to 1.174m to EIF), provider of advice and the representative of the citizenry. As part of their monitoring role, Council officers act as observers at many of the festivals board meetings, whilst in a number of cases elected members serve on the boards of festivals. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the complexity of all these roles, the Councils relationship with its Festivals has not, to date, been fully co-ordinated. At present, as the 5

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draft Events Strategy points out, there is no strategic framework operating for the events programme for the city. in order to provide for the continued success of Edinburgh as an event centre, but also to guide and secure its future development, there is a need for an overall strategic framework. 25. Despite this, Edinburgh is well placed to explore the possibilities offered by the festivals sector. Whilst most cities in the UK are only now beginning to take on board the growing economic, social and educational significance of cultural activity, CEC has already undertaken a number of important pieces of research and strategic planning in the cultural field. A Festivals Strategy should be a vital - if not the most vital - element in that mosaic, especially given the enormous social and economic benefits that accrue to the city through the festivals. The Council should, however, be wary of making too many demands on the festivals, which are only a (very important) part of the citys cultural ecology. A robust festival sector can only exist in the context of a healthy year-round cultural provision. It is not realistic to expect the festivals alone to deliver all the Councils cultural, social and economic objectives. In this context, it is worth noting that the 1996 CEFRAC study for the European Commission on The Economic Impact on Employment of Ten Festivals in Europe concluded that: 1. The social and economic feedback of a festival town is organised around an artistic coherence which exceeds the time limits of the festival. The more this coherence is planned and structured, the greater are the chances of economic development downstream, whether linked to culture or not. 2. The most beneficial economic impact and employment for the community should reside in the durable establishment of the [festival]. 28. From this, we can suggest that: The festivals economic and cultural success will be significantly enhanced by a strategic approach. Festivals must be closely linked to the rest of the citys annual cultural provision and given a degree of continuity and security. Later sections of this report will consider these issues in more detail. Before that, however, we will consider the broader context in which an Edinburgh Festivals Strategy will operate, looking at both the future and the present situation.

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1.2

Tomorrows World

General Trends 29. The attempt to predict the future can be one of the most vainglorious activities in which we can indulge. Many have tried; and some have hit the mark roughly. In 1902, for example, H.G. Wells predicted (while acknowledging that his prophecy would invite ridicule) that by 1980 aircraft would be able to fly at 100-130 m.p.h. Fifty-five years later the Astronomer Royal dismissed the idea of space flight as bunk two weeks before the USSR launched Sputnik I. Most famously perhaps, a British Government briefing note at the end of World War II (following the success of Enigma et al.) advised that computers would become so important that by the end of the century, every nation will have one. 30. It is clear from these examples that even the most perceptive of futurologists may not get the detail quite right. Nevertheless, an element of crystal-ball-gazing is advisable if we are to avoid developing a strategy that will be out of joint with its times. In terms of developing a Festivals Strategy, it is, accordingly, important to ask how peoples leisure habits will change over the next few years. The Henley Centre has recently undertaken a survey to consider this question5. It concludes that: Money/wealth: The majority of the UK is getting richer (with 40% more disposable income in the last 15 years and an anticipated 150% increase between 1976 and 2009) 77% of all social classes say there are no material comforts missing from their lives In 1997, for the first time, we spent more on leisure than food. Leisure/work: There is a growing choice of options for spending leisure time However, whilst money has become more available, time has become scarcer with 63% complaining that they do not have enough time to get things done The UK has the longest working week in Europe with people only having an average of 60 hours free time per week and time pressure is greatest on high-income groups As a consequence, value for time is becoming as important a concept as value for money. Price will continue to be a factor, but 'value' will be a subtler, more pervasive driver and will be assessed by a wider range of criteria. Far fewer people will be in full-time employment (45% in 2010 compared with 62% in 1996) - with traditional working patterns shifting to a variety of more flexible models. People/behaviour: Demographically, the population is changing with 5% fewer people aged under 34 in 2010 and 28% more over 55. Predictions about the expectations and behaviour of artists and audiences on the basis of their age will become increasingly unreliable6. The population will be increasingly diverse and individual. Increasing choice, raised expectations and greater wealth for certain sections of the population will lead to an increasing sense of exclusion for others.

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The Arts Landscape in 2010; Henley Centre, December 1999. The Age Shift, Ageing Population Panel, Foresight, 1999

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Communications/new media: There are more means of receiving information and communicating with other people than ever. Life is faster and more connected, we are building communities around shared interests as much as around geographical location. The generations brought up with digital media will be more visually literate, have greater facility with scanning large quantities of data and with handling fast cuts and edits. More demanding audiences will want special experiences and high impact art in short bursts. We will be less generous about seeing potential in emerging or second rate work We will be more demanding in other ways. Digital interactivity such as DVD already offers us choice of viewing angle. Will we continue to be as accepting of the artist's right to select our viewpoint? All these factors suggest a world in which a large number of people will have more money to spend but less time in which to do so. They will also form an older, far less homogenous market than at present and this heterogeneity will be fed by the exponential increase in media available to occupy their leisure time. The following demonstrates how that supply has grown in recent years: Magazine titles Singles Released Albums released Multiplex sites Commercial radio channels CD-Rom titles Web Pages TV channels 1988/89 2,042 3,932 8,752 14 60 390 0 4 1997/98 2,438 5,928 18,386 118 188 16,762 132m 60+

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Despite this enormous increase, however, the time spent in consuming these media has remained roughly constant, which re-emphasises the increasingly competitive nature of the leisure market. Some of the implications, as drawn by the Henley Centre, are: People no longer want to sit still for four hours Instead, they will look for art in short bursts They will become cultural snackers Value-for-time media will become increasingly attractive Flexible opening and programming times will become essential In addition, a further logical inference from all this data is that, in future, the public will be increasingly hungry for the Special experience, the remarkable moment that remains in the memory for years. This may take the form of a 24-hour Monet exhibition, a fifteen minute performance on a river, or an all-day epic cycle of Greek tragedy but it is unlikely to be a run-of-the-mill show. The demarcation between production and consumption is shifting too. "We are increasingly implicated in producing what we consume . Consumption is becoming more interactive and often the last stage of the production process."7 In cultural terms,

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Charles Leadbeater; Living on Thin Air; Penguin, 1999

this trend suggests that increased participation may be the order of the day, rather than the more passive reception of prepared product. 40. These conclusions seem to suggest that festivals, which should, by their very nature, be special, should be well positioned in the future. However, before complacency sets in, we should add some qualifications. The increased availability of comparatively cheap travel over the last few years (combined with the growth in spending power noted above) has led to considerably more people travelling on a regular basis and a significant proportion of them are culture snackers. If these cultural consumers are used to hearing the Berlin Philharmonic in its home environment or seeing Peter Brook at the Bouffes du Nord, the rarity value of those companies visits to the UK will be reduced. At the same time, international companies travel more and, with the new Lottery-funded facilities now available, Britain is now seeing more major European and American work than at any time for a generation. In particular, London - which provides a significant part of the Edinburgh Festivals market - is now regularly seeing work from the likes of Mark Morris or Netherlands Dance Theatre which, previously, would probably only have been seen in Edinburgh. Moreover, Londons continually growing role as an international centre of presentation is only one (albeit, a very important) manifestation of the increasingly competitive marketplace. Concern about these trends and their implications for the future are currently being expressed by a number of smaller European festivals, which are debating whether their successful growth over the last twenty years may be under threat. Under these circumstances, it is very timely for Edinburgh to develop a Festivals Strategy capable of building on current strengths and preparing for future challenges. Edinburgh Itself And what of Edinburgh itself? How will the city change over the next few years? According to analyses undertaken by CEC8, the population of the city will continue to grow by about 0.15% annually over the next decade, reaching 459,000 by 2011. Employment will grow by 4.7% between 1996 and 2005, almost entirely within the service sector. It is estimated that, during that period, there will be an accelerating increase in older working population (up by 20%) who will have a larger disposable income. This development will reinforce the citys existing stock of ABC1s which is significantly higher than the Scottish national figure. These factors suggest that Edinburgh will experience most of the trends already discussed in this section and to a greater, rather than lesser, extent. In addition, the city contains many of the elements identified by Charles Leadbetter9 as essential for the development of a creative or entrepreneurial city, particularly: a strong tertiary education sector a young population a growth in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises a thriving cultural sector; and good cafs and bars in which young cultural entrepreneurs can meet and exchange ideas

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

8 9

Towards Sustainable Growth (1999) & internal reports for the Economic Development Committee (April 2000) in The Independents (Demos 1999)

46.

In particular, Edinburgh has a highly educated population (14.1% of over-18s qualified to degree level) and high growth in the SME sector. It is well positioned to develop as a creative city and perhaps its most powerful calling card is the profile of its festivals. Summary The trends anticipated in this section will, if translated into the real world, have a significant impact on the environment in which the Edinburgh festivals operate, viz: A more demanding public will be confronted with a significantly increased range of leisure choices. It will have increased spending power, expect more from its leisure time and probably enjoy more flexible working patterns. The festivals will have to operate in an increasingly competitive international market for an audience with a greater taste for the new and the special. There is potentially an increasing polarisation society with an accompanying sense of social exclusion for some. The festivals will need to take account of these factors if they are to optimise their position in a creative city over the next few years. The Festivals Strategy must therefore, be capable of responding to changes in the environment. Finally, this study is not designed to make specific recommendations about programming policy; however, some of the anticipated shifts in audience expectations and demands may require some or all of the festivals to review their approach to programming in the future.

47.

48.

49.

10

1.3
50.

Starting From Today

The previous section identified some of the macro-issues which are likely to influence the pattern of our lives over the next twenty years. Bearing those in mind, this section sketches out the current position of the festivals within their political, economic, cultural and social context. In doing so, it draws on a range of published objective data as well as some subjective opinions which were expressed during the research process. The Political/Economic Context The creation of the Scottish Parliament has substantially changed the political landscape. In this new environment, Edinburgh occupies a very particular place as the nations capital. It is the standard-bearer for the country and a principal focus for the strengthening pride in Scotlands national identity. Some contributors to this study, however, expressed concern that as yet, Edinburgh is not getting recognition for its capital city responsibilities (including its cultural role) despite the fact that, over a number of years of constrained budgets, it has repeatedly demonstrated a commitment to its national and cultural responsibilities. Within the national picture, Edinburgh faces a number of challenges and opportunities. Some believe, for example, that the perceived concentration of resources into the capital10 may cause resentment (especially in terms of the non-Edinburgh MSPs). Others see significant opportunities in the citys robust economy, the perceived excellence of its quality of life11 and its international reputation. CECs document Action for the New Millennium observes that apart from the need to resolve development pressures with World Heritage site status and congestion, unlike other city centres, Edinburgh does not appear to be faced with any major problems. Certainly, Edinburgh is in a healthy economic position with comparatively low unemployment, a projected growth in jobs and a greater proportion of the workforce employed at a higher level of skill than in Scotland as a whole. Business Strategies Ltd. estimate that average personal disposable income in Edinburgh is about 32% above the UK average. Having said that, the city still contains areas of comparatively high unemployment. The majority of the recent and projected growth in the citys economy lies in the service sector (accounting for about 80% of its GDP). In the main, this is accounted for by financial services but the city has significant concentrations of those activities which are expected to be engines of growth including tourism. As is demonstrated below and elsewhere in this study, the festivals are an important contributor to this effect.

51.

52.

53.

54.

Tourism 55. Tourism accounted for 1.5bn of expenditure by British visitors to Scotland in 1998, and 940m by those from overseas. It is estimated that the value of this to Edinburghs economy is of the order of c.528m and it would seem from all analyses that the festivals are responsible for a significant proportion of that12.

10

about 23% of SAC funds, for example, go to Edinburgh, not including the proportion of Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet funds which are used for the support of performances in the city. 11 A 1998 University of Strathclyde study of Quality of Life judged Edinburgh to be the most desirable place to live of Britains largest 38 cities 12 see Part 1 Section 1.4 and previous economic impact studies.

11

56.

As a result of the success of the tourism sector, a number of new hotels are currently being built in the citys environs. Whilst this offers the opportunity for the city to further develop its markets, it also creates the challenge of attracting sufficient visitors to justify the new investment. It is estimated that Edinburgh will need to generate 250,000 extra bed occupants by 2005 to return hotel occupancy to historic percentage levels13. If that were achieved, it would clearly have a very beneficial impact on the citys visitor economy. However, it is worth noting that most comparable European conference destinations have larger hotels than Edinburgh which may put the city at a disadvantage in terms of attracting major corporate clients. This lack of individual size would not, however, be a deterrent to festival visitors and, consequently, Edinburgh may find that the festival market becomes even more important in the years ahead. The following chart analyses the place of origin of overnight visitors to Edinburgh, according to whether they are general tourists, visitors to the summer festivals or visitors to the spring festivals. Table/Chart 1: Visitors to Edinburgh
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
al er st en Fe Fe st

57.

Overseas England Scotland

er

58.

This demonstrates a very high correlation between the pattern of visitors to the summer festivals and Edinburghs general visitor profile (perhaps unsurprisingly, given the nature of Edinburghs overall image and appeal). The spring festivals display a radically different profile, with much higher Scottish attendance and lower attendance from overseas. Their strength at present, therefore, is in the area of local/regional provision as much as visitor attraction. From the national perspective, the summer festivals are very important factors in the generation of cultural tourism to Scotland from overseas. The trend towards weekend breaks has resulted in a growth in visitors for Edinburgh and Glasgow even while other parts of the country are struggling, and the festivals help create the special quality that enables Edinburgh to maintain this position. In addition, they are seen (by, for example, SAC) as important confidence-builders for the national cultural reputation The CEFRAC study referred to earlier concluded that festival cities enjoy very considerable presentational advantages and media benefit as a result of their cultural

59.

60.
13

Accommodation Supply and Demand survey 2000-05 ELTB

Su

Sp

rin

12

activities. A study14 of the 1985 Avignon Festival, for instance, demonstrated that the Festival that year generated about 10mF worth of free publicity for the town (in comparison with the Festivals actual budget of 20mF and a subsidy subvention of about 9mF). That study also concluded that: it is firstly in terms of brand image and appeal of the region that the long term feedback of the Festival can be evaluated. The Cultural Context 61. Over recent years, a number of major regional capitals in Europe (including. Barcelona, Antwerp, and Strasbourg) have reasserted their individuality and importance. In every case, a crucially important cultural dimension has been at the heart of the process, with a new interest in indigenous artforms (story-telling, folk arts etc) complementing the desire to develop an international profile. These two drivers are also important to Edinburgh, which has, for some time, been among the British cities most alert to the potential inherent in cultural development. As early as 1996, CEC, in its City Strategy, committed itself to the idea of culture at the heart of its civic purpose and to its own role as a supporter and motor of that concept when it expressed as central to its intention: To create a city where culture, the economy and the local environment can prosper and where all sections of the community can participate in, and be committed to, its success. 62. The festivals are a vital part of that mission and in some ways can be said to underpin it. It is, in large part, because of the needs of the festivals that Edinburgh enjoys the wealth of cultural resources that it does. The Theatre Strategy (1996) pointed out how the needs of the summer festivals have resulted in the year-round provision of about 11,000 seats in the citys principal venues15 - more per head than any other city in the UK other than Glasgow. During much of the year, this plethora of seats presents Edinburgh's cultural managers with a challenge. In festival times, however, the city's stages and auditoria provide the hardware essential for the provision of a programme which attracts audiences from all over the world. In venue terms, the city is without parallel in Britain and, probably in the world. In 2000, for example, the EIF used the following venues: The Usher Hall The Festival Theatre The Playhouse Theatre Queens Hall Kings Theatre Lyceum Theatre The Hub Some of those venues (notably the Festival Theatre) would probably not exist were it not for the need to provide the EIF with a suitable environment in which to present the best of the worlds performing arts. Their existence, however, provides all of Edinburgh with an invaluable resource, and they are also used, either regularly or occasionally, by the other festivals. The year-round health of the citys venues is dependent on the quality of the fare they provide, and thus in part on the quality of the festivals themselves. It is not the proper business of the present study to comment (or reflect others comments) on the quality of individual festivals. We can, however, observe that a high level of skill, experience and ability in the individual festival directors (and senior staff) is essential to the well-being

63.

64.

14 15

BIPE, 1985 i.e. The Playhouse, the Festival Theatre, Usher Hall, Kings, Lyceum, Queens Hall, Traverse

13

of the festival ecology, to the cultural life of the city and, ultimately, to its ability to attract visitors. It is, therefore, essential that the festival directors are encouraged to pursue their individual and distinctive visions with the aim of achieving the highest quality product. The Festivals: An Overview16 65. Within this broad cultural context, the festivals have developed both separately and together. To summarise a range of views expressed during the research period: 66. An historic pattern of activity has become established in which quantity, quality and diversity co-exist, most particularly in the five week summer period when, starting with the Jazz and Blues Festival and ending with the Mela, the city hosts the EIF, the Fringe, the Tattoo, the Book, Film and Television Festivals. Outwith this intensive period of concentrated activity, there are naturally peaks and troughs in the years festival activities. The festivals enjoy a much greater level of mutual co-operation and stimulus than ten years ago. The impression is of an integrated culture (or industry) with people, ideas and skills moving between different festivals. Many senior staff have worked for more than one festival or other Edinburgh cultural organisation. However, this sense of collaboration is not co-ordinated systematically, with the consequence that possible synergies may not have been fully explored. The festivals themselves range across a wide spectrum - not just in terms of their subject matter (Jazz and Blues, Film, Science etc.) but in terms of their objectives, their stages of development and their financial profiles. Some, such as the EIF are almost exclusively concentrated on the presentation of professional work to paying publics; others (especially the Fringe) are more catholic with no central programming control and a wide range of not exclusively professional participants. At the other end of the spectrum, the Television Festival is effectively a high-level 'industry' forum. The Science and Environment Festivals have public education at their hearts (with the Science Festival, for example, expending about 33% of its turnover on outreach activity across Scotland) whilst the Harp and Fiddle Festivals focus on developing the instrumental skills of participants, alongside public concert programmes. This range of purpose provides a unique blend in the festival ecology. Publicly-ticketed events attract review-based print and other media coverage, whilst the more industry-centred activities achieve national and international attention for their important debates and keynote speeches. The various activities are synergistic. The Television Festival, which started as an independent complement to the Film Festival, brings the key movers and shakers in that industry to Edinburgh (and with them, the attention of all their colleagues). This undoubtedly enhances the city's profile. At the same time, it is doubtful whether Edinburgh would be so attractive to those powerful individuals were it not for the wealth of other activities, networking opportunities and sheer buzz that the city contains at festival time. It is noteworthy that the International Conference Centre, now host to the Television Festival, has recognised this and is developing a marketing proposition based on the role of festivals

67.

68.

69.

70.

16

See Appendix v for individual festival profiles

14

71.

Financially, the economy of each festival is distinct with a variety of sources of income. The following table analyses the income of subsidised festivals for 1999/200017. Table/Chart 2: Festivals income CEC and INCOME ANALYSIS (k) other l.a. Book Children's EIF Environment Film Fringe Hogmanay18 Jazz Mela Puppet Animation Science Storytelling 5 60 1,174 32 65 32 1,03619 47 47 10 132 3 SAC & Scottish Screen 58 80 775 82 25 8 620 18 0 8 Box Off & Other 284 75 2,000 0 153 665 702 213 38 0 304 14

Sponsors 105 33 1,549 37 252 148 153 50 4 0 75 5

Total 452 248 5,498 69 552 870 1,891 318 95 28 511 30

Proportionally, this can be represented as follows: Table/Chart 3: Proportion of income by source

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
C B hi o ld o re k En n' vi s ro nmEI F en t H F Film og ri m ng an e ay Ja z M z Pu el a St S c p p e or i e n t yt c el e lin g

B .O . & other S ponsorship S A C /S cot F ilm C E C /LE E L/la.

17 18

Data supplied by festivals Figures for 1998/99 as the Millennium celebration was extraordinary. It should also be noted that this figure does not include the in-kind support from CEC, Lothian and Borders Police, ELTB and LEEL 19 including 443k contribution from LEEL 20 Excludes a SAC lottery grant of 14,900

15

72.

Together the festivals offer a high degree of internationalism both in terms of the events they present to the city (and to Scotland) and in terms of the visitors they attract. At the same time they have a high level of local support, marked by the preparedness of the local population to tolerate the inevitable associated disruption and congestion. This support is actively demonstrated by the local take-up on tickets. Nearly half of the EIF audience, for example, comes from Edinburgh and Lothian and about two-thirds from Scotland. Comparable figures for other festivals are 53% and 68% for Hogmanay, 50% and 67% for Film, 51% and 74% for Book, and 43% and 53% for the Fringe. These positive observations are, however, accompanied by more negative perceptions. These fall into two main categories: Attitudinal, centring mainly on the festivals belief that: There is little understanding of the creative process in the broader Edinburgh world Some still harbour doubts about the value of the festivals in terms of their cultural and commercial benefits Their current and potential contribution to the social inclusion agenda is not fully recognised There is not sufficient recognition of the festivals contribution to the quality of life of Edinburgh citizens. and, perhaps predictably:

73. 74.

75. 76.

Financial, where there is a sense that there is: inconsistency in the funding of festivals (from different departments of CEC and from other public funders) a lack of clarity and stability in the funding processes a lack of investment, exacerbated over a number of years through the real-terms erosion of grants21 In noting these financial perceptions, we should also recognise that: In common with most areas of the public sector, local authority budgets have been constrained in recent years, as have those of SAC. Despite that, CEC has maintained a significant commitment to the festivals (primarily through the Recreation Department) investing about 2.2m in them per year SAC, too, makes a significant contribution of something over 1m p.a. In spring 2000, CEC paid off the deficits of EIF and the Science Festival (a combined total of c 386,000) The future funding of Hogmanay has just been re-secured through generous sponsorship and a grant commitment by SE Edinburgh and Lothian, but the grant will reduce on a sliding scale as the commercial strategy adopted by the Council assumes a substantial increase in commercial income over the next four years. Nevertheless, the financial position of a number of festivals remains insecure A number of festivals (e.g. Book, Jazz and Blues, Mela) operate on very low staffing levels and are, accordingly, inhibited from pursuing all the opportunities that might be available to them.

21

For an analysis of this issue, see table/chart 16 in Part 3 Section 3.5

16

There are undoubtedly different standards of business competence across the festival sector. It is not the business of this study to analyse the respective managerial merits of different festivals. However, SACs Advancement programme, which several festivals have entered (or are considering entering) 22, is a mechanism designed specifically to evaluate such questions and meet the needs thus identified. Those festivals which have nearly completed the Advancement process report that it has proved a very effective tool in helping them address some of their difficulties. The Edinburgh Tattoo remains a successfully self-financing, independent organisation, with no dependency on grants; however, it receives council assistance in essential practical ways, through favourable commercial arrangements. Similarly, the Television Festival is entirely self-financing; it depends on being able to afford the rental of the council-subsidised Conference Centre.

Summary 77. The cultural life of Edinburgh is an extremely strong element in the citys success. Within the cultural sector, the festivals, despite some financial difficulties, constitute an extremely important, distinct ecology, with a comparatively high degree of communication and co-operation, which also sustains a number of vital relationships with the rest of the Edinburgh year. The continued success of this sector relies, in large part, on the citys recognition of the value and potential of its festivals, on a simple and open system of communication and decision-making between the Council and the festivals, and the continuing and secure provision of resources. It also depends on the recruitment, training, encouragement and support of first-rate directors. 78. This section has considered the present context in which the festivals operate. The next two evaluate the benefits which they bring and relate them to a broader festivals market, both domestically and internationally.

The Children's and Film festivals have nearly completed the programme, the Book Festival is entering it and EIF is considering doing so.
23 24

22

Data supplied by festivals Figures for 1998/99 as the Millennium celebration was extraordinary. It should also be noted that this figure does not include the in-kind support from CEC, Lothian and Borders Police, ELTB and LEEL 25 Excludes a SAC lottery grant of 14,900

17

1.4

Impacts

Introduction 79. It is now generally accepted that the cultural sector brings a wide range of benefits to society. Some of these are quantifiable, others less tangible. However, even in those areas where benefits do not readily lend themselves to calibration, it is worth attempting to identify the impact of culture on its environment. This makes it easier to: develop a sense of the socio-political importance of culture assess the efficacy of cultural activity in achieving identified goals track the development of policies and strategies and evaluate their outcome 80. This exercise is especially valuable in the case of Edinburgh, where culture is an important motor of the citys profile, quality of life and economy particularly in the case of the festivals. One of the most visible of the festivals impacts lies in the area of civic profile. It has already been argued that Edinburgh is, in many eyes around the world, equated with its festivals. That is a huge strength to build on and one which it should be possible to evaluate. There are a number of indices which could be employed to assess the value of the festivals to the Edinburgh story, such as: press and other media coverage for each festival name-checks for the city and the Council (including negative weightings for examples such as the recent28 spate of hostile press, criticising CEC for its lack of support for the festivals) festivalrelated visits by international civic leaders or other opinion-formers, especially those occasions when visitors wish to study the cultural life of the city. the many studies undertaken by other cities or festivals which use Edinburgh as the benchmark, demonstrating the city as a model of good practice. supportive articles or comments from International practitioners (e.g. artists, TV executives) In addition to this over-arching impact on the profile of the city, the festivals offer a range of other impacts and benefits which this report will categorise under three headings: Cultural Social Economic Whilst these categories (which all operate, in different ways, at local, national, and international levels) provide a convenient framework, it must be recognised that it is impossible to dissociate them from one another. As the draft Shaw/Allen29 report says: A festival that creates employment will, inevitably contribute to the social well-being of a community. A festival that makes a substantial impact on the cultural life of a place will also be making a social impact and economic impact.

81.

82.

83.

For an analysis of this issue, see table/chart 16 in Part 3 Section 3.5 The Children's and Film festivals have nearly completed the programme, the Book Festival is entering it and EIF is considering doing so.
27
28 29

26

early summer 2000 Festivals Mean Business, BAFA 2000

18

84.

There is a common tendency in impact assessments to focus primarily on the economic indicators. These seem more susceptible to quantification and it is often assumed that they will be more persuasive politically. This study does not decry the importance of these sorts of impact, but recognises that they cannot tell the whole story. Economic development is not the only - or, even, the principal - value of the arts. Individuals can draw enormous personal sustenance from attending a play or participating in a musical performance - emotional, intellectual and spiritual. Indeed, lives are enriched, and even transformed, by such experiences. These spiritual and social benefits are unquantifiable but undeniably real. Our consideration of the impacts of the festivals will, therefore, start with the area of cultural and artistic benefits since, at their heart, that is what the festivals are about.

85.

Cultural 86. Culture, as exemplified in the festivals, is central to the quality of life of Edinburghs citizens. Cultural activity offers creative expression and entertainment to the citys inhabitants at the same time as acting as a magnet for visitors and inward investment. A vibrant cultural life is essential for the maintenance of a thriving and successful city centre, as it is for the various communities which make up the whole city. The festivals as a whole should reflect the culture of the city and the country whilst also refreshing them by introducing new ideas, new practices and new practitioners. 87. The festivals cultural impact goes beyond Edinburgh. As already shown in Table/Chart 1, the major festivals attract visitors from all over Scotland. Like the city itself, they also act as a gateway to Scotland for other UK and overseas visitors. In their appeal to a national population, their showcasing of national artists, traditions, innovations and ideas, their bringing of international artists and events to Scotland and their active outreach and education programmes, they play a powerful and developmental role in contemporary Scottish culture. Other festivals based in the citys communities offer people opportunities for selfexpression, for shared experiences and common activities. Participatory and locallybased arts help develop individuals and communities. At the same time, larger-scale professionally-based festivals provide a complementary range of artistic experience. One interviewee - a senior member of Edinburgh's business community - observed that the unquantifiable benefits of the summer festivals included the fact that "they give a continental feel to the city", that they "make it an attractive place to work". He even went so far as to suggest that, by attracting visitors to less-populated "dodgy" areas they may even help make the city safer. Certainly Edinburgh has been the highest rated of all UK cities in terms of quality of personal life including cultural activity30. The festivals also produce a real benefit to the cultural life of the city, and to Scotland, during the rest of the year through their introduction of international artists, new ideas and the highest standards into the local and national mix whilst, at the same time, exposing many of the best of local or Scottish artists to their international peers.

88.

89.

90.

30

Black Horse Relocation Services annual survey of 1000 UK business leaders, 1997

19

91.

Although the cultural benefits of the festivals are hard to measure, it is possible to suggest indicators to enable some degree of assessment. These could include: a) Opportunities for artists, through: employment, both during the public festival programme and for community/outreach/education work. Summary data suggests that the festivals (excluding Hogmanay) offer at least 10,000 days of artists' employment between them, excluding the Fringe (12,000 person weeks), and the 2,000+ delegates to the Film and Television Festivals. the development of new work artistic exchanges, and the exploration of collaborations between visiting, local and national artists; between professional and voluntary artists profile with the press and potential promoters exposure to experiences which have a long-term impact on their work b) Opportunities for audiences, through: the enjoyment of unique experiences access to work of the highest quality that would otherwise not take place in Edinburgh or Scotland the exploration of their own and other cultures exposure to international artists and ideas alongside local and national ones a continuation of the voyage of discovery through other events promoted or drawn to their attention by the festivals access to a range of work at affordable prices learning about new subjects, and in new ways c) Opportunities for Edinburghs citizens, through participation in the artistic programme participation in a range of other activity during and outwith the festival periods the range of participants involved the quality of opportunities offered strategies to broaden accessibility d) A contribution to year-round cultural infrastructure, through: the impact of festivals on local and national artistic and community organisations, including the economic impacts of the festival programmes on the year-round financial position of cultural venues ongoing partnerships with other cultural and educational organisations the level of interaction with local and national artists the generation and/or strengthening of ongoing artistic activity and interest in Edinburgh and in Scotland involvement in city cultural development initiatives the opportunities for commercial enterprises which support cultural activities e) Contribution to Edinburghs outlook as a city, through: the reflection of its culture(s) in the programme encouragement of cross-cultural and international understanding encouragement of innovation and experiment partnerships with non-cultural organisations including business sponsors and community organisations 20

Social 92. In addition to those benefits which affect the specifically cultural life of the city, there is a range of other impacts which relate to the more general area of the social environment. Many of these are directly connected to the social inclusion agenda, as illustrated by the UK Governments 1999 PAT 10 report. 93. Any credible assessment of the social impact of the festivals would need to acknowledge and incorporate the viewpoint of the communities affected by them. Bearing that in mind, CEC could base its evaluation of the festivals social impact on the following sorts of indicators: participation new audiences urban regeneration training and employment opportunities the effect on the citys environment, infrastructure, attractiveness the change effected by arts activity arts in education self-esteem and socialisation Evaluation in these areas can be achieved by a mixture of quantitative and qualitative measures including: the levels of local participation in events, particularly those held in local communities the degree of volunteerism encouraged and accommodated by the festivals (at every level from board membership to stewarding) audience surveys designed to identify genuinely new take-up agreed measures of urban regeneration with the appropriate agencies number and/or quality of training and employment initiatives provided civic pride in the past measured through citizens panel surveys external perception studies about environmental improvements and any disruption to the city and irritation caused to residents31 liaison with representative educational bodies including schools, tertiary education, and specialist staff participation by communities of interest (such as people with disabilities, families) Economic The measurement of economic impacts offers a quantitative indication of the benefits delivered by festivals, and in the past decade two major exercises have been undertaken in Edinburgh32. The methodology of these studies has been to determine visitor numbers, types, and expenditure, then adjust these to take account of expenditure that would have taken place in any event. A multiplier is then used to quantify the additional local income, and employment impacts. Key findings, expressed in the common and inflation-proof language of FTE jobs created, are as follows:

94.

95.

31 32

proposals for the measurement of these factors are suggested in the draft Events Strategy 1990/91 Festivals study; 1996 Edinburgh Festivals Economic Impact Study

21

Table/Chart 4: Estimates of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) jobs created by the Edinburgh festivals (i.e. direct and indirect employment) 1996 1990 33 EIF Edinburgh Tattoo Fringe Book Festival Children's Festival Film Festival Jazz Festival Science Festival Total 96. 575 423 883 112 5 122 107 24 2,251 221 626 332 59 0 14 38 22 1,313

Some of this discrepancy can be explained by the passage of time (i.e. differences in attendance at the festivals). However, there may also be structural differences in the process (i.e. differently based assumptions or variances in the methodology). For the purposes of this study it is helpful to have a rough estimate of the cost per job created by the festivals. If we assume that the festivals produce about 1,800FTEs, then (given CECs investment of c. 2.2m in the festivals34), we can estimate that the cost per job to CEC is about 1,200 per annum a figure which offers the Council a worthwhile return on its investment35. This conclusion requires a number of crucial caveats, however: It is an order-of-magnitude estimate, rather than a definitive figure. However, it seems highly probable that the cost of creating a job via the festivals is less than 2,000 per annum, probably significantly so. This figure is the result of a very long period of investment, rather than the result of a shorter-term initiative designed specifically to create jobs. The pattern of attendance by festival audiences is shaped in part by inertia. Changes in investment levels would not have immediate commensurate effects in attendance or in job-creation. As noted earlier, this sort of criterion is not really the best measure of the impact of the festivals or of the value of financial investment in them. It is, however, an indicator of a very important secondary benefit. In order to achieve a more rounded picture, analysis of the impact of festivals needs to be undertaken on a much more sophisticated, multi-dimensional basis, embracing both hard and soft measures. It has not been appropriate or feasible to undertake such an evaluation during the course of this study. However, discussions have been held with officers of SE Edinburgh and Lothian and CEC to develop a methodology for the future.

97.

98.

99.

33 34

For the 1990 study, spending has been adjusted for the demise of the Folk Festival and converted to FTEs see table/chart 15 Part 3 Section 3.4 35 The norm for most agencies undertaking job-creating inward investment is 12-15,000 per job.

22

While this has not been definitive, it has established guidelines to be fleshed out by more detailed work. 100. Such guidelines are needed for three main purposes: deciding the criteria to be used to evaluate the prospects for a new festival reviewing the achievements of a new (or changed) festival determining the possible changes to the nature and level of investment in an existing festival The first two of these are concerned with evaluating and reviewing new and existing festivals and, consequently, can be based on similar criteria such as: Hard measures, along the lines of existing economic impact studies numbers of jobs created annualised cost per FTE job level of public sector investment leverage threshold Softer impact measures36, such as: quality of life in Edinburgh the citys profile, e.g. by column inch measures increased propensity to visit Business Planning Issues: the nature of the market failure that demands the intervention of public funding, and, where appropriate, the exit strategy an evaluation of in-kind contributions sponsorship objectives (and achievements) 102. The third objective requires a somewhat different approach which takes into account a range of other considerations, some of which are likely to be more qualitative. For example, the international audience (particularly for the larger summer festivals) will be significantly affected by international competitive issues such as major festivals elsewhere in the world, expos or other international cultural bonanzas. A purely local view will not be sufficient to make strategic decisions in these circumstances. A second consideration is whether changes in investment should focus on the product itself, or on its promotion. A segmentation approach to assessing the impact of economic investment has been discussed with SE Edinburgh and Lothian and CEC officers as the most appropriate. Having determined the value of different segments of the audience, it will then be possible to make informed estimates about the impact of a change in investment in either product or marketing. At the time of writing, work is going forward on the development of the segmentation model.

101.

103.

36

the final list to be defined by SE Edinburgh and Lothian/CEC

23

1.5 104

Comparators
The previous section considered some of the impacts that the festivals have on the city and identifies some ways of measuring them. Value can be added to that sort of data by placing it in a wider context. How, for example, do the Edinburgh festivals perform, compared with their peers? In particular, how do they relate financially and economically? This section considers the profile of the Edinburgh festivals in relation to a range of other British festivals and to a number of international comparators. The financial data on the Edinburgh festivals is drawn from the table contained in Table/Chart 16 (Part 3 Section 3.5 ( c )) and Appendix V. The British situation The Shaw/Allen report on British festivals is based, in large part, on a questionnaire survey to which 137 festivals replied. Of those 101 furnished financial information. The following tables offer extracts from that information and set it against an analysis of 14 Edinburgh festivals in 199937. Table/Chart 5: British and Edinburgh festivals by size Annual No of %age No of Expend Fests in of Edinburg iture British sampl h Fests sample e < 30k 29 29 1 3120 20 3 100k 10119 19 2 300k 30120 20 2 500k 501k8 8 3 1m > 5 5 3 38 1m %age of Edin fests 19 19 12.5 12.5 19 19

105

37

Book, Childrens, EIF, Environment, Film, Folk, Fringe, Hogmanay, Jazz, Mela, Puppet, Science, Storytelling and Tattoo 38 This includes Glyndebourne Festival which some would consider to be a season of work rather than a festival. Glyndebourne has, by some way, the largest turnover of any organisation considered in the report and, accordingly skews some of the figures in the over-a-million category.

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Table/Chart 6: percentages of income source (nationally and for Edinburgh39) British Festivals Local Arts Council/ Other from Shaw/Allen authority RAB/ (%) report (%) Government (%) All 17 14 69 < 30k 19 8 73 31-100k 14 18 68 101-300k 18 14 68 301-500k 13 17 70 501k-1m 7 9 8240 > 1m 10 35 55 14 Edinburgh 14.9 7.842 77.3 fests41 106. These two tables include the unsubsidised Tattoo. Were that to be excluded, the local authority contribution to Edinburghs festivals would rise to 18.8% and the SAC/Scottish Screen contribution to 9.9%. (It should also be noted that these figures only reflect the turnover that passes through the Festival Fringe Societys books, not the vast majority of the Fringes income. Were this (c. 4.75m) to be included in the festivals turnover, the percentages in the final line of the above table would alter to: 11% (instead of 14.9%) and 5.8% (against 7.8%). Again, if the Tattoo is excluded, these figures would become 13.0% and 6.8%). A definitive analysis of the public sectors contribution to the Edinburgh festivals economy is evidently very reliant on the status accorded to the Tattoo, and to the Fringe income which does not go through the Fringe box-office. If both these are excluded, the public sector input amounts to 28.7% of turnover (against a national average of 31%). Were they to be included, that figure drops to 16.8%. This can be interpreted as a demonstration of CEC and SAC achieving a great deal for its investment. On the other hand, it could be argued that the funders would need to invest another c. 300,000 p.a. to achieve the national average spend and that this investment would produce increased financial and cultural benefits. The International Situation International comparators, whilst beguiling, are often misleading. Cultural statistics are collected and presented in a variety of ways across different countries (and even across different disciplines within countries). In a recent report43, for example, a single table comparing the percentage of adults attending art forms in five European Union countries had to include no less than 12 separate footnotes, in order to qualify the data. As the French academic and statistician, Jeannine Cardona has observed Cultural statisticians

107.

108.

39 40

not including the community festivals This row does not add up to 100% due to rounding 41 EIF, Fringe, Storytelling, Puppet, Mela, Childrens, Jazz, Book, Film, Science, Tattoo, Hogmanay 42 Including Scottish Screen support for the Film Festival 43 European Programme of National, Transversal and Sectoral Cultural Development Policies, Comparative Study 1 (Strasbourg, Council of Europe, 1997)

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have to face the problem of consolidating widely-spread data produced by others and according to varying definitions, methods and timing44 109. This difficulty is exacerbated by the fact that different politico-economic systems create different arrangements for the support of culture. In the United States, for example, there is very little public sector involvement in the direct funding and support of festivals. Instead, private sector and/or commercial activities are the dominant sources of revenue for festival organizations. Among the US based festival organizations interviewed for a recent study, food, beverage, and merchandise sales and private sector sponsorship accounted for approximately 89% of total budgets. In Europe, where direct public funding for festivals and events is more prevalent, the situation is, of course, very different. On average, government support accounts for approximately 35% of total European festival budgets. However, within this figure, which covers smaller and fringe events, as well as major international festivals, there is considerable variation. According to a KPMG study of festivals in Europe and the United States, undertaken on behalf of Quebec 2000 more established festivals generate approximately 42% of their budgets from public sources45. Indeed, in many instances, government bodies, especially at municipal levels, have developed strategies for the support and development of festivals for the sake of their economic and tourism impacts. This results in festivals in this category being funded at an average of 50% of their total budgets. In Australia, too, public subsidies for major festivals approximate to European norms. Perth, for instance, receives 44% of its budget from public sources, in addition to a substantial one-off grant to eradicate its significant current deficit. In Edinburgh, by contrast, the International Festival received 35.4% of its 1999 income from public sources (CEC and SAC). At the smaller scale, European fringe festivals generate approximately 11% from public sector subsidy and Adelaide receives about 18%. whereas the Edinburgh Fringe Society receives just 6.5% of its turnover from the public sector. In terms of the Fringe as a whole, public sector grants amount to almost exactly 1% of the total box-office. The Edinburgh Fringe is, by a considerable margin, the largest event of its type in the world. The main Fringe festivals in the USA, for example, run for an average of 9.4 days (compared with Edinburghs 3 week) and Orlando, which is by far the largest of them presents about 400-500 performances, selling about 100,000 tickets (i.e. about onethirtieth of the product and one-eighth of the audience Edinburgh). In Canada, which hosts 19 Fringe festivals, none runs longer than 11 days and only Edmonton reports audiences in any way comparable to Edinburgh (c 500,000). However, a significant majority of these only attend free street performances, the paying audience only purchasing about 85,000 tickets (just over one-tenth of Edinburghs Fringe) The task of making comparisons between the Edinburgh festivals and international peers is made more complex by the inter-connected nature of the Edinburgh ecology. It is possible to compare the EIF with other international festivals. It is also possible to

110.

111.

112.

113.

44 45

Cultural Statistics in the European Union (Circular no 1, fourth quarter, 1995) e.g. Aix 43%, Avignon 45%, Bourges 35%

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compare the Fringe with its equivalents (and, similarly, the Book, Film and Science Festivals). It is much more difficult to compare the whole Edinburgh basket with any other especially since the critical mass of the summer festivals is unique. However, it may be of interest to look at one city which hosts a range of festivals through the year: Chicago. Chicago 114. The Chicago Mayors Office of Special Events (MOSE) is a developer, operator and supporter of major and minor special events and festivals for the city of Chicago. It is a cabinet level office within the City Hall of Chicago that directly funds and operates a series of major festivals, and provides technical assistance, marketing advice, and organizational support to smaller local event organizations. The Office is ultimately responsible to the Mayor of the City for the quality and the impacts of these festivals to the economy and social fabrics of the community 115. MOSE owns and operates 9 major events in Chicago that generate approximately five million visitors annually. The largest of these events, is The Taste of Chicago, a free festival of food and drink which attracts 3.5m attenders. This has been reported to provide an economic impact that surpasses $US130 million to the city. MOSEs 1999 budget amounted to just under $US23 million derived from three primary sources. The first, which provides approximately 82% of the offices total funding, is income generated from the events and festivals themselves. The income is separated out into as a specific fund item on the Citys Budget. The revenue is generated primarily from food, beverage, and souvenir sales at the various events and festivals, and through corporate sponsorship. The second source of revenue for the office, which amounts to approximately 18% of the budget, is the Municipal Hotel Operators Occupation Tax. This is a 1% tax on hotel/motel rooms in the City of Chicago. MOSE receives approximately 33% of the total income generated by the tax. The third source of revenue, which provides a minimal dollar amount, is an annual grant received from the State of Illinois Tourism Matching Grant. Table/Chart 7: Mayor of Chicagos Office of Special Events 1999 Source US$ (million) Income generated from $18.67 festivals & events Municipal Hotel $ 4.20 Operators Tax State of Illinois Tourism $ .07 Matching Grant Total Source: MOSE $22.95

116.

117

118

% 82% 18% 0%

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Even in the generally non-subsidised world of the USA, therefore, the Chicago festivals programme receives a tax-dollar contribution of about $4.27m. Superficially, this would appear to represent a subsidy of approximately 53p per visitor. However, for a meaningful comparison, The Taste of Chicago should be excluded from this calculation, on the grounds that it is (a) a different type of festival from the rest of Chicagos programme (and from any of Edinburghs) and (b) financially self-sufficient. If this festival is excluded, the visitor subsidy rises to c 1.77. Compared to this, CEC contributes 2.195m for an estimated 1.75m visitors at 1.25 per visitor Whilst the Chicago example offers some general indication of the comparative costeffectiveness of a group of festivals in relation to Edinburghs, it does not shed much light on the question of individual festivals. Here, it is important to distinguish between the different types and size of events.

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Large Festivals 121 Salzburg is one of the worlds leading music festivals and so should be an obvious point of comparison for EIF. The following table summarises their respective profiles in 1999. Table/Chart 8: EIF & Salzburg Salzburg Number of Perfs. Opera/Dance Drama/readings/talks Concert Other Total Tickets Available Tickets Sold Budget () Box Office Public Subsidy Sponsors/Patrons Other Ticket Yield Total Visitor numbers 197 48 74 67 9 221,722 194,993 27.67m 13.11m 7.89m 2.93m 3.74m 67.23 238,453 Edinburgh 182 32 59 66 25 168,270 131,250 5.50m 1.77m 1.95m 1.55m 0.23m 13.49 396,250 (including free events) Edinburgh as %age of Salzburg 92.38%

67.31% 19.88% 13.50% 24.71% 52.90% 20.06%

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From the above, we can deduce that: Edinburgh presents a festival of roughly comparable size to Salzburg (about 90% of the performances) EIF sells about two-thirds of the number of tickets as Salzburg (playing to about 78% capacity against Salzburgs 90-95%) Salzburgs budget is about five times Edinburghs, as is its average ticket yield Edinburgh achieves about half of Salzburgs sponsorship and receives about onequarter of its public subsidy 28

123

Clearly, Salzburg is publicly funded at a far higher level than is Edinburgh and its ticket pricing policy (with top prices of 200) is designed to achieve income on a comparable scale. Beyond that, it may be difficult to draw many precise conclusions. It may, however be worth comparing these two with two other major European festivals (Bourges and Avignon). The CEFRAC study considered these four festivals in 1995 and the following table summarises that analysis in terms of their budgets, public subsidies and assumed economic impacts (according to a common methodology adopted for that report). The last column reflects the gearing of the perceived economic impact against the public subsidy. (All figures are in millions of ecus).

Table/Chart 9: EIF and other European Festivals Ratio of Econ Impact to ECU m. Budget Subsidy Imp Subsidy 10.40 26.68 2.57 Salzburg 39.38 Avignon Bourges EIF 124 6.52 4.22 5.85 2.93 1.48 2.34 12.91 8.25 20.12 4.40 5.59 8.60

From this comparison, it would seem that the return that Edinburgh achieves on its public investment in EIF compares extremely favorably with that in the other cities. This positive outcome is also reflected through the other festivals. The following table compares the Edinburgh festivals with turnovers between 100k and 1m46 with a basket of European comparators (noting that, as already remarked the Fringe receives a subsidy of 6.5% of its turnover compared with a European average of 11%).

Table/Chart 10: Edinburgh Festivals and European comparators %age public subsidy Edinburgh Festivals European Festivals47 25.3 35.2

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From all the above, it is clear that Edinburghs festivals compare well to their British peer group in terms of the value they offer to the city in return for the subsidy that CEC provides. Similarly, in international terms, the economic impacts produced by the festivals compares very favourably with the outputs of other European cities. The Festivals Strategy must set out to support and strengthen this success story.

46 47

Science, Film, Childrens, Jazz, Mela and Book From KPMG study of festivals

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PART II THE VISION

2.1
126

The Need for a Shared Vision

To be of practical use, a Festivals Strategy should have a clear set of objectives arising from a widely shared vision. During the research process, there was widespread agreement that the first requirement should be the development of this shared vision on the basis of which CEC, the various festivals and other interested parties could sign up to a common plan of action. A shared vision for the festivals would need to be compatible with the Councils definition of culture as expressed in its cultural strategy, Towards A New Enlightenment, and with its broader objectives as expressed in A Vision for Edinburgh. In particular, it should take on board the desire for Edinburgh to be: a capital city of international standing, where institutions work together for the benefit of all, every citizen is able to participate in and enrich the life of their community and the city as a whole a city whose economic, social, educational and cultural advantages are equally accessible to all and where the gap between different individuals in the community especially the most vulnerable in quality of life, is closing. a learning city thriving by dedication to quality.which maintains its competitive economic position. a city which promotes sustainable practices in every sphere of life.. These four headline ambitions are benchmarks against which a Festival (or other Cultural) Strategy should be tested. The Festivals Strategy must also build on the many positive attributes of the current ecology of Edinburghs festivals. The consultation process developed and agreed the following set of cultural ambitions which together provide the shared vision which underpins the Festivals Strategy.

127

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129

The Vision
Edinburghs Festivals Strategy should aim to achieve: a year-round programme of cultural festivals and events which attracts increasing numbers of visitors to the city and is supported by high quality levels of service and a customer-focussed infrastructure. as part of the above, a range of independent festivals (each of which is highly distinctive and open to new ideas, innovation and risk-taking), satisfactorily balancing the demands of creative ambition, social objectives and commercial viability the maintenance of a summer programme which continues to be recognised as the pre-eminent festival in the world, of very high quality and offering great diversity of experience, including an international dimension (both in its content and its public); complemented by a programme of festivals and events at other times of the year which achieves an equally high level of quality and diversity. the involvement of a broad range of Edinburghs citizens, maintaining and growing existing levels of local support; involving Edinburghs communities as participants and audience members in the citys festivals; and encouraging festival initiatives which address social inclusion goals for the city a learning culture around the festivals in which the city can better use the skillbase they offer, emerging talent can be nurtured and a range of training opportunities developed. an inter-connectedness between the festivals, enabling co-operation, joint initiatives and the sharing of resources (and ideas), stimulating a positive sense of creative competition whilst avoiding destructive competition for scant resources a healthy relationship between CEC and the festivals, based on clear council objectives and transparent decision-making, which offers stability, is light on bureaucracy and is supported by a can-do attitude. an explicit recognition of the festivals worth (both within and outwith Edinburgh), which acknowledges their contribution, both economically and in terms of the quality of life of the citizenry, and which is reflected in appropriate funding an effective advocacy and marketing campaign, based on all the above and involving CEC, Scottish and area tourism boards, SAC, The Audience Business (TAB), SE Edinburgh and Lothian, festivals and other principal cultural institutions, intended to develop Edinburghs reputation as the festival city and as a city of culture, both nationally and internationally.

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2.3
130

The Practical Application of the Vision

The ambitions outlined above together constitute a vision for Edinburghs festivals which has been agreed by the festivals themselves and the principal stakeholders. If they are to be translated into a practical strategy they need to be expressed through a set of concrete objectives. These objectives will also be shaped by some of the observations set out in the first part of this report, summarised in the following box: SUMMARY POINTS FROM PART 1 The citys economic and cultural success will be significantly enhanced by a strategic approach Festivals must be closely linked to the rest of the citys annual cultural provision and given a degree of continuity and security. Probable future trends are likely to have a significant impact on the environment in which the Edinburgh festivals operate, viz: A more demanding public will be confronted with a significantly increased range of leisure choices. That public will have increased spending power, expect more from its leisure time and probably enjoy more flexible working patterns. The festivals will have to operate in an increasingly competitive international market for an audience with a greater taste for the new and the special. A potential increased polarisation of society may lead to an accompanying sense of social exclusion for some.

Edinburgh is a thriving city and its health is intimately related to the strength of its cultural life. The festivals constitute an important element within that cultural sector and their continued prosperity depends on the recruitment, training, encouragement and support of first-rate directors. The festival sector constitutes a distinct ecology with a comparatively high degree of communication and co-operation, which also sustains a number of vital relationships with the rest of the Edinburgh year. The support of this sector will rely, in large part, on the citys recognition of the value of the festivals, on a successful, simple and open system of communication and decision-making between the Council and the festivals and the continuing and secure provision of resources. Edinburghs festivals provide the city with a wide range of tangible and intangible benefits. The Strategy should help develop clear guidelines for evaluating the impact of the festivals with respect to their cultural, social and economic dimensions as well as in terms of their contribution to the citys profile. The festivals compare well to their British peer group in terms of the value they offer to the city in return for the subsidy it provides. Similarly, in international terms, the economic impacts produced by the festivals compare very favourably with the outputs of other European cities. The Festivals Strategy must set out to support and strengthen this success story.

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Based on these principles, the Strategy outlined in Part III is organised around the following five strategic objectives with associated actions, designed to help Edinburgh realise the vision for its festivals.

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2.4
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Strategic Objectives (and associated actions)

Strategic Objective 1: To support and sustain a range of high quality festivals or festival-related events mainly concentrated in August but also taking place throughout the year by: A. agreeing the strategic importance of the festivals B exploring ways in which to support and promote the festivals C evaluating the viability of changes and/or additions to the festival calendar and, where appropriate, enabling them to happen D exploring and encouraging possibilities for shoulder activities by existing festivals, probably in collaboration with other Edinburgh-based cultural organisations. Strategic Objective 2: To develop the audience for the festival programme by: A understanding the audience B publicly acknowledging the value of the festivals and identifying their success with the city C developing the citys capacity to promote the festivals and the festivals capacity to promote themselves D improving the information resources available to the festivals E improving the citys infrastructure in order to make it more appealing to visitors and to facilitate the festivals ability to deliver their missions. Strategic Objective 3: To increase the engagement of Edinburghs citizens with the festivals and the benefit they get from them by: A making festival events available to the widest possible cross-section of Edinburghs citizens B taking activity into as many areas of of the city as possible C developing links with the ongoing cultural programmes within the communities D ensuring that the festivals contribute towards the wider social inclusion agenda E connecting festival programmes with education, training and other initiatives in the area of life-long learning F improving the festival infrastructure to facilitate the above Strategic Objective 4: To strengthen and clarify relationships within and between the festivals, the Council and other stakeholders by: A clarifying and simplifying the points of contact and procedures for communication within CEC and between festivals and the Council B developing relationships with other stakeholders (SAC, SE Edinburgh and Lothian, ELTB etc.) C exploring ways in which the festivals can develop their collaborative practices and, where appropriate, share resources D making decision-making processes more clearly strategic and transparent in terms of grant-giving and in-kind support E maximising income from commercial sponsorship and private sector funding

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Strategic Objective 5: To develop a strategic framework for the allocation - and, where appropriate, the sharing - of resources by: A identifying appropriate outcomes for different festivals B establishing criteria for assessing festivals quality C evaluating the needs of festivals (in terms of cash and other resources) and setting out a plan to achieve them

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PART III THE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

3.1 Strategic objective 1:
To sustain and develop a range of high quality festivals or festival-related events mainly concentrated in August but also taking place throughout the year. by A) Agreeing the strategic importance of the festivals 137 Success and Risk The first part of this study identified the importance of festival visitors to Edinburghs reputation and economy. However, this success story cannot be taken for granted nor can its continued growth at the requisite level. The Fringe offers a salutory case study. It has expanded very successfully over recent years, growing its audience by 17% between 1995 and 1998. Over the same period, however, the number of performances has increased by 22%. Perhaps equally significant is the fact that between 1996 and 1998, the audience growth was only 2%. The following chart compares the increase in the number of Fringe performances over the last twenty years with the growth in audiences48. It is noteworthy that, over that period, whilst the audience has tripled, the number of events has increased nearly fivefold, with the real explosion taking place since 1987.

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Table/Chart 11: Growth in fringe performances and audiences since 1979

5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0
79 83 87 91 95 19 19 19 19 19 19 99

Performances Audiences

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This demonstrates that the competition for audiences in Edinburgh is increasingly intense and, of course, there is also increasing competition from the international marketplace, in which, for a number of reasons, Edinburgh cannot afford to be complacent. Some of these arise from the trends identified in Part I, such as the cashrich/time poor society or the increased competition for leisure spending in general. Others are more immediate the current strength of the pound, for instance, or the continuing tendency for the more affluent to take holidays and breaks abroad. Still others are specific to Edinburgh and the festivals themselves: there is, for example, a widely-held perception that a visit to Edinburgh in summer is becoming too expensive both in terms of the festival activity itself and the cost of accommodation, with hotel prices going up as the festival visitors arrive.

140

48

Both related to a 1979 base figure

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This perception could, in time, lead to increased price resistance and the consequent erosion of the festival ecology. If CEC accepts that the festivals are strategically important, it must be alert to this sort of threat. At present there is no co-ordinated data on the costs of hotels for visitors (nor of bed-and-breakfast or rented accommodation for fringe companies). The tourism agencies should consider collating and monitoring such data to identify any incipient problems. In addition, the festivals are always vulnerable to the vagaries of critical opinion (e.g. The International Festival has become bland, Theres no experimental work on the Fringe any more. Its just Comedy). Critics and arts commentators are notoriously prone to moaning about the state of the artistic world; however, a number of contributors to this study also expressed concern about the lack of high-quality challenging work on the Fringe and, further, identified the cost of bringing a show to the Festival as a major cause for this. One contributor had this to say: There was a time when the Edinburgh Fringe was basically the only such event in the world that simply is not true anymore. Increasingly, I feel there is an exploit the tourist subtext about the Fringe and I see no reason why people will continue coming when they can just as easily (and in many cases more cheaply) travel to a frankly more welcoming and adventurous festival elsewhere. I believe Edinburgh is running on the momentum of past reputation and will (unless it changes) fail in the long term to remain the Festival City The Fringe has always been non-hierarchical and non-selective, operating in an almost pure market economy. Consequently, it is difficult to see how active intervention could address this problem without skewing the market. Despite that difficulty, if the quality and reputation of the Fringe as a crucible for new work begins to suffer, it may become necessary for some mechanism (and funding) to be found to protect its credibility. CEC should initiate a discussion with the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) and the directors of the Fringe and EIF to consider this question and explore possible approaches to it.

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The Strategic Need 144 The first part of this report showed that it is clearly desirable for CEC to adopt a strategic approach to festivals both for the sake of Edinburgh and for the benefit of Scotland in general. If the festivals are to develop their potential, a strategic framework should be developed, based on a number of fundamental propositions: Between them, Edinburghs festivals fulfil a wide range of strategic goals and objectives cultural (in its widest sense), social, economic and presentational (in terms of Edinburghs image nationally and internationally) Different festivals address different parts of this cocktail in different ways. The city should recognise this diversity and value each festival for what it individually contributes to the whole mix. There should, accordingly, be a clear understanding of the target audiences for each festival. The festivals contribution depends on partnerships with - and support from - a range of stakeholders, including CEC, SE Edinburgh and Lothian, the Edinburgh & Lothian Tourist Board (ELTB), SAC and the business sector in all its diversity (hotels, retailers, sponsors etc). Given its demonstrable importance, the public funding bodies should acknowledge the festivals sector as a priority area for support. Whilst the Council is only one of a number of players responsible for the future of Edinburghs festivals programme, the multiplicity of its roles (funder, licenser, 37

promoter etc.) places it in a central position. It has, accordingly, particular opportunities and responsibilities. If it is to fulfil these most effectively, the authority must be clear and transparent about its own strategic objectives In dealing with the festivals, CEC will operate on two levels (as it will with the forthcoming Events Strategy) the strategic and the operational. The strategic framework will need to inform and influence many specific aspects of event management within the city, including the Councils own decisionmaking processes, internal communication and operational procedures

These points will be addressed more fully in subsequent sections. (B) Supporting and promoting the festivals 145 Given the importance of the festivals, it is important that CEC and other agencies support and promote them to the maximum effect. This can be done in a variety of ways such as those described below.

Recognising and Supporting Quality 146 In general, the quality of the festivals offer is high and all contributors to this review were agreed that Edinburghs festivals should aspire to the highest possible standards. To that end, the Festivals Strategy should: support and enable good festival directors in order to maximise their creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation establish robust criteria for assessing quality enable festival boards and CEC to identify, as a result, those festivals and/or directors which could improve their performance; and reward quality, whilst being rigorous about non-delivery against objectives Publicly acknowledging the value of the festivals and identifying their success with the city 147 CEC should aim to capitalise on and celebrate - the strength of the festivals. A coordinated campaign of advocacy and p.r. that identified and propagated success stories could help reinforce the citys identification with its festivals and enhance its brand. Such a campaign might emphasise: The importance of the festivals to the citys profile, economic well-being and social policies Innovation (e.g. Edinburgh = Enlightenment) The level of collaboration between the festivals (and with the rest of the cultural year) The support systems (venues, hotels etc.) This topic will be further explored under the next strategic objective 148 Marketing In developing its international brand, the city of Edinburgh should emphasise the significance of the festivals. The brand should, accordingly, explicitly link the citys name with the word festivals (e.g. Edinburgh City of Festivals or, as currently used by the ELTB, Europes Festival Capital) for appropriate tourist markets. Such a strapline should be used widely on print and on (for example) signage welcoming visitors at the airport, railway stations and on roadsides. In addition: 38

CEC (through Edinburgh Tourism Action Groups Events/Festivals sub-group) should continue to facilitate discussions about individual and common marketing initiatives, including the possibility of a distinctive, jointly developed festivals marketing strategy, especially addressing international marketing and press campaigns. Council publications should acknowledge the festivals at every opportunity The Council should send a positive message about the festivals, through all its various points of contact, to the citys citizens. TAB should work with the festivals to develop profile-raising objectives and strategies for individual festivals and the family as a whole. Festivals should be encouraged to extend their existing gateway website to include all the festivals; links to other city-wide or national websites should be pursued. Similarly, the Scottish Tourism e-business Project and other significant tourist websites (e.g. ELTBs) should continue to make clear references to the festivals gateway as at present. For the last two years, ELTBs website has included live links to 13 festivals in the city. This initiative should be continued. Corporate and generic marketing of the festivals should exploit the perception that the summer programme is a single, multi-faceted festival.

The Citys Infrastructure 149 The maintenance and development of the festivals success will depend, to a degree, on the infrastructural support that the city can offer. Some of this will be in the form of soft support, e.g.: All Council policies and plans should be put through a cultural litmus test to assess their impact on the cultural (in particular, the festival) sector and to evaluate ways in which that sector might contribute to them. The Council and the festivals contain a depth of skill and experience. A coordinated approach to training, mentoring and skills exchange should be developed to facilitate a learning culture in this sector. This could be developed in conjunction with one of the citys institutions of tertiary education (e.g. Queen Margaret University College). 150 In addition, there can be additional support in areas for which the Council is responsible, e.g.: The adoption of a more pro-active and positive attitude towards the festivals use of public areas for decoration and advertising (i.e. signage, street dressing, street advertising etc.) A review of CEC policies towards the provision of and charging for services (such as council-owned properties, cleaning etc.) An integrated approach to transport and traffic which facilitates the publics ability to move around Edinburgh during festival periods over extended hours Clearly, initiatives in these areas would have cost implications. The appropriate departments of CEC should discuss these with a view to assessing and accommodating any budgetary consequences.

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Resources 152 The Council has the potential to assist the festivals with a range of resources including: 153 Premises: Several festivals currently rent commercial office space. They would, consequently, seem strong candidates for the use of any Council-owned premises, either individually or as a group. An admirable recent CEC initiative has resulted in the Fringes long-lease occupation of a building in Warriston Close at a reduced rent in recognition of the cost of remedial work on the premises . The Science Festival is also in discussion with the Council about re-housing, possibly in a new Science Centre by the City Art Centre, or even in the Fringe Press Centre. Rehearsal and performance venues: Venues managed by the Council include open air spaces (such as Princes Street Gardens), the Assembly Rooms, and many schools and community spaces. This is in addition to the large venues whose agreement with the Council includes a requirement to rent out to the EIF each summer. There has been some controversy in the press and elsewhere about the increasing costs of using these spaces, especially to Fringe Festival participants. It has been suggested that the council is a principal contributor to an upward spiral which is pricing some artists out of the market. Whilst an analysis of 174 venues used for the Fringe in 2000 indicates that only about 31 of them are Councilowned, this list does include the Assembly Rooms and the Princes Street Gardens. Even if the Council is not a majority landlord with respect to the Fringe, it may still be the case that it is a large enough player to affect the market significantly. Further work is needed to test this proposition and to achieve a resolution, if necessary. Funding: The Council has recently undertaken some very welcome work on the criteria and processes for grant giving, which is reflected in section 3.4d of the current document. The resulting framework should help the Councils decision-making when individual festivals make their case for greater core funding or for project funding towards particular initiatives. Within that framework, where new extra funds are being requested, the Council should expect to see a strong cost-benefit case, whether argued in economic, social or cultural benefit terms. The criteria underpinning the framework should also help the Council communicate more clearly the reasons for grant decisions, manage the expectations of the recipients, and make more transparent the arrangements for assessment.

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Partnerships 156 With its strategic and financial interests in many different relevant agencies, CEC is ideally placed to progress beneficial partnerships through: brokerage, exploring with SE Edinburgh and Lothian, SAC, STB, ELTB and the Scottish Executive ways of positioning the festivals to their, Edinburghs and Scotlands benefit trade links, involving festival directors in a range of international activities, including trade fairs, civic visits and delegations

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( C ) Evaluating the viability of changes and/or additions to the Festival calendar and, where appropriate, enabling them to happen 157 There is a strong desire among those with strategic tourism interests to develop the yearround programme of events in Edinburgh in order to maximise visitor-derived benefits (especially given the current growth in hotel accommodation) and to reinforce its position as the City Of Festivals - and undoubtedly, there are periods in the year which are less busy with festivals than others. The following table illustrates the current annual pattern of festivals:

Table/Chart 12: Festival dates EDINBURGH FESTIVAL DATES - 2000 AND 2001
Edinburgh's Hogmanay Puppet Animation Festival Edinburgh International Science Festival Harp Festival Scottish International Children's Festival Edinburgh International Jazz & Blues Festival Edinburgh Tattoo Edinburgh Festival Fringe Edinburgh International Book Festival Edinburgh International Film Festival Edinburgh International Festival Edinburgh International Television Festival Edinburgh Mela 2000 December 28/January 1 27 February - 30 April 7 -18 April 14 - 19 April 29 May 4 June 28 July 6 August 4 - 26 August 6 - 28 August 12 - 28 August 13 - 27 August 13 August - 2 September 25 - 28 August 29 August - 3 September49 provisionally 7-10 days during Sept/Oct 27 October - 5 November 24 26 November 1 - 24 December 2001 December 28/January 1 n/a 7 - 17 April 6-11 April n/a 27 July - 5 August 3-25 August 5 - 27 August 11 - 27 August 12 - 26 August 12 August - 1 September 24 - 27 August 27 August 2 September

Festival of the Environment Scottish International Storytelling Festival Fiddle Festival Capital Christmas

n/a (2000 dates?) n/a 23-25 November n/a

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This table suggests that there are gaps in the year, most obviously at the beginning of the year (post-Hogmanay), in the weeks either side of Easter (where the Puppet Animation, Science, Harp and Childrens Festivals are spread over four months), in midsummer (in the run up to the Festivals) and later in the autumn. From this, two questions naturally occur: 1 Should additional festivals be created to fill the gaps? 2 Should one or more festival move its dates in order to equalise the distribution of work through the year? Some of the identified gap periods are, in practice, unattractive for a variety of reasons. The New Year period immediately after Hogmanay is always likely to be slow with a collective hangover that tends to discourage participation in continuing festivities (you can only party for so long) June and July present a number of challenges. June is home to some community festivals which, although they do not make a significant impact on the citys visitor economy, certainly have a social impact, on which CEC may be able to build. Early July also offers other practical obstacles to an increased festival provision: the schools break up and Trades Weeks remove a number of Edinburgh citizens from the market-place. In addition, the financial demand on peoples pockets made up by the August Festivals should not be under-estimated. The citizens of Edinburgh buy about 435,000 tickets to five summer festivals50. A further demand in the weeks immediately before that period might well encounter serious sales resistance unless a market could be targeted that was very distinct from the audience(s) for the summer festivals. In the weeks immediately following the summer festivals (September and October) the city needs to recover from the hyper-activity of August and this is the time when the year-round cultural providers are launching their seasons. Some of these (such as theatres and concert halls) report that, once the Festival season starts, there is an effective moratorium on ticket sales for the autumn. Any extension of that season might risk damaging the ecology of those venues. These caveats suggest that it would be advisable to concentrate discussion about additional or re-scheduled festival activity on two potentially promising time-slots the late autumn, leading up to Christmas, and the spring period around Easter. The next three sections consider the advisability of either creating new festivals or rescheduling existing ones.

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New Festivals 162 In recent years, CEC has created two highly successful festivals the Science Festival and Hogmanay. The success of these initiatives encourages the belief that still more could be added to the programme. Suggestions have been made for a number of new festivals which might be created to fill part of the Edinburgh year. These include

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EIF, Fringe, Film, Book, Tattoo

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Sport: A learning festival which, while including some showpiece sporting events, would focus on debate and educational activity about sport and related topics, including talks and other appearances by celebrity sportsmen/women and commentators. Capital Christmas: A council initiative aimed at increasing shopping tourism and hotel bed occupancy, leading up to Christmas, this project started in 1999 as a Christmas Cavalcade with new lights in Princes Street. It expanded in 2000 to include a traditional German street market and has been contracted out to Unique Events who will schedule live events, a designed parade, and a programme of European themed activity. Visual Arts: The visual arts community is developing with the Council a visual arts and crafts strategy, one of the aims being to increase the profile of the visual arts and crafts in Edinburgh. The consultants brief includes considering the value of a visual arts and crafts festival, or of two separate initiatives (visual arts, crafts). Food: Leith development agencies are proposing a food and drink festival based in Leith in the shoulder month of September. Dance: The 2001 opening of DanceBases National centre for Dance in the Grassmarket is evidence of the interest in establishing dance as a force for cultural and festive development in Edinburgh. In addition, the demise of the Folk Festival, and of the Flux Festival within the Fringe, were regretted by some interviewees, who believed that Edinburgh should consider hosting a festival centred on contemporary popular music and that there might also be a role for a refocused Folk Festival. One contributor also observed that, in Europe, the most common form of Festival is one centred on early music and that there is a dearth of such festivals in the U.K. Despite the obvious attractions of developing new festivals to fill some of the gaps in the year, many contributors to this research were nervous about the general principle of creating new festivals. Briefly, the reasons for this caution can be summarised as follows: Funding need: It is assumed (with reason) that any new festivals would need new money, which would have to come either from the public purse or from the private sector. If the same sources of funding are required to stretch in order to meet new demands, there could be very damaging consequences for the existing festivals. It is not always easy to anticipate the impact of a new initiative on the existing ecology (viz. the creation of the Festival Theatre, which initially had negative repercussions for all the other Edinburgh theatres despite a very positive feasibility study and an economic analysis which indicated that the new building would not damage them). It would be essential, therefore, before committing to a new festival, to ensure that appropriate sources of income would be available which would not detract from the funding base of existing festivals. Unsurprisingly, a recurrent theme during the consultation was the plea that the Council 43

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and partners maintain and invest in the competitive edge of the current events programme before considering further expansion of the calendar. 171 The impact on year-round cultural provision: Gaps in festival provision offer opportunities for other, year-round arts providers to promote their own activity and work with tourism agencies to attract audiences. New festival provision could have significant negative impact on audiences and the economic bases of such organisations, many of which receive CEC support. The available audience: The TAB research has shown that, outwith the summer period (and probably Hogmanay) a majority of the festivals audience is local. There must be a danger that, unless great care is taken, a proliferation of new festivals might exhaust that audience. Before any new festivals are undertaken, therefore, it will be necessary to have a clear and confident understanding of the potential market. Any such initiatives would need to be centred around content that was clearly distinct from the current offer in order to appeal to a discrete audience. It might also be advantageous to consider any new initiatives being focussed elsewhere than the city centre (e.g.Leith). The need for fallow periods: Connected with the previous point is the perception that the people of Edinburgh need time to breathe between festivals and that the regular year-round providers need space to develop and market their programmes. The further related point was made that there need to be periods during the year when civic disruptions can occur (e.g. new transport measures, major roadworks etc.) which would be inimical to a successful festival. Loss of specialness: Part of the appeal of any festival is its quality of Specialness. Audiences need to know that, by attending, they are likely to enjoy experiences that they cannot get at any other time of the year. By judicious selection of the nature of any new festival, it would be relatively easy to avoid duplication or content. However there remains the danger that Edinburgh would lose the more general sense of buzz that accrues to special events. In that circumstance, each event would have to work even harder to titillate its audiences palate. Losing residents sympathy: At present, the majority of Edinburghs residents seem to enjoy the festivals (with only 10% deliberately trying to avoid them). The summer festivals (and Hogmanay) do, however, cause an element of disruption in peoples lives and there is a danger that, if that disruption were allowed to seep into a much greater part of the year, the level of tolerance might decline. Edinburghs quality of life is one of its most prized assets. It should not be jeopardised. There will be a saturation point that must be anticipated and avoided. The conclusion from all the above is that most contributors to this report believe that CEC would be unwise to embark on creating new festivals before securing and stabilising the existing framework. The draft Events Strategy reinforces this view: It must be re-emphasised that any expansion of the current programme is only recommended following the introduction of improved management and support processes for current levels of events.

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Having said that, it should be acknowledged that CEC has demonstrated in the past that it can successfully initiate new festivals (Science, Hogmanay). CEC could, therefore, entertain the idea of initiating a new Festival, provided that a number of key criteria are met: a unique character to the proposed programme a champion a market which does not detract from audiences for existing activity a business case a sponsor (which does not threaten existing festivals or other cultural activity) the requisite funding from the public purse (not at the expense of the existing family) an appropriate time-slot and geographic location support (not resentment) from other festivals, cultural organisations, and the public One proposal which might meet the above criteria is the suggested Food and Drink Festival, especially given the success of the Taste of Chicago, as noted in Part I. Were that concept to be pursued (and the relevant criteria to be met) it would be worth drawing on the Chicago experience in designing the project. Rescheduled Festivals The prospect of moving existing festivals causes concern within the festivals community. In part, this is for similar reasons to those applied to the new festivals proposal. (funding, risk etc.) In addition, however, the following factors are quoted: Cost: As the draft Events Strategy observes, there is reluctance amongst some promoters to bear the risks associated with expanding the busy summer season of events into the quieter shoulder months without some level of subsidy. Any attempt to reschedule a festival would have to be accompanied by a full risk analysis and, probably, a degree of financial under-writing by the Council Critical mass in the summer: The TAB research clearly demonstrates that the summer festival audiences attend an average of over two festivals. Any festival that moved out of that period would probably see a marked decline in its attendances. In addition, the buzz of the summer is, in large part, due to the contiguity of the festivals. Most festivals are when they are for a reason: A festival-by-festival analysis indicates that most of them have alighted on their present dates for a reason (school terms/holidays, the availability of artists, synergies with other festivals in the international calendar etc). Most of them believe that moving would be likely to impact negatively on such arrangements. The demise of the Folk Festival: Although there were a number of reasons for the failure of the Folk Festival51, some contributors to this study felt that its change of dates (which occurred only eighteen

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In 1997, in an attempt to clear its 1996 deficit of 17,000, the Festival Board tried a policy of expansion. The accumulated deficit rose to 35,000 by the end of that festival, due to low box office returns and the following two festivals failed to halt the financial decline. In December 1999, the Folk Festival ceased operating although it has not, at present, been formally wound-up.

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months earlier) might have been a contributing factor. This perception reinforces the nervousness about relocation felt by many festivals and would strengthen their requirement for some form of financial guarantees. 184 If it aint broke, dont fix it: Edinburghs festivals are, on the whole, a considerable success story.of which the Council can be proud Any change to their pattern would need to be persuasively argued with a full cost-benefit and risk analysis. Some of the above concerns may be over-pessimistic (or unwarranted generalisations from particular instances). It would seem, for instance, that the collapse of the Folk Festival was more due to a number of operational issues than to the change in dates. Nevertheless, there remain strong arguments against disturbing the synergies of the summer period and it is highly likely that any Festival asked to move its dates in order to fulfil CEC Strategic aims would require some financial guarantees to help manage any concomitant risk. To take a specific example, the draft Events Strategy identifies the Jazz and Blues Festival and a revived Folk Festival as the most likely candidates for re-scheduling. The Jazz and Blues Festival has already moved from within the EIF and Fringe periods, and now occurs at a time when many venues are closed and preparing for these two. It provides welcome entertainment for locals and visitors without overlapping with other festival initiatives. To an extent, therefore, it is already a stand-alone event which could perhaps move earlier still, thereby starting the summer festivities earlier. Some of the Festivals costs would be reduced by moving out of August and, since it lends itself to outdoor events, the Festival could expand this side of its programming as well as gaining access to venues closed later in July. This proposition would, however, need to be properly market tested in advance. It would probably change the flavour of the remaining summer festivals and it might create some problems for the Jazz and Blues Festival. In particular, it might impact negatively on the Festivals strong local audience if it impinged on the first two weeks of July (Trades Weeks and other related issues mentioned earlier). This risk would be compounded by the fact that the Glasgow Jazz Festival is already in early July. As a consequence, any such move would require underwriting. The draft Events Strategy has also raised the possibility of re-scheduling the former Folk Festival. Since the demise of that festival, there has been an open meeting of those concerned to develop another focus for folk music, and a small working group is due to report back with recommendations at the end of October. A central player in these discussions is the Fiddle Festival, a three-day workshop, participation and performance event taking place in Assembly Rooms in November each year, with strong links to the traditional music scene in the city. The working groups suggestions are likely to offer a choice between a commercial Celtic roots approach and a community/participative approach, probably with a preference for a Spring event. Involvement of the Mela is likely to be suggested in order to introduce an element of cross-cultural exchange.

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Whilst neither suggestion is guaranteed funding, the Folk Festival grant from the Council has been ring-fenced for folk music in the current year and awarded in partnership with SAC and the perceived importance of this area is emphasised in the Scottish Executives recently published National Cultural Strategy, which includes a commitment to provide an additional 1.5million to foster and develop Traditional Arts across Scotland. CEC is working closely with SACs Music Department to ensure a joint approach on the future development of Traditional Music. Preferred Strategic Options The three-month spring period currently contains the Puppet Animation Festival, the Science Festival, the Harp Festival and the Childrens Festival. There would certainly be room here for additional provision (assuming the key criteria identified earlier were met) so, were a new festival proposal to win broad support, this might be a good slot for it. It should be noted, however, that three of the existing festivals in this period all have a strong family appeal which could provide a useful thematic hook for cross-marketing. If would be helpful, therefore, if any additional festivals included in the spring were compatible with that image. The mid-winter period already hosts Hogmanay, which may be successfully complemented by the proposed Capital Christmas. The Story-telling Festival currently happens at the beginning of November and the Fiddle Festival at the end. The rest of November, however, is available. It might be worth considering the possibility of placing in that period a revived Folk Festival (and perhaps other appropriate activities) so that the event grew into a celebration of traditional arts between the Story-telling Festival and the Christmas celebrations. This might be particularly appropriate, given the emphasis on traditional arts in the National Cultural Strategy. If this course of action were pursued, it could be beneficial to involve the Mela in order to give added texture to the events, especially since this period also includes Diwali. Any ideas for developing new (or relocating existing) festivals must be assessed within the framework of the Councils Festivals and Events Strategies. As the latter says there is no process in place within the Council, or as part of the work taking place with partner organisations such as SE Edinburgh and Lothian and ELTB, to assess or probe the feasibility or desirability of new event proposals.

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Fringe Festival Dates 193 The Fringes change of dates in 1998 occasioned much comment and controversy. It was feared that the lack of synchronicity between the Fringe and EIF would damage both and could confuse or discourage audiences. 194 Audience research undertaken by TAB for the Council shows that, in 1999, only a very small percentage of respondents considered that the inconsistency of dates between the EIF and the Fringe mattered. Most were unconcerned and this finding has been reconfirmed through detailed analysis of the relevant questionnaires. Analysis of audience behaviour (rather than opinion), however, produces data that may modify this insouciance. The Fringe (and key fringe venues) reports that the impact of the change on box office has been to focus the greatest number of ticket sales during the two weeks when the festivals overlap. Week 0 is very quiet and this is increasing the competition among companies to appear in the ten days at the centre of the festival month. The press is also tending to concentrate on this period at the expense of other

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weeks, missing many key previews and openings as a result. Despite these caveats, however, Fringe ticket sales do not appear to have declined overall. 196 The EIF has felt the impact of a quieter final week but has adjusted its programme to keep the impetus going once the streets are quiet. Most professional arts managers interviewed expressed regret at the split of the two festivals, feeling that the festival city lost something in the change. However, it is too early to predict trends, and for the next few years neither festival is likely to move voluntarily52. CEC should, accordingly, monitor audience patterns over the next two or three years and then review the situation with the Fringe and EIF. Meanwhile, subject to finance, the Mela hopes to extend its presence and activity during this week of the EIF, working with overseas partners and Dance Base to present a Royal Mile event. The last week of the EIF could also be complemented by other daytime activity. For example, despite the fact that the visual arts are no longer an official part of the EIF programme, TAB research shows that they obviously play an important part in the festival experience with 43% of the [summer] sample visiting art galleries during the festivals . TAB further recommends that Cross-over could be encouraged The visual arts strategy working group might, accordingly, wish to consider the possibility of an enhanced programme in the museums and galleries in the third week of the EIF.

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Summary 198 The strategy outlined under Objective 1 (C) can be summarised thus: Rather than seeking to place a number of new festivals throughout the year, CEC should consider organically developing two other clusters of festivals - in the spring and mid-winter to complement the summer cluster These clusters should have clearly defined identities and target markets. New festivals should only be introduced if they satisfy a rigorous set of criteria and present a special case for their existence Any suggestion of rescheduling an existing festival should be accompanied by a full risk/cost benefit analysis and recognition that they may require additional funding against risk. No festival should be introduced before or at the expense of securing the existing Festival framework (D) Exploring and encouraging possibilities for shoulder activities by existing Festivals, probably in collaboration with other Edinburgh-based cultural organisations. A Complementary Approach 199 New festivals are not the only means by which CEC can address its need to develop a year-round programme which attracts increasing numbers of visitors to the city and is supported by high quality levels of service and a customer-focussed infrastructure. The City also nurtures greater diversity and quality throughout the year through supporting and promoting year-round cultural organisations, and encouraging collaborations between its cultural institutions.

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Reference has already been made to ways in which, for example, the Mela, the Storytelling, the Fiddle and the resuscitated Folk Festivals might collaborate constructively. Other examples also suggest themselves through which festivals might develop shoulder activities in association with other key local players; for example, the Childrens Festival might develop off-season projects with the Lyceum or with the National Gallery; the Science Festival could extend its relationship with Dynamic Earth whilst the Mela could develop a partnership role with a number of the other Festivals to help them expand the culturally diverse aspects of their programming. The programmes of the Summer Festivals also have a resonance through the rest of the year. Some companies who come to the EIF or the Fringe could be encouraged to return at other times (perhaps with an education project targeted at specific less advantaged communities in the city). Whether such initiatives are managed by the festivals or by another Edinburgh organisation (e.g. the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, the Traverse or Theatre Workshop), there is a resource of knowledge and expertise in the festivals which adds value to such events. It is, of course, important for all parties to acknowledge that any such diversification must not be allowed to damage the core activity of the festivals or partner organisations. Another mechanism whereby Edinburgh could maximise the value of its Festivals might be through the development of Cultural Weekends, targeting the short breaks market. ELTB is already developing such weekends as part of its niche marketing strategy. These will take place in the October-March period, since hotels are highly unlikely to offer cheap packages in the height of the summer months. Whilst this initiative is most likely to offer immediate opportunities to the festivals that take place outwith the summer period, the summer festivals could also discuss with ELTB whether they might be able to develop shoulder programmes that could feed into this strategy. This and other initiatives will be greatly assisted by the proposed establishment in Edinburgh of a well-maintained, accurate and easily accessible clash diary of events. Although the Festivals are familiar with each others programmes and generally know of other events which impact directly on their particular sphere of activity, they are not aware of every proposal which might affect them. This diary could be linked to existing festival websites. The value to the public of festival events can also be increased by touring, whether to communities in outer Edinburgh and Lothian or nationally to major venues. The Childrens and Science Festivals already have significant national touring programmes with an educational emphasis and, at a different scale, the EIF has longer-term ambitions for giving further exposure to its created projects. Such initiative, of course, bring with them additional costs. Alternatively, partnerships, such as that of the Childrens Festival with Belfast, could enable a further life (or defray the costs of commissions). Finally, the Scottish Executive is establishing a Ministerial Task Force to promote cultural tourism as part of the new strategy for Scottish Tourism. CEC and the Festivals should seek to meet this group at the earliest opportunity to explore areas of common interest.

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Strategic Objective 2:
To develop the audience for the festival programme through advocacy, promotion and marketing by:

(A) 206

Understanding the audience53 The audience for Edinburghs festivals is large in number and crosses a broad spectrum. Attenders span a wide demographic from backpackers to grey panthers. A high proportion (about 40%) is under 35 years of age and the audience, as a whole, seems to be getting younger (in 1990,19% were in the 15-24 age range; by 1999 this had increased to 30%). There has also been a long-term growth in overseas visitors for several of the festivals with the Tattoo, in particular, attracting a large overseas clientele. According to statistics collated by The Audience Business (TAB) and the festivals themselves about 1,266,000 tickets are sold for five summer festivals54 and it is estimated that between 400,000 and 500,000 people visit Edinburgh in the summer weeks, of which 59% say that the festivals are an important (or very important) reason for their visit. Significant numbers are also generated by Hogmanay and the spring festivals. Indeed, if Hogmanay and the other constituent parts of the festival year are added to the above figure, it seems likely that around 400,000 of the citys annual visitors are attracted, to a significant extent, by the festival programme. As observed in the last section, CEC, ELTB and SE Edinburgh and Lothian should capitalise on this by developing a branding strategy which identifies the city with the success of the festivals. Between summer 1999 and spring 2000, TAB on behalf of the Council - undertook a major piece of market research into audiences for ten of the festivals. The resulting report produced some very valuable indications about the nature of the audiences for the festivals. In the main, these results bear a remarkable similarity to those obtained from the Edinburgh Festivals Visitor Survey in 1990. However, some variations were identified, principally: The audiences for the summer festivals are younger than ten years ago and they now attract a larger percentage of Edinburgh based people There has been an increase in adult attenders at the Science and Childrens Festivals All festivals, with the exception of Jazz and Blues, have increased their profiles over the past ten years; and the Fringe now has a higher recognition factor than EIF. In addition, the TAB research confirmed a number of already-held perceptions: Attenders at one festival have a high degree of awareness of the others. This is unsurprising, given the fact they are in town and probably in possession of one or more festival brochure. Perhaps more surprisingly, 24% of those interviewed think of the summer programme as one festival. Given that these interviewees were already in Edinburgh in festival time, it is likely that, of the general public who are not in Edinburgh, a much higher proportion share this view of the festivals as a single event.

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The majority of the analysis in this section has been based on audience research carried out by TAB during 1999 and 2000. 54 EIF, Fringe, Tattoo, Film, Book

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The summer and spring festivals have very different audience profiles. The summer festivals tend to attract young people either working full time or in full time education, from a high social class with as many people coming from the rest of the UK as from Edinburgh itself. 42.6% of the summer audience comes from Edinburgh; 6.1% from Lothian, 9.4% from the rest of Scotland; 20.4% from the rest of the U.K; and 21.5% from abroad. As was noted earlier, the distribution of visitors from outwith Edinburgh and Lothian is very similar to that of Edinburghs general visitor population. Visitors to the summer festivals overall commit themselves to fairly lengthy stays (an average of 7.36 days in Edinburgh; 9.97 in Scotland). By comparison, the profile of attenders at the spring festivals is quite different, with a much more local audience (64% from Edinburgh, 10% from Lothian and only 3% from overseas). The spring festivals attract an older female audience, who have children and be working either part time or in the home. Whereas only 8.5% of the summer attenders are accompanied by children, 61.5% of the spring attenders are. To a very large extent, this is due to the subject matter but it may also owe something to the pattern of attendance. The Puppet Animation Festival, for instance, attracts a significant C2DE audience and questions of cost and life-style are probably highly relevant. On balance the age distribution of adults in these audiences reflects that of their accompanying children (e.g. the Science profile is older than the Childrens, which in turn is older than the Puppet Animations) There are fewer out-of-Edinburgh visitors to the spring festivals and they stay for shorter periods (5.9 days in Edinburgh; 7.8 in Scotland). There is also a much more marked tendency for these visitors to stay with friends or relatives. It seems highly probable that a large number are coming on day trips expressly for festivals The average spend of attenders in the spring is about half that of the summer audience, reflecting both their broader social base (i.e. more less-well off people) and their local character (i.e. not spending on accommodation, eating out etc.) Of the individual festivals, the Fringe and EIF have very similar profiles The Book, Jazz and Blues and Film Festivals attract a predominantly Edinburghbased audience while the Tattoos is more likely to be from abroad Book, Jazz and Blues, and Film Festival audiences have greatest crossover with Mela audiences; the Melas perception is that its mainly local family audience includes a majority from less affluent backgrounds The Book Festival audience is older and the Film younger than the norm. The principal barriers to festival attendance are lack of time and cost.

The above information suggests that the summer festivals attract a wealthier audience from more affluent social categories and a wide geographical area. The spring festivals attract a much more local, less well-off, more family-based audience. A strategic approach to audience development requires comprehensive and reliable data; however,until recently, Edinburgh Festivals market research has been undertaken on an individual and comparatively piece-meal basis. This has meant that festivals and funders have had to rely on a patchwork of sometimes conflicting55 data to support both tactical

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for instance, the cross-over of audiences between the Film Festival and the Fringe is variously estimated as 65% or 83% whilst the under-35s in the EIF audience may make up 13% of the audience or 50% according to different studies.

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marketing and the general proposition that the Festivals make a very substantial contribution to the economy of the city and to Scotland in general. 213 The creation of TAB offers the opportunity to rationalize this state of affairs and to ensure that more dependable data is collected on a uniform, consistent basis. The festivals, CEC and other stake-holders should continue to collaborate very closely with TAB and seek to develop it as a vital tool for research, analysis and data exchange. In addition, given that most of the festivals are funded by CEC (or, in the case of the Environment Festival, directly run by it), it is recommended that the collection of data in a consistent form becomes a condition of grant, with the acknowledgement that this may have cost implications.

(B) Publicly acknowledging the value of the festivals and identifying their success with the city 214 From the above, it is clear that, despite the discrete identities of the individual summer festivals, there is a widely-held perception that, in the summer, The Edinburgh Festival takes place i.e. a single monolithic entity. This fact should be exploited in any corporate or generic promotion of the festivals. CEC and the festivals should develop a pan-festival brand which associates the city with the festivals as a group whilst promoting each individually. This - facilitated by a degree of joint marketing - might generate economies of scale in promotional activity whilst improving the citys profile and transmitting a positive image of smart and more effective working. It is noteworthy that Lothian and the rest of Scotland are not heavily represented in the summer audiences. This under-representation is mirrored by the TAB data concerned with knowledge about festival activity. The festivals may, therefore, want to consider an information initiative designed to increase the take-up of festival opportunities in the rest of Scotland56. The TAB observations about individual festivals also indicate that different groups of festivals attract very different types of audience and that any generic marketing should acknowledge that fact. Similarly, individual festivals marketing should build on the identified profile of their audiences57. Of the TAB data sample, 66.4% attend ticketed event 60.2% enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere 52.8% attend free events (86% of whom also attend ticketed event) 43.2% visited art galleries From this, it would seem that the critical mass of the summer festivals (including the availability of free events and galleries) is a vital component in their success. The mix of the Edinburgh festivals (allied to the quality of the offer) is what makes the citys summer programme special and encourages audiences to attend a variety of different events. That critical mass should be maintained and strengthened through additional

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Although, of course, the tendency towards foreign holidays exacerbated by the present strength of the pound may militate against Scots visiting the festivals for more than a day or two at a time. 57 For example, given the level of C2DE attendance at the Puppet Animation Festival audience and the presence of a large number of children, combined with the complete absence of unemployed people in the sample, it is worth speculating that a large proportion of the adult audience may well be child-carers.

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support. It would probably not be advisable, however, to try to add any more festivals to the summer mix. 219 At present, the EIF is playing to about 78% houses, Film to 75% and the Book Festival to 64%; it would seem, therefore, that there is capacity for growth in these audiences58. This conclusion, combined with the enormous variety of fare already on offer (and the impression that, at some times during the festival period, the streets are virtually impassable through the press of people), suggests that Edinburgh should aim to increase audiences frequency of attendance at existing events rather than seek to expand significantly the numbers of summer visitor or the attractions on offer. Having said that, the TAB research suggests that foreign visitors are currently more likely to visit in the first two of the summers five festival weeks. . This attendance pattern suggests an opportunity. The festivals may find it profitable to increase their concentration on the international marketplace for the second part of the festival period in order to raise the overall numbers of attenders from overseas. The TAB conclusions also suggest that there are two clear messages to be communicated about the Edinburgh festivals - and a range of markets to which they should be addressed. The first message is that the summer festivals attract a large, comparatively highspending raft of visitors from all over the world and provide considerable economic benefit to the city. The second is that the spring festivals, whilst not generating the same level of inward investment, attract local people and fulfil important goals in terms of local engagement and social inclusion. These messages should be directed both outwards to the wider world and also actively disseminated within the city itself. At present, there is a widespread belief among the festivals that the city does not currently capitalise sufficiently on this potential goodnews story. The draft Events Strategy observes that There is a need for a wider promotional campaign in Edinburgh on the benefits associated with the hosting of events, in order to counteract what is regarded as sometimes hostile local press coverage. .The production of new and accurate data on these benefits both economic and non-economic would be desirable. This report endorses that conclusion. There is a very common British tendency to knock success and that tendency is certainly prevalent in the field of culture. Every successful arts organisation attracts detractors and the Edinburgh festivals are no exception. However, their success offers ample ammunition to face down any such sniping. In taking up a pro-active, even proselytising, role on behalf of the festivals, it would be very helpful were a senior CEC elected member (i.e. a member of the Executive) to be formally identified as the Festivals Champion, responsible for advocacy and spreading the word about the festivals, both within and outwith Edinburgh. Working with the forthcoming City Cultural Partnership, this individual could:

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It is, of course, extremely difficult to arrive at any meaningful capacity figure for the Fringe although circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that here too there is capacity for growth.

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emphasise the Councils commitment to the festivals sector and its value to Edinburgh; ensure that the festivals interests formed part of Executive discussions on other strategic, developmental and investment matters, including the annual budget process; lead and encourage co-ordinated initiatives on behalf of the Council and its partners; oversee contact with Edinburghs City Centre Management company and the private sector, in order to secure increased investment in, and support for, the festivals

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This role could be further developed to emphasise the festival brand in projecting the citys image internationally (through trade links, twinning etc.) To that end, it would be a positive step for the Council to consider regularly including a festival director in every official delegation to international meetings or conferences. In parallel with this initiative, the Recreation Department and the festivals should develop an educational programme targeted at the corporate sector, cultural industries, other council departments and city executives in order to explain more fully the facts about the festivals activity patterns, audience profile, financial position, business strengths etc. If successful, this initiative could result in the creation of a large number of effective ambassadors for the city and its festivals. Finally, it is worth noting that the social and demographic changes outlined in Part I may lead to the festivals needing to think more laterally about their approach to audience development and retention. There is considerable anecdotal evidence to suggest that that over the years, many young, broke students attending the fringe have been transformed over a period of 15-20 years into comparatively affluent EIF attenders. The segmentation of the cultural audience and the emergence of new forms of arts and/or entertainment will require some consciously out-of-the-box thinking if that extremely valuable process is to be maintained and developed. Developing the citys capacity to market the festivals The citys capacity to market the festivals will rely in large part on the quality of the festival experience, and a competitive approach to pricing, both of festival events and of other aspects of visiting the city (including hotels, car parking etc). CEC already plays a key role in some of these areas, through its grant support of most festivals. This should help them to achieve quality and maintain accessible ticket prices and concessionary rates. Hotel pricing and most other visitor costs are not directly in Council control59 although they can impact directly both on the visitor experience and the economic picture. For example, the imminent growth in the budget price hotel market is likely to have a significant impact on both the more expensive hotel sector and on bed and breakfast establishments. For these reasons, it is important that the Council (with ELTB) continues to monitor and analyse developments affecting tourism, many of which result in planning applications to the Council

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With the exception of some car parking.

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Although the Edinburgh Tourism Action Plan discusses collaborative marketing and promotional efforts, the festivals themselves are not having much success in creating packages with hotels and the tourist industry. Whilst the hotel industry is unlikely to consider any sort of reduced rates in high season, it might be possible to develop certain types of value-added packages in the summer. This proposition could be explored by the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG) and the festivals. This forum should also discuss the development of special offers, themed short breaks (especially during offpeak periods) and combined visits to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Street advertising etc. In practical ways, too, the Council can promote the festivals, for example by providing street advertising arrangements and display space, city dressing, website information and links, a diary of events, and training in areas including website use and customer care. These aspects are comprehensively addressed in the draft Events Strategy, which we fully endorse. In particular, we would emphasise: CECs policy on equality requires that events are accessible to all in the community. This would be facilitated by the development of guidelines for promoters on how to best promote their festivals to particular sectors of the community, including people with disability the need for training in this area the importance of the Councils welcome initiative to address the issue of street advertising and the necessary identification of key sites where such advertising could be facilitated and managed. It is also recommended that the Council investigate the development of a booklet for promoters explaining how to go about developing festival events, including the services available through the Council and the appropriate structures and procedures to access them. Ticketing

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New technology has revolutionised the ticketing industry and many promoters are taking advantage of the opportunities now available. Undoubtedly, simple and easy access to ticketing and information is a key factor affecting attendance at an event. It represents an important element of the quality of experience for both audience and promoter. Yet there are few examples of co-ordinated or integrated ticket sales for events, and plans for a year- round central ticketing site are still under development. The Council in conjunction with British Telecom are looking at modernising customer contact points in Council venues, and there is potential for box office systems which in due course could be embraced by other box offices, with a call centre approach.60 Pending the outcome of work on this latter proposal, and the future development of the Scottish Tourism e-business Project (involving accessing ticket sales though tourism information sites), the draft Events Strategy has made a number of recommendations which, again, this report endorses:

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TABs view is that the only way of ensuring compatibility between festival box office systems would be for the Council to buy them out. While several of the festivals would not welcome this loss of personal touch, it should not be discounted as part of the development of City ticketing services.

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Capitalise on current outlets for multi-event ticket purchase (such as the Fringe office and the Hub) and maximise their capacity to sell on behalf of other event organisers. Explore the technology requirements of using new CapInfo sites for electronic ticketing services in the future. Ensure that the clash diary takes into account all relevant events such as ticket sales launches Establish publicity and training sessions in order to encourage the use of these new technology opportunities Commission research into the likely future levels of phone or internet-based information and booking services Research is also required into the best processes for extracting data from ticketing systems for planning purposes and to inform strategic decisions. Participating organisations would need to feel confident that any such data would only be used strategically and not for competitive advantage by any individual operator. It is recommended that, in the short term, individual festivals pursue partnerships on the sharing of mutual mailing data for marketing purposes. Festivals should investigate the possibilities of commissioning common customer care training for ticketing/information staff. This might be most effectively undertaken in conjunction with an institution of tertiary education (e.g. Queen Margaret University College) which could run a regular short course which could then be made available to other appropriate sectors of the cultural industries (both within and outwith Edinburgh).

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The adoption of the above recommendations could enhance the experience of attending and presenting festivals in Edinburgh. This will, in turn, help the city maintain and enhance its reputation and profile in the festivals market. Improving the information resources available to the festivals Various departments of the City Council hold information which could be very useful to festival promoters. However, this needs to be coordinated into a more unified and readily-accessible resource (e.g. user-friendly databases, booklets, contact points, an anti-clash diary and other tools) as indicated in sections above and the draft Events Strategy. Information falling into this category includes: Information about venues: A database of all the current venues in Edinburgh could be established by using information on all venues which have been licensed during, say, the past three years, drawn from licensing and Fringe Festival records. Such a database could also act as a focus for information on the operation and hire of all Council venues and sites. It could list those resources which are available from venues for use or hire outwith peak programming times. The database could be available on a website providing advice to potential promoters, and include technical and resources data for each venue. An example of good practice exists in Germany where government finance has been invested into the production of a virtual walk through of each major venues technical facilitates on the web. This enables event promoters to check for suitable venues for their technical requirements and specifications.

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Information about events planned: The draft Events Strategy advocates the adoption of a city-wide events diary, a point which the festivals keenly endorse. The success of such a diary will depend on the accuracy of the information provided by the festivals, which should be a requirement of funding. Resulting promotional information: With the diary compiled, the Council could circulate the information on the web as well as through printed brochures or other promotional material Information about how to organise events (e.g. who to contact for licensing etc): The draft Events Strategy points out the need for a helpline and information point. This study endorses that recommendation and has further indicated the value of a how to booklet for promoters, including information on City services available, structures and procedures, including a range of technical areas from booking city display sites to arranging street cleaning after events. Market research: The Edinburgh Tourism Action Plan encourages the improvement of market research, marketing and management of arts and cultural organisations as they relate to tourism. ETAG is well placed to take a co-ordinating role in this area and to instigate research to support its own promotional requirements and those of others. The draft Events Strategy also points out that Edinburgh has specific information gaps in: statistical evidence of economic impact of events financial information about the real costs of events to the city clear processes for Council internal charging for events activity market research co-ordinated market intelligence on the profile of those who attend events. The latter two points are being addressed through the Edinburgh Tourism Action Plan, and we endorse the proposal in the draft Events Strategy that a closer working relationship be forged between promoters representatives and the Council to address this key area of event management by working jointly to enhance Edinburghs image Through continuing to take initiatives in these areas, CEC could also help the festivals develop the management of their own information resources. Whilst the larger festivals list one another in their brochures and link to the common gateway site, the overall presentation of information to the public is currently fragmented. Each festival has its own marketing plan, print, ticket ordering and box office arrangements (though increasingly these include an outlet at The Hub), and database. Festival IT and box office systems are not all compatible with each other nor with the Councils own venue ticketing system, and as already noted, data collected on festival audiences has been patchy and inconsistent.

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Given that the festivals operate more as a group of linked cottage industries than a single unit, and some are in competition with each other for audiences, there is a limit to what Council involvement can achieve in terms of improving information resources. However, there is room for CEC engagement to encourage: increasing use of reciprocal box office arrangements, and clarity about these in any city or festival promotional material sharing of database information to develop niche audiences, where this will not undermine individual festivals membership of TAB, an organisation supported by CEC and SAC which itself arose from recommendations in the CECs Theatre Strategy, and provision to TAB of consistent annual data about audiences and market trends, to inform all festivals future marketing plans Improving the citys infrastructure in order to make it more appealing to visitors and to facilitate the festivals ability to deliver their missions If Edinburgh is to maintain and develop its competitive advantage in terms of the international events market, it must ensure that the visitors total experience is as positive as possible. This holistic approach has implications for many areas of the citys operations that reach beyond the narrow boundaries of the festivals themselves. The more secure the city can make its supportive infrastructure, the more likely it is that visitors will appreciate their experience, return and recommend the city and its festivals to others. The draft Events Strategy deals very comprehensively with a number of the issues that are salient to this discussion; this report will, accordingly, draw on the relevant draft conclusions. City Card The 1998/99 Edinburgh Visitor Survey observes that: In many European cities, visitors can buy a city card, pay once and have unlimited easy access to visitor attractions and transport plus concessions in shops and restaurants. It would be challenging to develop an application of this concept that was relevant to the festivals alone. However, CEC is investigating potential development of a smart card offering a raft of opportunities across all leisure services, including the festivals. The initial version of this card currently offers discounted access to some theatre productions. Travel and Transport The bulk of summer festival visitors arrive in Edinburgh by plane or rail. However, during the summer festivals, the sheer volume of visitors in the city puts pressure on the streets. Consequently, the approach to travel and transport needs to include consideration of traffic issues. The following recommendations are based on arguments contained in the draft Events Strategy. If a City Card is developed, the feasibility of including the cost of travel and transport within it should be investigated Festivals should be encouraged to consider transport as a key part of the quality of experience for audiences, especially for larger-scale events (e.g. the Hogmanay Party, The Fireworks, Fringe Sunday) 58

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In addition, in order to take account of the needs of the non-attending public, the draft Events Strategy points out the importance of good advance communication with the general and travelling public, liaison with city businesses and traders, careful route planning for and location of events, transport planning, and feedback sessions after major events. Venues The success of the festivals is very closely related to the range and adequacy of their venues. Similarly, the health of the venues is, in many cases, dependent on their festival out-turns. The Queens Hall, for example, generates about one-third of its annual turnover in the festival weeks and the Traverse is also heavily reliant on that element of its year. Through the consultation process, it became clear that some venues are considered insufficiently equipped to cater for the festivals needs. Any attempt to address this issue through an investment programme would need to be soundly based on an analysis of the tangible benefits that would be created. It is recommended that CEC undertake a venues audit with a view to establishing the cost-benefit of further investment in individual venues and priorities for any such development programme. Some of the venues concerned are outside Council ownership; this is particularly true of Fringe venues, and there is a need for pooled information about venue needs between Fringe and Council, already being explored. There is also a belief that the city needs an additional auditorium of about 500 seats, though the case for this has not been fully developed. For example, there may be potential for cinema facilities to be installed at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, it has been suggested, to fill a year-round gap on this scale for film, particularly noticeable during the Film Festival. However, the city already has over 11,000 theatre and concert seats available throughout the year so it would require a persuasively reasoned argument to demonstrate the desirability of adding to its stock. CEC should carefully evaluate any such proposal, taking into account the criteria recommended in the CEC Music Strategy, including: the likely level of audience displacement from other venues potential of the programme year-round to draw new audiences beyond the capability of existing venues the level of collaboration between different groups/sectors involved in the proposal the level of provision for community use, especially for young people the flexibility of the space and is usefulness for events currently without a base in Edinburgh There is an aspiration to develop an arena in the city which could help Edinburgh attract larger events. At present, this sort of venue would not be central to the activities of most of the festivals (although it might be used by some of them on a needs basis). It would, however, alter the potential of the citys annual programme. Here too, the city should evaluate any proposal through a clear analysis of the cost and potential benefits. Finally, in terms of the provision of venues, there will remain a need for first-class facilities for industry delegations in those festivals that are more trade-orientated. This is most applicable, at present, to the Television Festival but it is also relevant to the Film and suggested Sports Festivals. If CEC believes that it is important to retain this sort of 59

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festival (for which there will always be a high degree of competition from other cities such as Glasgow or Birmingham), it will need to work closely with the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and other potential host venues to ensure that the facilities and activities offered by the city remain at the forefront of this market and affordable to valued festival users. 260 Cost of Venues In Part 3 Section I (b) we noted that some disquiet has been articulated about the cost of renting CEC-owned venues. This is a considerable concern for the Fringe61, which passes the cost of renting venues to the individual performing companies It is claimed that the development of the major venues (e.g. Assembly Rooms or the Gilded Balloon) has created a premier league against which it is difficult to struggle. It is further argued that the economics of these venues lead to more cautious programming and increased cost to the audience. To quote one contributor to this review, "Since the big venues arrived, all the prices have gone up. You can't afford to show-hop any more so I'm less willing to take a risk." The Fringe office confirms that Fringe performers find that accommodation and venue costs are the greatest areas of expenditure. Venue costs have increased from an average of 15% of total expenditure to 20% in the past 4 years, a real-terms increase of 10-15%. This is reportedly particularly off-putting to professional artists who might once have formed a company or brought their own ensemble to the fringe62. The cost of venue hire also affects other festivals, including the Jazz and Blues Festival and the Childrens Festival, both of which recycle considerable amounts of their CEC grants into hiring CEC venues. Council charges are not fixed, but based on various factors including the estimated ability of the hirer to pay and Best Value considerations. This appears to offer room for miscalculation, and the Council needs to address the issue internally. This situation has also been addressed in the draft Events Strategy which recommends that: The Council should reconsider the charging policy dictating the hire charges levied from its own venues. .A more flexible approach regarding the imposition of charges and restrictions on services such as catering etc would help promoters considerably. This report endorses that recommendation. CEC should develop a transparent pricing policy for the rental of its venues to festivals. This should be based on the premise that the festivals are strategically important to the city and should be supported and encouraged by every means possible. Preferential rates should, therefore, be set for festival periods which do not discourage or prohibit valued festival use. Street Dressing The look of the city during festivals is very important in creating the requisite sense of excitement and buzz. Street advertising and dressing are key elements in this and Action for the New Millennium identifies both pedestrian signage and dressing the city as objectives for new initiatives.

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viz. the absence of the Spiegeltent in summer 2000. See also comments in Part I about the quality of visiting companies to the Fringe

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For several years, this issue has been discussed as attempts have been made to balance the needs of the festival with the cost implications and the imperative to avoid despoiling the citys appearance. Recently, however, CEC has taken the lead role in this area, for which they are to be congratulated, with the introduction of impressive banner structures on the High Street, the Mound and Princes Street, during the lead up to the summer festival period. Again, the draft Events Strategy has made some very specific recommendations in this area, which the current report endorses, in particular that the Council takes responsibility for the baseline decoration of the city and provides/encourages a supportive and creative framework and attitude for promoters applying for temporary banners, street decoration etc.: The draft Events Strategy further points out that a culture change within the Council will be required to enable well managed and acceptable street dressing to replace illegally and unsightly fly posting. This type of marketing is highly effective in addressing certain sectors (notably young people and those who do not attend events regularly); if done well, it can also be attractive and enhance the sense of a city en fete. Other leisure activities Some contributors to this review observed that the rest of Edinburgh does not always seem to commit itself whole-heartedly to the creation of a Festival City. In particular, it was felt that shops did not take full advantage of a summer visitor population thronging the streets until late in the evening. It is recommended that CEC explore with the Chamber of Commerce the possibilities for encouraging shops to extend their opening hours in festival weeks. This also returns us to the value of a positive message about the festivals and engagement with them being continually reinforced by the council to all the communities in Edinburgh, including businesses.

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3.3 Strategic Objective 3: To increase the engagement of Edinburghs citizens with the Festivals and the benefit they get from them by (A) Making festival events available to the widest possible cross-section of Edinburghs citizens 271 Audience research by TAB shows that the Festivals surveyed all attract a significant local public as well as visitors to the city, although this preponderance is far more marked in the spring than in the summer festivals63.

Table/Chart 13: Place of origin of festival visitors %age of Spring Place of residence %age of Summer sample sample Edinburgh 42.6 64.2 Lothians 6.1 10.2 Rest of Scotland Rest of Britain Abroad Number of respondents 272 9.4 20.4 21.5 1,536 15.8 6.8 3.0 570

Visitors are spread across the social classes, with AB and C1 attenders comprising over 75% of the total. Table/Chart 14: Social composition of festival visitors Social class: Summer Percentage Edinburgh of sample population (%) (%) AB 28.4 21 C1 47.2 33 C2 12.1 14 DE 12.4 32 Number of respondents 1,537 Social class: Spring Percentage Edinburgh of sample population (%) (%) AB 42.7 21 C1 41.7 33 C2 9.0 14 DE 6.6 32 Number of respondents 564 Index 135 143 86 39 Index 203 126 64 21 -

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This analysis shows that the festivals already achieve an apparently high level of accessibility to Edinburgh citizens. Genuine accessibility depends on a number of factors, however, including: The range of programme content, and its relevance/interest to different groups of Edinburghs citizens: The content of each festival programme arises from particular cultural interests. Some are targeted at specific age groups (e.g. Childrens Festival,

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parts of the Science Festival) or reflect and enhance particular communities, traditions and activity in Edinburgh (Mela, Harp Festival, Fiddle Festival, Storytelling). All (other than the Television Festival) leave a year-round cultural legacy for various Edinburgh communities. Ticket pricing: The range of prices and discounted offers affect peoples ability to attend one or more events64. All festivals have to balance pricing for a broader public with the need to generate income. Large-scale free events are popular: the Hogmanay party, the Jazz and Blues Festival, Festival cavalcade and Fringe Sunday all generate audiences, interest and goodwill. There is, however, a perception that some of the summer festivals (notably EIF and the Fringe) are now pushing at the upper limits of financial tolerance insofar as local audiences are concerned. Ticket purchasing arrangements: while The Hub and the joint festivals website offer some coordination of ticket sales points, the fact that each festival has its own sales operation means that each needs to ensure accessible mail, e-mail, telephone and personal booking services. Relevance, appeal, and accessibility of marketing material: Whilst the festivals constantly strive to extend mailing lists and have taken some joint promotion print and advertising initiatives, other ways of publicising events which might be effective for attracting a broader audience have not been fully explored. Timing of events: festival dates mean that many performances and events coincide with school holidays. This makes them less readily accessible to schools, although potentially easier for holiday visitors and family visits. Despite this restriction, these festivals could perhaps develop opportunities for schools to feed in projects. More initiatives might be explored in this area, including, for example, the involvement of specialist staff in holiday-period activity leading to performances in festival-time. The Book Festival provides an excellent example of gearing a clutch of events to schools early in the autumn term. Other issues include the starting times of events (which relates to issues of transport and child care) and danger of clashes with other events. Accessibility of venue by car and public transport: the management of city transport has an important impact on event accessibility as detailed in the draft Events Strategy. Special arrangements such as the City Card (in discussion) could provide coordinated and affordable transport. In addition, individual festivals can be encouraged to consider the application of travel subsidies and/or transport schemes for particular targeted audiences work (again, the Childrens Festival offers a good example, providing free bus transport to all schools performances in the city centre.) Location and venue facilities: some festival programmes have to take place in particular venues (e.g. Symphony Orchestras in the Usher Hall); others have more flexibility and can be encouraged to work with the Council to improve facilities in poorer venues (the Fringe) or to experiment with new locations (as the Mela decided to do this year and hopes to extend in 2001). Arrangements for disability access: good disability access and arrangements for disabled people are central to council policy and to national building requirements (see section x) City centre management issues, such as street lighting (addressed in the draft Events Strategy)

It is recommended that all festivals, in collaboration with the Council and other appropriate agencies, continue to develop their policies on accessibility in these areas, in

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order to broaden their audiences further, thereby encouraging a wider understanding of their work by the citizens of the city. 275 In order to extend their reach into Edinburghs communities, the festivals individually run active education and outreach programmes, some of which occur within the main festival periods/programmes; and many offer participants opportunities to attend festival events as part of this activity. The underlying aims of such work range from increasing audiences for festival events, to sharing skills and resources with communities and cultural exchange. Each festival has its own (mainly historically-derived) funding and staffing for this work, and several have received support for it from the Councils Education Department, which also offers advice about possible partner schools or communities, contacts and types of project. The scale of education and outreach activity varies considerably between festivals. This is, in part, a consequence of the fact that the particular nature of individual festivals is an influencing factor on participant numbers and potential income. Thus, for example, the Film and Book Festivals can attract large numbers for dedicated screenings or readings whilst practical workshops in the performing arts must set lower limits on the numbers participating. There is also considerable variation in the balance of different festivals education activity between the formal and informal education sectors, again depending on the nature of individual festivals and on the evolving priorities of the Education Department. These include the Citys Social Inclusion agenda as well as lifelong learning, active citizenship, community capacity building, personal and community development, youth and childrens work as well as the formal school curriculum. In the future, funding agreements between CEC and the festivals should clearly reflect the desired balance between these priorities and the aspirations of the festivals. To give just some examples of the kinds of outreach work undertaken by festivals65: For schools: Performances and events in city centre venues, within festival programmes (eg Childrens, Film, Book) Tours of festival shows to schools around Edinburgh (Puppet Animation, Science) Dedicated social exclusion funds to enable visits to less affluent schools (Science) Workshops and longer creative projects with schools using festival artists, often leading up to festival events (EIF, Mela) Ticket concessions and transport arrangements (Childrens) Training and/or backup materials for teachers (Storytelling, Science, Book,) For the cultural industry delegates: Fora, meetings, social events, screenings (Television, Film, Book) Professional development for young producers (Television)

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For the general audience: Lifelong learning events within festival programmes such as lectures, talks, seminars meet the artist opportunities (e.g. EIF, Film, Science, Environment, Book), workshop attendance (Fiddle Festival, Harp) Year-round teaching courses (EIF) For participants from the general public: Making/taking part in some of the festival (Mela, EIF Festival Chorus, Tattoo Scottish dancers) Hands-on interactive activity (Science Festival) Skills development (Harp, Fiddle) Work with people with disabilities (Storytelling) For artists: Training in how to put on a show (Fringe) Training in storytelling in different languages (Storytelling) Showcases to show promoters what is available (Childrens, Fringe) Masterclasses and workshops (EIF, Harp, Fiddle) Young film makers industry training (Film, Television) Courses (Jazz and Blues) Whilst these activities take place in many locations, The Hub is acting as a focus for those of the EIF and has the potential to become a base for other festivals city-centre education work when they can afford to hire it. This report would recommend an increasingly coordinated approach to outreach and education work for the schools and communities of Edinburgh. This could be facilitated by a regular joint meeting of the festival staff responsible for this area of work and the appropriate officers from CEC. Increased use of the Hub for a range of such activities could also be considered, although this would probably have financial implications. Taking activity into as many areas of the city as possible The great majority of public events during the festivals (with the exception of the Mela and the Festival of the Environment) takes place in city centre venues, although much of the outreach activity from festivals does not. This relates to the question of whether the festivals should be encouraged to increase their geographic spread in order to make themselves more accessible to local citizens. The draft Events Strategy implies that they should: The balance between events taking place in the city centre and community based events requires to be addressed One approach in helping to overcome the centre/community split is to encourage satellite events and offshoots of city centre events sited within surrounding communities. The appropriate nature, timing and relevance of such spin offs would be crucial to their success. Early consultation with, and involvement of, representatives of the host community would be essential in achieving this. There has been partial success with satellite or complementary events taking place in communities as part of past Festival events. However, there can be cost implications associated with such initiatives and subsidy would undoubtedly be sought from the Council in this instance. 65

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Whilst appreciating the appeal of this approach, we would recommend an element of caution. A strategy based on encouraging existing festivals to develop satellite events in communities runs the risk of being seen as too top-down. Parachuting in a performance without the appropriate level of local knowledge can disrupt or prove irrelevant to the resident community, and appear patronising. This sort of initiative would stand a much better chance of working if it were requested by the community itself and/or had integral connection with that communitys culture. This is also recognised in the draft Events Strategy when it says: Another approach is to build a programme around the locality of the community itself, by introducing events of a size and quality which are unique to the area. This has recently taken place successfully in Leith with jazz concerts and markets subsidised by millennium funding. In order to create the environment in which those sorts of conditions can flourish, the festivals would need to develop strong lines of communication into the appropriate communities. Other parts of this section explore ways in which that might be achieved. One specific point raised by some interviewees was the possibility of using new festivals to address new communities whilst also attracting incoming visitors. Here too, there would need to be a local resonance and that will only be achieved if the community is involved and new events introduced with sensitivity. A food and drink festival in Leith, for example, may well address visitor and business development objectives, but existing local networks, opportunities and providers will also need to be respected. It is possible that Fringe events may begin to extend into parts of the city becoming increasingly attractive to visitors. Again, Leith is an instructive example, with its Council-owned theatre and the increasing availability of cheap accommodation in the area. However, as the Fringe is essentially market-led, the cost of using the theatre (and the ease of promotion and of visitor access) may be an issue in encouraging Fringe participants to develop in this direction. Much of the valuable festival outreach work described in section (a) takes place in communities outside the city centre. The schools-based programmes of the Science, Storytelling, Puppet Animation and Childrens Festivals, for example, have brought unique new opportunities to children to engage with cultural activity throughout the city. The Council should further encourage links between these programmes and existing structures, such as the formal education system, strong community centres and community arts organisations in order to develop their mutual understanding and explore future possibilities. The Councils Community Learning Strategy will also provide a framework for extending work with local communities, including inter-agency working. Links with ongoing cultural programmes within the community There are many opportunities for the festivals in this area but the capacity to exploit them will depend to a large extent on the time available to the staff of the festivals and potential partner organisations. Possibilities include: linking festival artists with outreach and education programmes run year-round by other organisations such as Theatre Workshop and Dance Base

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extending the outreach programmes of festivals so that they themselves become year-round within particular communities. However, this should only be encouraged, where there is no year-round organisation better placed to do it. The Mela, for example, is probably the organisation best placed to bring artists from overseas to work with black and Asian communities in Edinburgh. complementing year-round work by other agencies with festival-period work (e.g. the Filmhouse with the Film Festival). developing a specific relationship between a festival and a community arts development organisation, such as has been discussed between the EIF and WHALE. sharing databases and mailing lists with others to provide continuing opportunities for known audiences; for example the wiZkidZ campaign to target families, recently researched and run by TAB.

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Festivals already have an automatic link with ongoing activity in that they showcase the work of many artists and organisations which run their own year-round education and outreach programmes, such as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra or the Film House. The Fiddle Festival emerged from the community-based year-round Adult Learning Project Connections with the informal education sector may also come within this category, and in future may be helped by a new CEC Education Department initiative to allocate arts education responsibilities to individual community education workers in each part of Edinburgh, and the Community Learning Strategy The Arts Unit of the Education Department operates within its Community Education function and is therefore well positioned to facilitate in this area. In addition, the Festival of the Environment provides support to organisations in the community dealing with people across a range of social issues including mental health and adult learning. Finally, there is a question about how existing community festivals and galas fit into this picture. Ten years ago, Edinburgh contained a number of thriving community-based galas, consisting mainly of one-day events in different communities, organised by local volunteers with occasional small grants and help in kind from the council. Networking meetings were coordinated through the council, and a leaflet published which listed all dates. These had little contact with the city-centre festivals, and were essentially local community celebrations and/or community arts development initiatives. Difficulty in the recruitment of volunteers, reductions in council grants, and changing cultures within the communities themselves have combined to produce the demise of most Gala days; those that remain mostly take place in June/July. Craigmillar participates in the Fringe Cavalcade and sometimes hosts Fringe performances, while Gorgie Gala (June) and Corstorphine (June) are completely independent of other festivals. Another group of community festivals, including Eid (run by the Pakistan Society), the Beltane Fire Festival, and Diwali events (various Indian associations), celebrates events in the calendar of different cultures and religions. As a result of a meeting with community festivals, this study would recommend the reestablishment of regular meetings of Community Festivals. This could provide a basis for consultation about the market/demand for professional festival outreach projects in

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those communities, acts performing in communities, and showcases for community arts activity within the city centre festivals. 301 In addition, the Council could assist community festivals with: public liability insurance (as SCVO currently does with its members) clear-up costs (bins, skips etc.) advertising & publicity (perhaps, again, reinstating the now defunct joint community festival/gala leaflet) advice access to venues (e.g out-of-hours schools, Council-owned halls etc.) Some of these forms of assistance would incur additional costs for CEC. It is recommended that the appropriate Council departments (including the festivals unit if it is established) should meet together to discuss how best to co-operate in meeting those costs. Ensuring that festivals contribute towards the wider social inclusion agenda The social inclusion agenda currently informs every level of thinking - from government to local community associations. The Scottish National Cultural Strategy, Edinburghs Cultural Policy, and the Councils Vision for Edinburgh document all consider arts and cultural activity to be potentially significant in individual development and lifelong learning, urban regeneration, job creation, and a sense of active citizenship. Although the Lord Provosts recent investigation into social inclusion did not specifically mention the regenerative power of culture and the arts, national research has borne out the great value of creative activity in communities. The Capital City Partnership (CCP), with funding from CEC and SAC, and using a carefully selected working group, has recently commissioned a study into the state of arts development in five areas of high priority for addressing social inclusion . This work focuses on four geographically-defined communities66 and one broader social category - young men in long-term unemployment, The study is intended to audit activity, to show whether there is a case for further development, and to recommend ways forward for these five groups. In the long term it may provide the kinds of initiatives and linkages between the communities and the festivals which are needed to ensure the effectiveness of festival outreach work in addressing social inclusion. This is a taking place under the umbrella of a larger CCP initiative to address social inclusion in these areas. Social and leisure opportunities, and improved participation in lifelong learning are two of the many targets of this major ongoing programme to promote sustainable inclusion. Some festivals (such as Storytelling) are already accessing small sums of Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP) funding to develop education and outreach work in particular geographic areas. The Councils Education Department, which works with arts organisations to identify priority schools for education work, also ensures that the

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relevant schools are targeted when project funds are allocated. The Science Festival also has a longer-term plan to increase touring to these areas. 308 Once the potential for a more strategic view from the community perspective has been explored in the forthcoming study of arts development, there are likely to be many more opportunities for festivals to increase their work in this area effectively. In addition to working on arts development, the festivals may be able to tackle social inclusion through training and employment initiatives, probably in collaboration with Capital City Challenge (CCC) and SE Edinburgh and Lothian. For example: They could work with CCC on a training programme in front-of-house or customer care skills for a limited number of long-term unemployed people, who would then be interviewed alongside others for employment in a sequence of festivals through the year. The Science Festival could devise a comparable programme focussed on developing science communication skills, in conjunction with Science Centres. The new Access to Cultural Industries Project in Edinburgh aims to provide a limited number of people from SIP areas with high-quality training in the arts and cultural industries. Funded by Scottish Higher Education FC, this project is a partnership between education institutions, arts projects from SIP areas, and cultural venues. Clearly, involvement in any such employment initiatives would need strong coordination from the festivals point of view and this is partly discussed alongside other employment initiatives in the shared resources section of this report. TAB, which represents not only the festivals but also other key cultural organisations with education and outreach remits, might in consultation with the Education department - be the most appropriate coordinator in the initial stages of developing a brief for this sort of initiative. It is recommended that SE Edinburgh and Lothian convenes a meeting of the festivals, CCC and appropriate CEC departments to discuss possible training initiatives. Connecting the festival programmes with education, training and other initiatives in the area of lifelong learning Many of the ideas discussed above have included the existing and potential work of festivals with schools and with the informal education sector. The festivals already offer an enormous resource to areas of education, training and learning, which CECs Education Department recognisesIn order to ensure that the desired connections continue to develop, the following ongoing festival needs should be borne in mind: core and project funding for such work specialist advice to festivals about selection of schools contact points for community education work information about training programmes into which the festivals could link For their part, the festivals should continue to explore ways of addressing the needs of the education sector, including: continuity of contact and provision (by one or a group of organisations) consideration of how term dates and curriculum demands can be incorporated into new ideas about working with schools the involvement of specialist staff in projects 69

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training opportunities for teaching staff contribution to the formulation of Community Learning Plans as the next stage of the Community Learning Strategy The festivals are organisations with internationally valued management experience, used to managing staff levels which fluctuate significantly throughout the year. Clearly, they could make a valuable contribution in the field of training for employment. A group discussion during this study suggested that the festivals would be keen to explore the following possibilities: The creation of a common database of casual workers A map of the temporary employment needs of the festivals through the year Inter-festival contracts to provide continuous employment for short-term employees Accreditation for festival volunteers Joint volunteer training initiatives including fire prevention, customer care Links to an arts management training course (at, for example, QMUC), involving festival management staff, and providing relatively mature students with festival work experience which might include undertaking joint festival projects. Many such ideas might be suitable for SE Edinburgh and Lothian funding. The festivals suggested that since they are not experts in the area of organising or funding public employment and training opportunities, they would need some facilitated training or specialist input in this area before putting together any proposals. SE Edinburgh and Lothian should include consideration of these areas in any further discussions with the festivals and other interested parties. Finally, we should also note that the festivals sector also has the opportunity to work with the Council in areas of professional development, training and life-long learning. Many of the Councils staff working in this area (and other event related services) provide a high quality of advice, and a flexible can do attitude and service to festivals. It is important to ensure that this quality of service is maintained in the event of their departure. This could be through training and apprenticeships for other staff, including secondments, monitoring and exchanges. Improving the festival infrastructure to facilitate the above In order to pursue the many opportunities identified in this section, both together or individually, the festivals require additional skills and information, staff resources and funding. They also need to agree which areas of activity are priorities. The starting point for this should be a festivals group discussion, probably arranged by TAB, involving directors and education staff, to identify how they would like to progress this overall agenda. Initially the festivals themselves would require some further briefing on the subject of social inclusion initiatives in Edinburgh. (See Objective 4(c) on shared resources). If the festivals (perhaps again facilitated by TAB) could then suggest a programme of arts activity and training opportunities in response to the various current social inclusion strategies, they might be able to develop a persuasive funding bid to appropriate Governmental budgets (including the New Opportunities Fund)

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We believe that the festivals have the potential (and could, with additional resourcing, have the capacity) to contribute more in the areas of outreach and education work, linking their unique skills and contacts around Edinburgh. We recommend that this potential should be recognised by the festivals current funders and that unallocated funds should be held by CEC in order to respond to initiatives in these areas (perhaps acting as trigger funds for additional investment from other social inclusion-centred agencies).

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Strategic Objective 4:
To strengthen and clarify relationships within and between the festivals and the Council by (A) Clarifying and simplifying the points of contact and procedures for communication within CEC and between festivals and the Council

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This report has already noted both the strengths of Edinburghs current position in the festival world and the threats to its maintaining its competitive advantage. Undoubtedly, as more cities (nationally and internationally) seek to develop cultural tourism, Edinburgh will need continuously to refine its performance and that will require good relationships between the Council and the festivals. Within the context of the Festivals Strategy, the existing fora for consultation, dialogue and the exchange of information need to be maintained. and strengthened. Accordingly, it will be important to have clear and transparent channels of communication. As was observed earlier, CEC occupies a number of different positions in the festival landscape. This multiplicity of role leads to a complex set of relationships between Council departments and the festivals. Issues such as licensing, health and safety, environmental services etc., are dealt with by different departments. Even the Councils role as funder is spread across several different sources, of which the main one is the Recreation Department. The following table illustrates the complexity of these funding arrangements.

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Table/Chart 15: Breakdown of funds to festival organisations by Council Departments 1999/200067 Festival Total Recreation Corporate Education City Envir. & Services Development Cons Servs. Book 7,712 7,712 Cavalcade 2,775 2,775 Children 57,012 37,830 19,182 EIF 1,174,405 843,410 330,995 Environment 31,719 31,719 Folk 16,562 16,562 Film 64,465 28,277 36,188 Fringe (incl. 31,830 19,330 12,500* Fringe Sunday) Hogmanay 593,000 593,000 Jazz 46,960 13,211 33,749 Mela 47,317 42,817 4,500 Puppet 3,393 3,393 Science 112,500 15,000 112,500 Storytelling 3,760 1,260 2,500 Totals
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This table excludes support to community festivals (the largest of which is the Craigmillar Festival Society, receiving 40,555 - 38,694 from Education and 1,861 from Recreation)

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This Table is not included in order to invite conclusions about the respective levels of funding for different festivals. Rather, it illustrates the broad-based support for them within CEC and the concomitant complexity of the funding pattern (in large part brought about as a result of the move to unitary authority status in 1996). Consideration of the present level of funding for the festivals (and a comparison with the last year before unitary status) can be found in Table/Chart 16 under Objective 5. During the consultation process, it became apparent that there was considerable enthusiasm for a rationalisation of the present situation. This is consistent with the draft Events Strategys recommendation for a move towards a one-stop shop. It is recommended, therefore, that CEC considers consolidating the co-ordination of its relationships with the festivals into a single location. This unit would be the first port of call for all festival issues and would act as a gateway to the other involved Council departments. To be successful, such a unit would need: status and access to the decision makers in all relevant agencies clear terms of reference based on strategic framework for events both a proactive and reactive role the ability to inspire and command the confidence and respect of the festivals sector well defined reporting structures and lines of accountability Any such unit will need to carry sufficient authority to influence the decisions and behaviour of other Council departments with responsibilities in this area. Thus, for example, were CEC to agree, as a matter of policy, that rents for festivals use of Council premises should be set at a preferential rate, the unit should have the authority to ensure that other departmental targets did not obstruct that strategic objective. This operational role would be further strengthened were CEC to adopt the recommendation under Objective 2 to nominate an elected member of the Executive as Festival Champion. That individual would be well placed to help reconcile any conflicting departmental, service or policy priorities as they impact on festivals. The above consolidated approach should certainly apply to all areas of communication and information exchange. In addition, CEC may wish to consider how such a unit would relate to grant-giving and monitoring. At present, various departments have lead responsibility for individual festivals in accordance with the recommendations of the Councils Best Value Review. The Council might wish to consider making the festivals unit lead department for all festival activity, including grant-giving and monitoring. Such a decision might, however, be contentious and could only be adopted after a thorough evaluation by elected members of the benefits and disadvantages. It may be that, following such an evaluation, CEC determines that the best interests of all the festivals might not be served by such a rationalisation but that the needs of initiatives such as Capital Christmas or Edinburghs Hogmanay were qualitatively different from those of, say, the summer festivals. Under those case,circumstances, it might decide that only some festivals would come within a Festival Units remit. Even in this case, however, the Council should ensure that all festivals are subject to the same disciplines of funding agreements (FAs) with clear agreed outcomes. At present, the application of FAs is inconsistent across departments.

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Three- year funding agreements are currently in place (monitored by the Recreation Department) for Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh Mela, Scottish International Childrens Festival and the Scottish Story Telling Forum. Both the Puppet and Animation Festival and the Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festival will be considered for three-year agreements from 2001/02, utilising the recently approved Council grant application process. The Science Festival has signed a minute of agreement with City Development whilst Edinburghs Capital Christmas, Edinburghs Hogmanay and the Festival of the Environment, being funded directly via departmental budgets, are therefore not managed through a funding agreement process. It is, however, recommended that from 2001/02, all of the festivals, irrespective of their funding mechanism, should have a formal funding agreement in place which sets out key targets and performance indicators that can be monitored and reported upon when necessary It is important that FA targets are realistic and meaningful. They should also, in an integrated system, reflect the three sorts of benefit identified in Part I cultural, social and economic. Each festival should have, at the centre of its FA, clear cultural outcomes which would then be complemented by an appropriate mixture of economic and social (including educational) performance indicators, according to their individual mission and their role in the city. The majority of the festivals are independently constituted organisations governed by a Board or Trust. Two, however, are constitutionally different. The Environment Festival is a Council-run and Council-managed enterprise, part of the Environment and Consumer Services Departments annual provision. Given the expertise contained within that department, it would not seem justifiable to attempt to transfer its operation. It should continue within its existing department, while strengthening its connections with the other festivals, in particular the community festivals with which it might generate some constructive synergies. It is recommended that the officers responsible for the Environment Festival meet with the community festivals to explore possible areas of collaboration.Edinburghs Hogmanay, promoted by CEC, is a partnership between a private company and the Council. The long-term future of this has been under review. However Unique Events Limited is now contracted to organise the event programme for the next three years. Whatever the long-term arrangements, there is no doubt that any Hogmanay celebration will always require active Council involvement at a high level, as a consequence of the significant implications of the event for the Councils statutory responsibilities (traffic, security, safety etc.). It is recommended, therefore, that lead responsibility for this event be located within the Festivals unit, given that this unit will be dealing with similar issues with other departments on a regular basis.

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The rationalisation of processes suggested above is intended to thin the administrative jungle facing existing and aspirant festivals and to clarify procedures and decisionmaking. It should be as light-touch as is consistent with public accountability. If the course of action recommended in this section is adopted, there will be a question as to where the unit should be located with the Council structure. It is not appropriate for this report to make a recommendation about that question. However, any such rationalisation of responsibility for festivals will clearly have to be negotiated between the key departments which currently have a locus in this area. That negotiation will need to be moderated by CECs Chief Executive. 74

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Finally, it should be noted that some festivals have significant Councillor representation on their boards of management while others have none. These memberships may have arisen for a variety of reasons, ranging from an individuals particular interest to a desire for official involvement with important publicly-funded initiatives. The present inconsistency, however, sends a confused message. Is Councillor membership of a board an indication of its importance? Is an organisation that does not have a Council member on its board disadvantaged? What is the protocol between elected members sitting on a board and the Council officers monitoring its activities? It would be helpful for the Council to publish a protocol on this issue so that all the festivals are clear about its implications. The Council might also wish to consider whether it might be an advantage to have elected members on the boards of the few larger festivals where they are not currently represented. (B) Developing relationships with other stakeholders

The Scottish Executive 335 In the Introduction we pointed out that the National Cultural Strategy was published towards the end of our consultation process and has proved very useful in identifying some of the key organising principles which underpin the Executives approach to culture, in particular: Participation in cultural activities can improve the quality of life of individuals and communities, promote social inclusion, raise self-esteem and confidence and widen horizons. Culture is at the heart of education The creativity of our citizens is a key national resource Disability should be no barrier to cultural access National and local cultural organisations need to work in partnership with the community from which their audience is drawn 336 In the Strategy, the Executive also commits itself to: promoting the establishment of an Internationalisation Fund to support inward and outward travel by individuals and companies working in the cultural sector maximising the benefits of existing international links, including town-twinning, to widen cultural access and understanding seeking opportunities to promote Scottish culture abroad collaborating in joint cultural activity or projects with other European regions or member states developing cultural tourism ensuring that Scotland attracts international events. All of these are objectives to which the Edinburgh festivals can contribute. CEC and festival representatives should establish an ongoing dialogue with MSPs and officials to identify the best ways in which they can collaborate in achieving their common aims and develop the festivals as a resource for the whole of Scotland. The creation of the new Executive has meant that a network of new relationships has been called into being with an inevitable degree of uncertainty. The respective roles of the Executive and SAC will doubtless evolve over the next few months. At present,

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however, it is important for CEC to maintain and develop discussions with both institutions about the needs of the festivals (see below). SAC 339 SAC is broadly supportive of the festivals, recognising that as a group, they are a unique resource which cannot and should not be replicated elsewhere and that, individually, they have specific roles to play in their particular sectors. Some are seen as having focussed developmental roles, others as having a Scotland-wide remit. A number are valued for their extra-territorial significance and their capacity for attracting international activity and attention to Scotland. SAC is, however, clear that their funding to the festivals must be seen in the context of the rest of Scotlands needs. Since the move to unitary status and the concomitant constraints on local authority funding, SAC has committed additional real-terms resources into most of the festivals. However, it has not been able to respond to the scale of the needs of EIF. As can be seen from Table/Chart 16 in Objective 5, EIFs real terms grant from SAC declined by 12% between1995/96 and 2000/01 as part of an overall erosion of public funding. SAC has awarded EIF an additional 100k for 2001/02; however the total public funding available to the festival is still about 300k less (at todays prices) than in 1995/96. The Executive has indicated that it would be content for SAC to award more funds to EIF but not that it is prepared to make additional funds available. This Catch-22 proposition is an example of the sort of area that needs to be discussed in a multi-lateral forum. It would be helpful, therefore, if CEC, SAC and the appropriate officials of the Executive could establish a regular forum to discuss the cultural needs of the capital city, perhaps with particular reference to their support for EIF.

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Tourism Agencies 342 The festivals have a range of relationships with tourism agencies. Most do not feel they can afford membership of the ELTB. During the research process for this study, the summer festivals expressed the feeling that the Tourist Board should do more both to promote them and to promote Edinburgh to festival visitors for other times of the year. The majority of ELTBs joint marketing activities, however, are geared towards offseason promotions although ELTB points out that the summer festivals are featured extensively in generic marketing campaigns and that, in appropriate market sectors, ELTB uses the strap-line Edinburgh Europes Festival Capital. This report has already made some recommendations about ways in which the tourism and festivals sectors could work more closely together (and with CEC) but it also acknowledges that the two sectors are independent. 343 There appears to be an opportunity for further dialogue between CEC, the tourist boards and the Scottish Executive to explore the further tourism potential of the festivals. Opportunities for closer working relationships between the tourism agencies and festivals will be discussed and developed in the context of the Edinburgh Tourism Action Plan. Tourism, in general, is suffering a decline in Scotland; however, as we have already seen, Edinburgh and the festivals are bucking that trend and Edinburgh is the key gateway to the rest of Scotland There could, therefore, be a strong case made for further investment in cultural tourism by the Executive through the Tourist Board. CEC should seek to pursue this possibility through discussions with the Executive. Since culture and tourism are the responsibilities of different departments of the Executive, this would necessitate a multi-lateral set of discussions. 76

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SE Edinburgh and Lothian 345 In its previous incarnation (as LEEL), SE Edinburgh and Lothian funded many infrastructural developments in Edinburgh which has improved life for the festivals. As well as supporting some programming and education initiatives on a one-off basis, it has through funding also enabled individual festivals to re-examine business plans, move offices, purchase equipment, and develop IT skills. 346 Hogmanay has been part-funded for eight years by SE Edinburgh and Lothian (as LEEL). In early 2000 there was a real possibility that this support would cease as SE Edinburgh and Lothian was concerned that the Festival was not sufficiently selfsupporting. Negotiations since that point have enabled a commercialisation strategy to be developed for Hogmanay, as a result of which the Council and SE Edinburgh and Lothian have reaffirmed their commitment, whilst stating the need for the festival to be established on a more independent self-sustaining basis. SE Edinburgh and Lothian will, accordingly, commit 250,000 over the next two years to Hogmanay on the basis of a business plan designed to reduce the need for public sector support in the longer term. In its new role, SE Edinburgh and Lothian is moving towards the facilitation of organisational development and training, both of which could greatly help the festivals. It might be possible to add even more value to this partnership if other related bodies (including, CEC, Capital city Partnership and the festivals) were invited to discuss with SE Edinburgh and Lothian and the festivals a co-ordinated strategy for education, training and job creation through the medium of the cultural sector, spearheaded by the festivals. Exploring ways in which the festivals can develop their collaborative practices, and, where appropriate, share resources Festival representatives already meet collaboratively in a number of fora, principally: 348 Joint Festivals Working Group (JFWG): a voluntary grouping of the larger festivals, which shares information and ideas and initiates joint projects (e.g. the joint website, the inclusion of information about each others work in brochures, the joint summer daily diary etc). As this group has no financial or secretariat resources and its members are short of time for pursuing joint ideas, it is dependant on goodwill and a confidence that collaboration is worthwhile.As one member of the group observed: Every now and again the effort of working together alongside the inevitable clashes of individual interests becomes too great and the group implodes. Clearly it is in everybodys interest to avoid such implosions and it is recommended that CEC continue to offer as much support to the JFWG as possible in order to maximise its effectiveness. TAB, of which the larger festivals are members, with the exception of the Jazz and Blues, and Television Festivals. This is the focus for joint arts promotion, and the festivals act as a subgroup within the membership. TAB would be willing to coordinate more meetings, research and activity on the part of the festivals. It is recommended that the council ensures that all those festivals it funds join TAB, or are included in crossfestival TAB initiatives on a project basis. The ELTB, where a few festivals remain in membership and the festivals, as a group, are represented on the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group and its Product Sub-Group. ELTB 77

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sees the summer months as being close to saturation point as far as attracting visitors is concerned (and this study has itself already noted the concern that any significant increase in visitor numbers during the summer festival period might be (a) unsupportable and (b) detrimental to the experience of being in Edinburgh). Conversely, the festivals themselves argue that they offer a resource which could be better marketed and exploited. It would seem that there has been insufficient creative dialogue on this subject between the festivals, the Tourist Board and the Economic Development officers of the Council. CEC should convene a meeting in which these issues can be discussed and a way forward agreed. 351 Overall, inter-festival discussion and collaboration is increasing (helped by the fact that a number of permanent staff have worked for more than one festival or other Edinburgh institution) and while the programming of each must remain autonomous, there may be potential for inter-festival programming and sharing of artists and/or approaches. Suggestions made during the consultation period included: the showcasing of childrens work during the EIF, thematic links between the Book, Film and Television Festivals, placement of Tattoo performers with other summer festival events, and a stronger role for the Mela in encouraging a multi-cultural approach throughout the festivals. Other opportunities for sharing have already been taken up in a number of ways. This report would therefore support a light-touch approach towards the issue of collaboration - encouraging the festivals to share resources and discuss co-programming voluntarily, rather than trying (and, probably, failing) to force collaborations between organisations which at some times are inevitably competitors for resources and audiences. The benefits of collaboration should, however, be noted - ranging from the saving of money and resources to projecting a more integrated image of Edinburghs festivals to the public The JFWG pointed out during the research period that its members need time and resources to initiate further sharing and that they would also need time to think about possible proposals. This preliminary obstacle could well be overcome were the festivals to undertake an away-day to discuss their needs and the possibilities of sharing resources. It is recommended, accordingly, that SAC consider funding such an occasion, to include all the Edinburgh festivals including those which are not normally members of the JFWG. From this beginning, further small strategic alliances could well arise. These would be far easier to co-ordinate and more likely to develop practical proposals than would a group of 12 or more organisations. In addition, fora of festivals could group around different subjects eg volunteers, marketing etc, with the appropriate person attending from each organisation. If festival groupings developed particular projects and initiatives, they might require additional resources to carry them out, and provided there is a clear benefit in the likely outcome, some project investment from the council and/or SAC or SE Edinburgh and Lothian would seem appropriate, depending on the subject area. Areas in which shared resources could be further explored include:

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Employment: It is beyond the scope of this study to analyse the staffing requirements of each festival and the consequent potential for sharing staff. The festivals themselves feel strongly that functions including directing, general management, marketing and education work need to be separate in order to service each particular festival identity. Skilled temporary staff move between festivals on short-term contracts (for technical, box office and front of house work, for example). There is potential here for the festivals to explore the feasibility of full-time (or near full-time) contracts for these valuable people, working with different festivals at different times of the year. A pool of temporary employees on a joint database would also be a good resource. All festivals would, of course have to map out their staffing needs through the year in advance for such a scheme to work. There may also be potential for joint training opportunities, mentoring between festivals, secondments and exchanges. TAB has a training remit and might be able to coordinate joint training in areas such as first aid and disability awareness. Many of the festivals invest in training volunteer workers who return in following years, though the festivals are not volunteer cultures in themselves. Again, there may be room for coordination over volunteer opportunities, accreditation and training. In the first instance, festivals could usefully share their knowledge of good practice in supporting volunteers. Festivals collectively have, over the years, been an excellent training ground for arts management. A coordinated Edinburgh Festivals Training Inc could even have commercial potential. As mentioned under Strategic Objective 3, there may be potential for a College or University-related training course allied to working with the festivals, and well-equipped adult students could undertake placements to manage cross-festival projects (which could also include involvement from non-arts festivals such as Science or Capital Christmas). As mentioned under Objective 3, none of the festivals has professional expertise in the fast-developing training field, nor in the funding available in this area; indeed, they may need training themselves. SE Edinburgh and Lothian should consider offering support by bringing expertise to the group and either funding and/or facilitating training initiatives, through which an exciting programme might be devised which could link to other partners, higher education, commercial areas of employment and the social inclusion agenda as discussed elsewhere. Assistance from SAC could also be sought for future developments. Education and outreach: this has been explored under objective 3 and appears a valuable area for collaboration, through the involvement of the CEC Education Department and TAB Premises: Each festival has its own office base, and although there has been some recent discussion about grouping some compatible festivals in the new Fringe press centre, the festivals themselves do not know enough about each others requirements to assess the potential for sharing. A shared central office would help to raise the presence and profile of organisations such as the Book Festival and Childrens Festival, and reveal further potential for staff sharing and programming synergy. It is recommended that this is one of the subjects on the agenda for a festivals away day.

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Joint promotion: This could be developed through TAB and the JFWG. Whilst it will remain important to protect the commercial sensitivity of some data, topics such as joint market intelligence, the rationalisation of audience information and database access, the ongoing collection of statistics, customer satisfaction surveys and a planned programme of longer-term generic research projects could all provide the basis for tactical projects which might include: Website development Combined international profile-raising through BTA offices and travel trade shows Shared street advertising, press advertising Further efforts to enable the public to order all festival brochures through a single piece of print and phone line. The continued sharing of box office facilities at The Hub and more discussion of how the various box office operations could be better integrated. TAB will, clearly, be very important in delivering this strategy. It is recommended, accordingly that, when its contract comes up for renewal, a clear set of specific roles and outcomes are identified against which its next programme of work can be designed.

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Making decision-making processes more clearly strategic and transparent At present, the festivals have a range of funding relationships with the Council. Section A identified the various departmental budgets from which funds are currently drawn. There is also a wide variety of mechanisms through which they are administrated. The draft Events Strategy points out that while most festivals receive grant aid in return for a funding agreement (which includes targets based on Recreation Department policies and overall council objectives), the funding relationship and expectations are less clear with Hogmanay and the Festival Cavalcade. If the Council is to put the financing of [festivals] on a firm footing to reflect its strategic approach to the future development of the sector, then this must include a clear statement and policy over the levels, type and any restrictions on funding or help in kind. The nature and purpose (and, where appropriate, longevity) of such funding must be clearly articulated and documented. If investment grants are to be available, they should be subject to the same kind of vigilance and standards of evaluation, which currently govern grant award for other organisations. It should be possible to address the currently complex situation more easily if responsibility for the festivals is drawn together into one place. Once a strategic framework for the support and development of festivals has been agreed, it will become possible to link decision-making about the festivals to the desired strategic outcomes, which should help substantially in providing transparency to the process. In addition, CEC could clarify the position by making explicit the criteria by which festivals are assessed Criteria Part I of this report established that the festivals provide three types of benefit to the city Cultural, Social and Economic. The criteria for decision-making on festivals should, accordingly, be based on these three planks. This approach would be broadly consistent with CECs corporate approach to grant-giving which already acknowledges that it chooses to support companies, organisations and projects for purposes of social investment and economic investment68. It is recommended that these three categories of criteria are adopted for the evaluation of festivals with detailed guidelines being published about objectives, relative importance and methodologies of assessment. The tools for evaluating these criteria should be based on the benefits identified in Part I: Cultural: a) Opportunities for artists, through: employment the development of new work artistic exchanges profile with the press and potential promoters exposure to experiences which have a long-term impact on their work

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b) Opportunities for audiences, through: the enjoyment of unique experiences access to work of the highest quality the exploration of their own and other cultures exposure to international artists and ideas alongside local and national ones other events promoted or drawn to their attention by the festivals access to a range of work at affordable prices learning about new subjects in new ways c) Opportunities for Edinburghs citizens, through: participation in the artistic programme participation in a range of other activity during and outwith the festival periods the range of participants involved the quality of opportunities offered developing strategies to broaden accessibility d) A contribution to year-round cultural infrastructure, through: the impact of festivals on local and national artistic and community organisations ongoing partnerships with other cultural and educational organisations the level of interaction with local artists the generation/strengthening of ongoing artistic activity in Edinburgh and Scotland involvement in city cultural development initiatives e) Contribution to Edinburghs outlook as a city, through: the reflection of its culture(s) in the programme encouragement of cross-cultural and international understanding encouragement of innovation and experiment partnerships with non-cultural organisations 373 Social: the citys general and specific social inclusion objectives training and employment opportunities participation new audiences self-esteem and socialisation the change effected by arts activity educational impacts urban regeneration the citys environment, infrastructure and attractiveness

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Economic: numbers of attenders visitor/resident split origin and profile of visitors duration of visits (in Edinburgh / Scotland) regularity of attendance spend (direct and indirect) attendance at other festivals cost to city box-office and other income generated 82

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This sort of clarity of approach should go a long way to allay any disquiets about the decision-making process. The guidelines should also clearly state the relationship between the Councils strategic objectives, the consequent funding of the festivals and the elected members role in the process. Finally, it should be noted that, for the decision-making process to be wholly transparent, the criteria should make clear that CEC is making awards in return for anticipated outcomes, not just filling the hole between expenditure and other forms of income. The corollary to that is the recognition that the grants made to the festivals represent, in most cases, only a part (albeit a large part) of their turnover and that success in sponsorship or box-office income should not be penalised by reduced grant-aid. Having said that, CEC and other funders will wish to retain a degree of flexibility in order to respond to new and innovative initiatives. In some cases (e.g. Hogmanay), this may be achieved through the decision to generate greater commercial investment in a festival, in others through a review of festivals needs as measured by their funding agreements. In all cases, funding decisions should be taken within a strategic framework, rather than in response to particular short-term circumstances. Grants and Commissions As is suggested by the draft Events Strategy extract quoted above, there is some confusion about the nature of the Councils financial involvement in certain situations. A simple rule of thumb should serve to clarify this position. If CEC identifies the need for a particular type of festival or festival activity, sets its targets and assesses it against a specific set of outputs, it should be considered to be engaging in a commissioning process. If an independent festival sets its programme within parameters broadly agreed with the Council and receives funds to achieve its targets, that is a grant-aid process which would operate under a somewhat different assessment procedure. It is, of course, quite possible (and, in many instances, desirable) for a Council-initiated and commissioned festival to develop its own independent existence and evolve into an independent grant-aided organisation. In terms of the allocation of funding, the advent of three-year budgeting in the public sector provides the opportunity for the festivals to be offered a hitherto impossible level of forward comfort. It is recommended that funding agreements with festivals be constructed, wherever possible, on a three-year rolling basis (perhaps on a de minimis basis). This would give the festivals more operational flexibility, an improved planning cycle and greater financial security. Three-year status should be subject to review and, in extreme cases, revocation (with an appropriate period of notice). In return for that degree of security, CEC should expect all festivals to furnish a threeyear business plan. Finally, it is worth pointing out that current complaints about non-transparent decision making are as much concerned with help-in-kind as with grants. For example, the Councils in kind agreement with the Fringe for the new press office involves the Fringe paying as much to make good the building as it would otherwise have paid on the lease. Despite this, there has been an assumption in some quarters that the Fringe has got the place for nothing, Clearer, published criteria would also help allay these sorts of suspicion.

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379 380

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(E) 381

Maximising income from commercial sponsorship and other private sector sources In the pluralist funding world of the 21st century, cultural organisations must be alert to an increasingly wide range of financial opportunities. Individual festivals have, historically, had varying degrees of success in attracting private sector support and sponsorship. However JFWG and CEC should work together to maximise the returns from these areas. The Council and SE (E&L) should work with the festivals to establish best practice from other cities in commercial sponsorship and private sector in order to seek to apply such lessons to Edinburgh, where appropriate. Through JFWG, the festivals should explore the nature and implications of various sponsorship packages with a view to identifying benchmarks and maximising the benefit that can be gained from them JFWG should have, as a regular item on its agenda, the issue of private sector funding opportunities.

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Strategic Objective 5:
To develop a strategic framework for the allocation and, where appropriate, the sharing of resources by (A) Identifying appropriate outcomes for different festivals

385

As we have seen, the festival sector provides Edinburgh with a wide range of benefits in a number of areas of public policy, cultural, social and economic. However, each festival has an individual profile which must be taken into account when considering them. The spring festivals, for instance, do not generate the same level of economic activity as the summer ones or Hogmanay. They can, however, also be seen as addressing Council objectives connected with social inclusion, education and children. The Council, in implementing the Festivals Strategy, must acknowledge this fact and avoid the temptation to see the outcomes of the festivals in purely (or even predominantly) economic terms. Whilst every funded festival must have identified cultural outcomes and associated criteria, some will have only marginal economic benefit and others may have less obvious social impact. In recognition of this, it is important that the outcomes expected from each festival are appropriate, realistic, achievable and, where possible, measurable. Each set of outcomes should be developed in collaboration with the relevant festival and the Council should hold an overview of the total picture. It will then be able to evaluate how satisfactorily the festivals as a whole are meeting its corporate objectives.

386

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(B) Establishing criteria for assessing festivals quality 388 Throughout the consultation process of this review, there was an overwhelming agreement that the Strategys success like the success of the festivals themselves was ultimately dependent on questions of quality. Quality is a notoriously slippery term, meaning different things to different people. In the early 21st century, there cannot be absolute standards, equally applicable to all activities notwithstanding their cultural context. The objectives and nature of a community festival are intrinsically different from those of an EIF performance at the Festival Theatre. However, every successful festival will set out to deliver a high quality event within its own context, thereby serving as a model of excellence. The Festivals Strategy must take, as one of its core principles, the aim of supporting that ambition. In particular, the Strategy must create a risk-friendly environment. All festivals need to invest in risk and innovation. Indeed, much of the research referred to in Part I indicates that in a world where the special is becoming the most valuable coin, the ability to take risks is increasingly attractive and important to the success of cultural activity, especially in terms of the vital event audience which generates both economic spend and buzz . The old assumption that the known is a financially safe bet is no longer as secure as once it was. In order to support the drive to excellence we must consider the factors which contribute to a positive festival experience and to the consequent building of reputation and attractiveness of the individual festival and of the city in general. The overarching assessment of the quality of a festival or festival event will depend on: 85

389

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the perceived quality of the event itself (the programme, festival direction etc.) its value for time and money; and the environment in which that event takes place (not just the venue but the city itself hospitality, excitement, infrastructure)

The draft Events Strategy helpfully identifies a range of stakeholders who will be involved in any one event, each of whom considers different factors as contributing to their quality of experience. Extrapolating from that work, the following tables suggest pertinent factors in determining the quality of festivals from the perspective of different groups. Quality as perceived by those attending a festival may be dependent on: the content and delivery of the programme; innovation price (not merely the entry costs) and value (for time and money); access to ticketing and information; timing; the organisation of the programme (clashes and complementarity) transport and parking; easy access; signage; safety; standards of venues opportunities for other leisure activity (e.g. shopping) accommodation and catering; international significance and/or uniqueness of event; professional standards throughout. Quality as perceived by those organising or promoting festival events may be dependent on: availability and cost of venues the suitability and standard of the programme delivered the ability to commission work cost-effectiveness of venue (capacity, yield etc.) safety, management and reputation; risk; staffing availability and expertise; resources and infrastructure; ability to attract sponsorship; media coverage; co-ordination of Council functions and requirements (e.g. licensing restrictions) attitude of Council staff; weather; competition and clashes with other events Quality perceived by the public sector investors may be dependent on: the match of the programme delivered to that anticipated; innovation safety; economic impact; 86

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compliance with and furtherance of public policy minimal disruption to the city (e.g. noise, traffic, waste/litter); professionalism; timing; good satisfaction levels; financial success against expectations achieving sponsorship media profile for Edinburgh and quality of image; brand visibility/public recognition of involvement. support by local community

Quality perceived by private sector investors may be dependent on commercial viability future exploitation media recognition corporate objectives niche marketing professionalism; good satisfaction levels; financial success against expectations public reaction against expectation brand visibility/public recognition of involvement. Quality as perceived by those who do not attend the festivals may be dependent on: previous experience or perceptions price; access; perceived effect on the community level of disruption to normal routine (traffic and transport, noise etc.); comprehensive information and advance warning package; media reporting, economic impact to city environmental impact festivals openness to hearing their views Assessment of an individual festivals quality will need to take some account of the perceptions of each of these groups. To avoid this process become overly bureaucratic, it is recommended that the Council bases its evaluation of the ongoing success of the festivals on the following sources: peer group assessment scale of media response satisfaction surveys from the audience (including assessment of value for time and money) and participants the creative legacy the long-term impact on the year-round cultural life of Edinburgh

396

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(C) Evaluating the needs of Festivals (in terms of cash and other resources) and setting out a plan to achieve them 398 The National Cultural Strategy observes that The tourism industry is worth 2.5bn to Scottish economy and supports over 170,000 jobs. Scotlands heritage is at present central to our branding but we need to consider further how we promote our contemporary culture. This report shows that the Edinburgh festivals provide an effective and economical way of promoting Scotlands contemporary culture whilst, at the same time, inviting the best of international culture into the country. The festivals have economic, cultural and social benefit considerably in excess of the sums invested. A comparison, for example, with the amount that Salzburg puts into its festival shows Edinburghs impact:investment ratio to be superior. Edinburghs festivals also make a greater contribution to the social inclusion agenda. Similarly, the Avignon study on the value of the festival to the citys public profile would suggest that Edinburgh, if it undertook a similar exercise, could also produce some impressive estimates. Despite these evident benefits, it remains difficult to produce any sort of arithmetic formula to prescribe the sort of investment required to reach desired outcomes. Audiences have a degree of behavioural inertia which means that an increase (or cut) in funding is unlikely to produce any immediate major changes, however significant the long-term repercussions. Instead, it may be more useful to try to base an assessment of the festivals financial needs on their position in the national and international marketplace, given that it is the buying power of other festivals (especially the international ones) that presents the most obvious threat to the Edinburgh festivals future competitiveness We have already noted in Part I that, when compared with other British festival towns and cities, the local authority in Edinburgh achieves extremely good value for its investment from the festivals. Internationally, we have also observed that most European festivals of national significance receive about 42% of their budget from the public purse, others average about 35% and fringe festivals around 11%. Those formulae would indicate that EIF would, in the European context, expect to receive at least 20% more than it does at present (c 250k), the mid-size festivals (Childrens, Science, Film, Book, Jazz) about 230k more between them and the Fringe about 40k more.

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Another way of considering this issue is to compare the festivals current funding levels with those they have historically received. The following table illustrates the comparative real-terms funding of the festivals between 1995/96, the last year of Lothian Council, and 2000/01. real terms real terms %age change cash change -8.74 -20.54 -16.23 13.94 -25.69 -12.45 -4.42 -18.99 -11.45 83.92 67.33 80.90 105.24 -26.19 14.07 31.94 -37.91 -33.03 -6.36 -6.36 5.55 -34.43 -31.67 53.93 -63.73 -11.08 13.44 75.14 29.92 -74,239 -303,520 -377,759 3,058 -11,239 -8,180 -3,765 -15,116 -18,880 26,236 4,684 30,921 35,894 -20,232 15,662 1,816 -28,671 -26,855 -8,964 -8,964 316 -26,421 -26,106 6,131 -8,947 -2,816 948 1,931 2,879

Table /Chart 16: Grant comparison: 1995/96 & 2000/01 GRANTS 1995/96 95/96 at 2000/01 current prices EIF SAC Local authorities Total SAC Local authorities Total Scottish Screen Local authorities total SAC Local authorities total SAC Local authorities total SAC Local authorities total 747,000 1,300,000 2,047,000 19,300 38,47369 57,773 75,000 70,000 145,000 27,500 6,120 33,620 30,000 67,945 97,945 5,000 66,526 71,526 123,994 123,994 5,000 67,50072 72,500 10,000 12,350 22,350 6,203 2,260 8,463 849,239 775,000 1,477,925 1,174,405 2,327,164 1,949,405 21,942 43,739 65,680 85,265 79,581 164,845 31,264 6,958 38,221 34,106 77,244 111,350 5,684 75,631 81,315 25,000 32,500 57,500 81,50070 64,465 145,965 57,500 11,64271 69,142 70,000 57,012 127,012 7,500 46,960 54,460

Fringe

Film

Book

Children

Jazz

Science

SAC Local authorities total Mela SAC Local authorities* total Puppets SAC Local authorities total Storytelling SAC Local authorities Total 403

140,964 132,000 140,964 132,000 5,684 6,000 76,738 50,317 82,423 56,317 11,369 17,500 14,040 5,093 25,409 22,593 7,052 8,000 2,569 4,500 9,621 12,500

This chart demonstrates that, in real terms, the value of public funding to EIF has declined by about 378k in the five years to 2000/0173 whilst the amount available to the

69 70

including Fringe Sunday including BFI 71 combining revenue and three-year funding 72 including LEEL

89

other festivals has dropped by about 42k. Within that last figure, however, there are marked variances, ranging from a 33% reduction in public funds for Jazz to an 81% uplift for the Book Festival. It may be useful to consider this information in graph form. However, the scale of grants to EIF compared with those to the other festivals makes it impractical to include them all in a single graph. The following charts therefore show the decline in funding to EIF over the five years to 2000/01 (17) and the situation for the other festivals (18). Table/Chart 17: Comparative public funding for EIF: 1995/96 and 2000/01
2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000 0 95/96 00/01

SAC L.A..

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although SAC has awarded it an additional 100k in 2001/02

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Table/Chart 18: Comparative public funding for other Edinburgh festivals: 1995/96 and 2000/01 (n.b. the first of each festivals bars refers to 95/96; the second to 00/01)

180,000 160,000 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0

ok ild m e pu la St p or pe yt t el Sc ling ie nc e ch ng fil bo ja fri m zz e

L.A. SAC/Film

404

To summarise, this study has considered the festivals public funding from three perspectives: National comparisons74: To attain the mean investment (as a proportion of turnover) of other British festivals, CEC would need to invest an additional c300k International comparisons: To match the European averages, the national and local funding bodies would need to invest an additional 520k (of which about half would go to EIF) Comparison with 1995/96: To restore the levels of funding (from all public sources) to 1995/96 levels, the funders would need to find an additional c. 340k, in addition to the additional 100k awarded to EIF for 2001/02. These exercises are, by their nature, inexact. However, all three of the above indicators point in the same direction - the conclusion that the Edinburgh festivals as a group receive significantly less public investment than their peers and, indeed, considerably less than in the past. If the festivals are to retain their edge of attractiveness and competitiveness, this imbalance may need to be addressed. The principal funders (CEC, SAC who support the festivals to the tune of just over 1m and the Film Council) should discuss with the Scottish Executive whether and how this might be achieved. This study has not evaluated the financial needs of individual festivals, nor assessed the quality of their individual programmes and their organisational competence. If funds were available, each festival would need to be assessed as to its need, and the likely quality of any development, before additional sums were allocated.

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From Part I

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RECOMMENDATIONS Overview This Festivals Strategy should be read as a sibling document to the citys Events Strategy with the two implemented on a co-ordinated and integrated basis The festivals should be celebrated and enthusiastically supported by the city, the statutory authorities and funding bodies. To that end: The relationship between the festivals and CEC should be rationalised and made more transparent; and The funding agencies should continue to explore a range of ways through which to support the festival sector (including the option of increased resources) in order to offer it the opportunity to develop in an international marketplace that is becoming increasingly competitive. CEC should adopt clear criteria for assessing the social, cultural and economic impacts of the festivals and consistently collect data from the festivals in order to track developments. Strategic Objective 1: To support and sustain a range of high quality Festivals or festival-related events mainly concentrated in August but also taking place throughout the year by: A. 1A.1 Agreeing the strategic importance of the festivals CECs Recreation Department should co-ordinate an advocacy initiative to ensure that other CEC departments, SE Edinburgh and Lothians, ELTB and other relevant agencies acknowledge the importance of the festivals sector and adopt a strategic approach to it based on a number of fundamental propositions: o Between them, the Edinburgh festivals fulfil a wide range of strategic goals and objectives cultural, social, economic and presentational (in terms of Edinburghs brand) o Different festivals address different parts of this cocktail in different ways. o The city should recognise this diversity and value each festival for what it individually contributes to the whole mix. o There should be a clear understanding of the target audiences for each festival. o The festivals contribution depends on partnerships with - and support from - a range of stakeholders, including CEC, SE Edinburgh and Lothian, ELTB, SAC and the business sector o The festivals sector should be acknowledged as a priority area for support. o CEC needs to be clear and open about its own strategic objectives in supporting festivals o In dealing with the festivals, CEC will operate on two levels (as it will with the forthcoming Events Strategy) the strategic and the operational. Exploring ways in which to support and promote the festivals Supporting and enabling good festival directors Establishing criteria for assessing quality Rewarding quality and being robust about non-delivery against objectives Developing an advocacy campaign which emphasises: o The importance of the festivals to the city o Innovation o Collaboration o The support systems (venues, hotels etc.) 92

B. 1B.1 1B.2 1B.3 1B.4

1B.5 1B.6 1B.7 1B.8 1B.9 1B.10 1B.11 1B.12 1B.13 1B.14 1B.15 1B.16 1B.17 1B.18 1B.19 1B.20 C. 1C.1

Developing brand identification between the city and the festivals Regular discussion facilitated by CEC (with Edinburgh Tourism Action Group ETAG) involving those responsible for the festivals marketing and other interested parties to discuss individual and common marketing initiatives Acknowledging the festivals within Council publications at every opportunity Sending a positive message about the festivals through all CEC points of contacts to the citys citizens TAB working with the festivals to develop profile-raising objectives and strategies for individual festivals and the family as a whole Encouraging festivals to extend their existing website to include all the festivals. The Scottish Tourism e-business project and other significant tourist websites should make clear reference to the festivals site Corporate and generic marketing of the festivals exploiting the perception that the summer programme is a single, multi-faceted festival Putting all Council policies and plans through a cultural litmus test to assess their impact on the cultural (in particular, the festival) sector and to evaluate ways in which that sector might contribute to them Developing a co-ordinated approach to training, mentoring and skills exchange to facilitate a learning culture in this sector (probably in conjunction with one of the citys institutions of tertiary education) The Council adopting a more pro-active attitude towards decoration and advertising in public areas Reviewing Council policies towards the provision of and charging for services to festivals (such as Council-owned properties, cleaning etc.) Developing an integrated approach to transport and traffic during festival periods. Exploring possibilities for the festivals' increased use of Council-owned premises as office bases, either individually or as a group Reviewing the rental policy towards Council-owned rehearsal and performance venues: The Council exploring with SE Edinburgh and Lothian, SAC, STB, ELTB and the Scottish Executive ways of positioning the festivals to their, Edinburghs and Scotlands benefit Involving festival directors in a range of international civic activities, including trade fairs, civic visits and delegations Evaluating the viability of changes and/or additions to the festival calendar and, where appropriate, enabling them to happen. Consider organically developing two clusters of festivals - in the spring and late autumn/mid-winter to complement the summer cluster These clusters should have clearly defined identities and target markets. New festivals should only be introduced if they satisfy a rigorous set of criteria and present a special case for their existence. Any proposal should show: o Unique character to the programme o A champion o A market, not detracting from existing activity o A business case o A sponsor o Requisite funding from the public purse o An appropriate time-slot and geographic location o Support from other festivals, cultural organisations and the public

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Any suggestion of rescheduling an existing festival should be accompanied by a full risk/cost benefit analysis and recognition that they may require additional funding against risk No new festival should be introduced before or at the expense of securing the existing Festival framework With respect to the change in Fringe dates, CEC should monitor audience patterns over the next two or three years and then review the situation with the Fringe and EIF. In the interim, there may be ways in which in which quieter weeks could be complemented by other activity. The visual arts strategy working group might wish to consider an enhanced programme in the museums and galleries in the third week of the EIF, for example. Exploring and encouraging possibilities for shoulder activities by existing festivals, probably in collaboration with other Edinburgh-based cultural organisations. The city can nurture greater diversity and quality throughout the year through encouraging collaborations between its cultural institutions including festivals Artists who come to the festivals can be encouraged to return at other times (perhaps with education projects to engage with specific less advantaged communities in the city) The festivals should continue to explore touring on their programmes locally or nationally Off-peak cultural weekends which target the short breaks market and involve festival input should be explored with ELTB The proposed establishment of a well-maintained, accurate and easily accessible clash diary of events should be realised CEC/ETAG should pursue a dialogue with the Scottish Executive ministerial task force to promote cultural tourism

Strategic Objective 2: To develop the audience for the festival programme by: A. Understanding the Audience 2A.1 The city and the festivals should develop more focused tactical approaches towards particular markets or market-segments 2A.2 The festivals, CEC and other stake-holders should continue to collaborate very closely with TAB and develop it as a vital tool for research, analysis and data exchange. 2A.3 Given that most festivals are funded by CEC (or, in the case of the Environment Festival, run by it), collection of data in a consistent form should become a condition of grant, with the acknowledgement that this may have cost implications. B. 2B.1 2B.2 2B.3 Publicly acknowledging the value of the festivals and identifying their success with the city CEC, ELTB and SE Edinburgh and Lothian should capitalise on the success of the festivals and on the high degree of name-identification of Edinburgh with them by developing a branding strategy which identifies the city with this success story. CEC and the Joint Festivals Working Group should develop a pan-Festival brand which associates the city with the festivals as a group whilst promoting each individually. The festivals should consider a particular information initiative designed to increase the take-up of festival opportunities by the rest of Scotland which does not currently provide a very large proportion of the audience.

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2B.7 C. 2C.1

Rather than seeking to expand significantly the numbers of summer visitors or the attractions on offer in summer, Edinburgh should aim to increase audiences frequency of attendance at existing events. A focus on the international marketplace for the second part of the summer festival period should be explored. A senior CEC elected member should be formally identified as the Festivals Champion, responsible for advocacy and spreading the word about the festivals, both within and outside Edinburgh. Working with the forthcoming City Cultural Partnership, this individual should: o Emphasise the Councils commitment to the festivals sector and its value to Edinburgh o Ensure that the festivals interests formed part of Executive discussions on other strategic, developmental and investment matters, including the annual budget process o Lead and encourage co-ordinated initiatives on behalf of the Council and its partners o Oversee contact with Edinburghs City Centre Management company and the private sector, in order to secure increased investment in, and support for, festivals o Focus on the festival brand in projecting the citys image internationally (through trade links, twinning etc.). It would be a positive step for the Council to consider regularly including a festival director in every official delegation to international meetings or conferences. Developing the citys capacity to market the festivals ETAG and the Joint Festivals Working Groups (JFWG) should explore the possibility of developing value-added packages in the summer. This forum should also discuss the development of special offers, themed short breaks (especially during off-peak periods), and combined visits to Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Council should promote the festivals by providing street advertising and display space, city dressing, web-site information and links, a diary of events and training in areas including web-site use and customer care, all as recommended in the draft Events Strategy. This study endorses the draft Events strategy's recommendations with respect to ticketing and public information. The Council should investigate the development of a booklet for promoters explaining how to go about developing festival events, including the services available through the Council and the appropriate structures and procedures to access them. Improving the information resources available to the festivals CEC should draw together existing data in the following areas: o Venues: a database of all the current venues in Edinburgh could be established by using information on all venues which have been licensed during, say, the past three years, drawn from licensing and Fringe Festival records. o Information about events planned through a city-wide events diary o Promotional information through circulation on the web as well as through printed brochures or other promotional material o Events organisation through a help-line and information point and, possibly, a how to booklet for promoters o Co-ordination of market research and the instigation of primary research to support CECs own promotional requirements and those of others 95

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2C.3 2C.4

D. 2D.1

E. 2E.1 2E.2 2E.3 2E.4 2E.5

2E.6 2E.7

Improving the citys infrastructure in order to make it more appealing to visitors and to facilitate the festivals ability to deliver their missions If a City Card is developed, the feasibility of including the cost of travel and transport within it should be investigated. Festivals should be encouraged to consider transport as a key part of the quality of experience for audiences, especially for larger-scale events CEC should undertake a venues audit with a view to establishing the cost-benefit of further investment in individual venues and a prioritisation of any such development programme. CEC should carefully evaluate any proposal for additional venues, taking into account the criteria recommended in the CEC Music Strategy and the need for a cost-benefit analysis. CEC should develop a transparent pricing policy for the rental of its venues to festivals, based on the premise that the festivals are strategically important to the city and should be supported and encouraged. If possible, preferential rates should be set for festival periods which do not discourage or prohibit valuable festival use. The Council should take responsibility for the baseline decoration of the city and encourage a supportive framework for promoters applying for temporary banners, street decoration etc. CEC should explore with the Chamber of Commerce the possibilities for encouraging shops to extend their opening hours in festival weeks.

Strategic Objective 3: To increase the engagement of Edinburghs citizens with the festivals and the benefit they get from them by: A. 3A.1 3A.2 Making festival events available to the widest possible cross-section of Edinburghs citizens All festivals, in collaboration with the Council and other appropriate agencies, should continue to develop their policies on accessibility in order to broaden their audiences further. An increasingly co-ordinated approach to outreach and education work for the schools and communities of Edinburgh could be facilitated by a regular joint meeting of the festival staff responsible for this area of work, community representatives and the appropriate officers from CEC.

B. Taking activity into as much of the city as possible 3B.1 The Council should encourage links between festival outreach programmes and existing structures, such as the formal education system, strong community centres and community arts organisations, in order to develop their mutual understanding and explore future possibilities. 3B.2 The festivals need to strengthen their lines of communication with the appropriate communities. C. Developing links with the ongoing cultural programmes within the communities 3.C.1 CEC should facilitate discussions between festivals and other Edinburgh organisations with the aim of: o Linking festival artists with outreach and education programmes run year-round by other organisations

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Extending the outreach programmes of festivals so that, where no year-round organisation is better placed to do it, they can work year-round within particular communities o Complementing year-round work by other agencies with festival-period work, o Developing relationships between specific festivals and particular community arts development organisations o Sharing databases and mailing lists with others to provide continuing opportunities for known audiences o Pursuing connections with the informal education sector (allied to a new CEC initiative to allocate arts education responsibilities to individual community education workers) In addition, CEC can support the remaining community festivals through o Re-establishing the regular meetings between the festivals o Assisting with specific areas such as: o Public liability insurance (as SCVO currently does with its members) o Clear-up costs (bins, skips etc.) o Advertising and publicity (perhaps reinstating the now defunct joint community festival/gala leaflet) o Advice o Access to venues (e.g. out-of-hours schools, Council-owned halls) Ensuring that the festivals contribute towards the wider social inclusion agenda When the Capital City Partnerships study into arts development and social inclusion is completed, CEC should convene a meeting to explore ways in which the festivals can increase their work in this area. The festivals may also be able to tackle social inclusion through training and employment initiatives. SE Edinburgh and Lothian should convene a meeting of the festivals, CCP, the Access to Cultural Industries project and appropriate CEC departments to discuss this. Connecting festival programmes with education, training and other initiatives in the area of life-long learning The festivals should continue to explore ways of addressing the needs of the education sector including: o Continuity of contact and provision o Consideration of how term dates and curriculum demands can be incorporated into new ideas about working with schools o The involvement of specialist staff in projects o Training opportunities for teaching staff SE Edinburgh and Lothian should consider supporting the festivals in approaching questions of training through the provision of facilitation or other specialist input. CEC should consider developing a programme of training and apprenticeships for its own and festival staff, including secondments, monitoring and exchanges. Improving the festival infrastructure to facilitate the above TAB should facilitate a festivals group discussion, involving directors and education staff, to identify how they wish to progress the social inclusion/training/education agendas. The festivals should agree which areas of activity are priorities in order to put together a joint programme of arts activity and training opportunities and bid to appropriate Governmental budgets (including the New Opportunities Fund). If successful, this would

D. 3D.1 3D.2

E. 3E.1

3E.2 3E.3 F. 3F.1 3F.2

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enable them to develop the additional skills and information, staff resources and funding necessary for implementation. The festivals' potential in these areas should be recognised by their funders, and unallocated funds should be held by CEC in order to respond to initiatives (perhaps acting as trigger funds for additional investment from other social-inclusion centred agencies).

Strategic Objective 4: To strengthen and clarify relationships within and between the festivals, the Council and other stakeholders by: A. 4A.1 Clarifying and simplifying the points of contact and procedures for communication within CEC and between festivals and the Council CEC should consolidate co-ordination of its relationships with the festivals into a single location. This unit would be the first port of call for all festival issues and would act as a gateway to the other involved Council departments. To be successful, such a unit would need: o status and access to the decision makers in all relevant agencies o clear terms of reference based on strategic framework for events o both a proactive and reactive role o the ability to inspire and command the confidence and respect of the festivals sector o well defined reporting structures and lines of accountability o sufficient authority to influence the decisions and behaviour of other Council departments with responsibilities in this area. This operational role would be further strengthened were CEC to adopt the recommendation under Objective 2 to nominate an elected member of the Executive as Festival Champion. That individual would be well placed to help reconcile any conflicting departmental, service or policy priorities as they impact on festivals. The above consolidated approach should certainly apply to all areas of communication and information exchange. In addition, CEC may wish to consider how such a unit would relate to grant-giving and monitoring. The Council-run Environment festival should strengthen its connections with the other festivals, in particular the community festivals. The Council should consider publishing a protocol about the role of elected members on festival boards so that all the festivals are clear about its implications. The Council might also wish to consider whether it might be an advantage to have elected members on the boards of the few larger festivals where they are not currently represented. Developing relationships with other stakeholders (including the Scottish Executive, SAC, SE Edinburgh and Lothian, STB.) CEC and festival representatives should establish an ongoing dialogue with MSPs and officials to identify the best ways in which they can collaborate in achieving their common aims and develop the festivals as a resource for the whole of Scotland. It would also be helpful if CEC, SAC and the appropriate officials of the Executive could establish a regular forum to discuss the cultural needs of the capital city, perhaps with particular reference to their support for EIF. CEC should seek to pursue the case for further investment in cultural tourism through the Tourist Boards with the Executive. 98

4A.2

4A.3 4A.4 4A.5 4A.6

B. 4B.1 4B.2 4B.3

4B.4

SE Edinburgh and Lothian should invite appropriate bodies (including CEC, Capital City Partnership and the festivals) to discuss a co-ordinated strategy for education, training and job creation through the medium of the cultural sector, spearheaded by the festivals. Exploring ways in which the festivals can develop collaborative processes and, where appropriate, share resources CEC should continue to offer as much support to the JFWG as possible in order to maximise its effectiveness. The Council should ensure that all those festivals it funds join TAB, or are included in cross-festival TAB initiatives on a project basis. There has been insufficient creative dialogue between the festivals, ELTB and the Economic Development officers of the Council on the balance between the summer festivals and the rest of the annual programme. CEC should convene a meeting in which these issues can be discussed and a way forward agreed. SAC should consider funding an away-day to include all the Edinburgh festivals to discuss needs and shared resources SAC, CEC and SE Edinburgh and Lothian should be prepared to consider projectfunding festival groupings for initiatives arising from JFWG and/or an away-day in areas such as: o Employment practices through which several festivals could work together to turn jobs that are currently 'casual' into year-round employment with multiple employers o Training (joint training opportunities, mentoring between festivals, secondments and exchanges. o Volunteering (co-ordination, accreditation and training. In the first instance, festivals could usefully share their knowledge of good practice in supporting volunteers.) o Setting up a joint arts management course with a Tertiary college o Education and outreach activity o Premises (e.g. a shared central office would help to raise the presence and profile of organisations such as the Book Festival and Childrens Festival, and reveal further potential for staff sharing and programming synergy). o Joint promotion including market intelligence, rationalisation of audience information and database access, the ongoing collection of statistics, customer satisfaction surveys and a planned programme of longer-term generic research projects. The future role and aims for TAB should include specific reference to the above programme of work. Making decision-making processes more clearly strategic and transparent in terms of grant-giving and in-kind support CEC should make explicit the criteria by which festivals are assessed, based on the categories of desired benefit - cultural, social and economic. As much detail as possible should be published about the objectives, their relative importance and methodologies of assessment. The Council should ensure that all festivals are subject to the same disciplines of funding agreements (FAs) with realistic and meaningful outcomes. Wherever possible, FAs should be done on a three-year rolling basis, subject to review and, in extreme cases, revocation (with an appropriate period of notice). In return for that degree of security, CEC should expect all festivals to furnish a threeyear business plan.

C. 4C.1 4C.2 4C.3

4C.4 4C.5

4C.6 D. 4D.1

4D.2 4D.3 4D.4

99

E 4E.1 4E.2 4E.3

Maximising income from commercial sponsorship and other private sector sources The Council and SE Edinburgh and Lothian should work with the festivals to establish best practice from other cities in commercial sponsorship and private sector in order to seek to apply such lessons to Edinburgh, where appropriate. Through JFWG, the festivals should explore the nature and implications of various sponsorship packages with a view to identifying benchmarks and maximising the benefit that can be gained from them. JFWG should have, as a regular item on its agenda, the issue of private sector funding opportunities.

Strategic Objective 5: To develop a strategic framework for the allocation - and, where appropriate, the sharing of resources by A. 5A.1 5A.2 Identifying appropriate outcomes for different festivals The outcomes expected of each festival funded should be appropriate, realistic, achievable and, where possible, measurable. Each set of outcomes should be developed in collaboration with the relevant festival, and the Council should hold an overview of the total picture. It will then be able to evaluate how satisfactorily the festivals as a whole are meeting its corporate objectives. Establishing criteria for assessing festivals quality Festivals should be enabled to invest in risk and innovation In assessing festivals quality, CEC should take account of the perceptions of festival attenders, the festivals themselves, public and private sector investors, and the general public. Evaluation of the festivals going success should be based on the following sources: o Peer group assessment o Scale of media response o Satisfaction surveys from the audience o The Creative Legacy the impact on the year-round cultural life of Edinburgh Evaluating the needs of festivals (in terms of cash and other resources) The principal funders of the festivals (CEC, SAC and the Film Council) should discuss with the Scottish Executive the fact that the Edinburgh festivals receive proportionately less funding (c. 300-500k p.a.) than their UK and international peer groups and explore how that disadvantage might be addressed. Any additional resources that become available through this process (including inkind benefits), should be allocated to individual festivals on the basis of an assessment of quality and need outlined above.

B. 5B.1 5B.2 5B.3

C. 5C.1

5C.2

100

APPENDIX 1 : Brief to consultants

City of Edinburgh Festivals Strategy Brief

Background/Context
A Cultural Policy for the City of Edinburgh was published in 1999. The document describes current areas of Council support and achievement and provides an overview of the Councils commitment to culture, its priorities and the areas in which it will provide support. This commitment is expressed in a number of policy objectives which will be achieved through a series of individual strategies containing action plans and targets. The cultural objectives are as follows: to enable all of Edinburghs citizens and visitors to participate in, and enjoy, the widest cultural experience, including targeting initiatives to combat social exclusion to encourage the highest standards of creativity and excellence in all aspects of cultural activities to foster partnership working with organisations throughout the city which are involved in working within, or supporting, cultural activities, such as higher and further educational establishments, national institutions, museum and galleries, the commercial and private sector to develop lively and sustainable cultural industries, among which should be those evolving with the emergence of new technologies to develop and support the infrastructure which sustains Edinburghs cultural industries and activities to recognise and promote the importance of culture for children and young people to acknowledge and support the contribution of cultural activities to the lifelong learning process for the wider community to preserve and interpret Edinburghs heritage to promote locally, nationally and internationally the expression of Edinburghs diverse cultural identity, and to recognise the reciprocal benefits of widening cultural experience through international contacts to support and develop those cultural activities which enrich and extend personal and community development. 101

The individual strategies listed in the Cultural Policy will provide the practical implementation of our cultural objectives. To date the Theatre and Music Strategies have been published and are being implemented. The Festivals Strategy is recognised by all the key players as crucial to Edinburghs and Scotlands cultural life. Economically the Festivals are vital to the Citys well-being, generating significant employment opportunities, financial resources and benefits to its economy, as well as attracting large visitor numbers to the City and Scotland as a whole. The Strategy will refer to City of Edinburgh Council policies, including Cultural Policy, Best Value and Community learning. A Festival Working Group made up of all key festivals has been meeting on a regular basis for the last four to five years, enabling better communication and joint projects between festivals (e.g. Festival web site, joint Daily Diary, etc). However, this group does not have any resources (human or financial) and the scale and frequency of the projects have been limited as a result. Its experience and expertise however, will be invaluable.

Objectives of the Festivals Strategy

1. To encourage and support the festivals in presenting distinctive work, including that of international significance, which provides life-enhancing experiences for the local community and visitors to the city and Scotland. 2. To encourage the City of Edinburgh Council, the Scottish and Area Tourist Boards, The Audience Business, LEEL, the Festivals and other principal cultural institutions to work more closely together to develop Edinburghs reputation as the festival city and city of culture. 3. To work towards the co-ordination of programming, marketing intelligence and marketing and the timing of advance ticket sales. 4. To facilitate a review of whether and how to extend the activities of festivals into secondary events throughout the year. 5. To identify more cost-effective ways of working and additional sources of funding. 6. To aim to increase visitor numbers and diversity throughout the year, but especially October May. 7. To encourage appropriate new initiatives which satisfy the partners objectives. 8. To work with the Festivals Working Group to develop shared initiatives, creative partnerships and encourage a collaborative approach to sharing resources. 9. To ensure that visitors to the Festivals enjoy a high quality and flexible levels of service and to support the development of a customer-focused infrastructure which enhances the quality of the festival experience for every user.

102

10. To encourage the City of Edinburgh Council to work corporately with regard to the needs of festivals and events, and to ensure that appropriate links are made between the emerging strategies such as the Events Strategy, and local Tourism strategies. 11. To encourage and support the involvement of Edinburghs communities as participants and audience members in the Citys festivals, and support festival initiatives that address social inclusion goals.

Consultancy Brief
Review and evaluate existing and potential provision, available sources of funding, venues, audiences, support services and collaborations. To provide a framework for future investment and development of existing and future festivals involving all relevant funding partners. To ensure integration with key Council Policies and Strategies e.g. Cultural Policy, Music Strategy, Events Strategy, City Plan, Best Value, Mainstreaming, Community Learning, etc., as well as those of the Scottish Executive, Scottish Arts Council and those of surrounding local authorities. To provide a Festivals Strategy and costed Action Plan for Edinburghs Festivals, existing and emerging, for implementation over the next 3-5 years.

Methodology
The consultant should use a combination of personal interviews, group discussion and desk research as outlined below. Personal Interviews Edinburgh International Festival Edinburgh Festival Fringe Edinburgh International Book Festival Edinburgh International Film Festival Edinburgh International Science Festival Scottish International Childrens Festival Edinburgh International Jazz & Blues Festival Edinburgh Military Tattoo Edinburgh International Folk Festival Edinburgh Principal Hoteliers Association Chamber of Commerce Edinburgh & Lothians Tourist Board Scottish Tourist Board The Audience Business 103

Scottish Arts Council Lothian & Edinburgh Enterprise Limited (LEEL) CEC Group Leader CEC Convener of Recreation Committee CEC Chief Executive CEC Recreation Department CEC City Development Department CEC Education Department CEC Environmental & Consumer Services Department CEC Corporate Services Department City Centre Management Group Capital City Partnership Scottish Executive Arts Minister Department of Culture, Media and Sport

Group Discussions A clear agenda should be drafted for group discussion to enable effective feedback. Suggested Groups: Joint Festivals Working Group. Community Festivals e.g. Craigmillar, Puppet & Animation, Edinburgh Mela, North Edinburgh Arts, WHALE. Emerging and young Festivals. Venue based programme planners. Tourism Forum.

Desk Research Desk research should include benchmarking Edinburgh festivals against other cities (e.g. Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, Canberra, Wellington (NZ), Vienna, Salzburg), with regards to investment, collaboration, management, demographics, delivery methods, etc.

Written Feedback Written feedback will also be welcomed. A mailing list to be pulled together of relevant organisations/individuals.

Support The consultant will be guided and supported by a steering group made up of Council officers, festivals and funding partners.

Draft findings will then be presented to key partners prior to final publication. 104

APPENDIX 2 : Documents consulted during research period

Annual reports, forward plans, programmes, education and outreach summaries, market research, press articles and publicity material from the festivals Programme information from Edinburgh arts venues and galleries Local authority strategic planning documents including: A Vision for Edinburgh 1999 Towards Sustainable Growth 1999 Action for the New Millennium: Edinburgh City Centre 1999 Position Statement, Environmental and Consumer Services 1998 and 1999 Capital City Government an Edinburgh 2000 consultation paper Community Learning in Edinburgh A Strategic Plan 2000 2003; New Directions; New Directions supporting information A City for all Ages: Towards a City Plan for Older People 2000-2010 One City: The Lord Provosts Commission on Social Exclusion 2000 Changing Edinburgh for the Better 2000 Policy Development on Funding and Grants to Third Parties 2000 A Review of National Lottery Funding and its Impact on Edinburgh 2000 Opportunities for Office Development 2000 City of Edinburgh Theatre Strategy Creative Capital 1995 City of Edinburgh Music Strategy Common Chords 1999 An Events Strategy for Edinburgh (draft) 2000 Festival studies: Edinburgh Festival Audiences: Final Research Report August 2000 The Audience Business, 2000 Festivals Mean Business, BAFA, 2000 Edinburgh Festivals Study 1990-1991; Visitor Survey and Economic Impact Assessment Scottish Tourist Board, 1991 Edinburgh Festivals Economic Impact Study Jones Economics, 1996 The Economic Impact on Employment of Ten Festivals in Europe CEFRAC study for the European Commission, 1996 Tourism documents: City of Edinburgh Tourism Action Plan 2000 2003: consultation draft, and summary document 2000-2003 Summary Report of the Edinburgh Visitor Survey 1998 1999, LEEL Edinburgh and Lothians Accommodation Supply and Demand Study 2000 2005, ELTB and partners Tourism in Edinburgh Stats and Facts 1999 Tourism in Edinburgh 1998 Factsheet Scottish Tourist Board Newsletter of the UK Culture and Tourism Group June 2000 A New Strategy for Scottish Tourism Scottish Executive, 2000

105

National and International arts strategy documents: Recent annual reports, and Plan 1999-2000 Scottish Arts Council Scottish Arts in the 21st Century: A Report on the Consultation Process Scottish Arts Council, 2000 Creating our Future, Minding Our Past Scottish Executive, 2000 Stepping Forward Arts Council of Great Britains strategy for dance in the 1990s. European Programme of National, Transversal and Sectoral Cultural Development Policies: Comparative Study 1 Strasbourg, Council of Europe, 1997 Cultural Statistics in the European Union Circular no. 1, fourth quarter, 1995 General: Towards a National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal Young People PAT 12 2000 The Arts Landscape in 2010 Henley Centre, December 1999. The Age Shift Ageing Population Panel, Foresight, 1999 Charles Leadbeater Living on Thin Air Penguin, 1999 The Independents Demos 1999

106

APPENDIX 3 : Individuals/organisations consulted

1. Individual interviews Edinburgh International Festival Edinburgh International Festival Edinburgh Festival Fringe Edinburgh International Book Festival Edinburgh International Film Festival Edinburgh International Science Festival Edinburgh International Science Festival Scottish International Children's Festival Scottish International Children's Festival Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festival Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festival Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festival Edinburgh Military Tattoo Edinburgh Military Tattoo Edinburgh Military Tattoo Storytelling Centre: The Netherbow Scottish Storytelling Festival Hogmanay, Capital Christmas (The City of Edinburgh Council) Unique Events (Hogmanay, Capital Christmas) The Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival Edinburgh Mela Edinburgh Festival of the Environment Edinburgh Folk Festival Edinburgh Harp Festival Adult Learning Project (Fiddle Festival) Fiddle Festival Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothians Tourist Board The Audience Business The Audience Business Scottish Arts Council Scottish Arts Council Scottish Arts Council Scottish Enterprise, Edinburgh and Lothian (SEEL) Capital City Partnership Access to Cultural Industries Scottish Executive Edinburgh International Conference Centre Regular Music City Art Centre Festival dAvignon International Arts Independent consultant 107

Brian McMaster Joanna Baker Paul Gudgin Faith Liddell Ginnie Atkinson Dr Simon Gage Pauline Mullin Tony Reekie Katie Stuart Mike Hart Roger Spence Jim Thomson Alan Smith Brigadier Mel Jameson Richard Hambleton Donald Smith Joanna Bremner Norman Ireland Pete Irvine Fran Barlow Alan Tweedie Angus Murdoch David Francis David Mieras Stan Reeves Margaret Littlewood Bill Furness Jack Munro David Jackson Marion Bourbouze Jim Tough Tessa Jackson Nod Knowles Fiona Michie Jim Rafferty John Gray Bob Irvine Hans Rissmann Barry Wright Ian ORiordan Bernard Faivre dArcier Sheena Barbour Phyllida Shaw

Cllr Donald Anderson Cllr Steve Cardownie Cllr Jim Gilchrist Cllr Mike Pringle Cllr Paul Williamson Cllr Roy Munn Tom Aitchison Herbert Coutts Lynne Halfpenny Neeru Bhatnagar Jo McStay Moira McKenzie David Hume Kenneth Wardrop Raoul Barbier Roy Jobson Mike Rosendale Mary McGookin Isabell Reid Leslie Evans Hugh Dunn Elaine Ballantyne Susan Lanham 2. Group meetings

The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council

Lucy Mason Morag Deyes Francis Sutton Hugh Loughlan Douglas Walker Brian Lowden Beth Cavanagh Kenny Ireland Robert Rae Karen Koren George Williamson Norman Quirk Chris Barron Jenny Slack Roy McEwan Simon Crookall Mike Greenlaw Judy Savin

Traverse Theatre Dance Base Dynamic Earth Scottish International Scottish International Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre Queen's Hall Royal Lyceum Theatre Company Theatre Workshop Gilded Balloon St Brides Centre Scottish Ballet Scottish Opera/Scottish Ballet Scottish Opera Scottish Chamber Orchestra Royal Scottish National Orchestra Craigmillar Festival Scottish Youth Dance Festival 108

Jim Young Tom Gibson Eric Dougal Charlie Kelsall Simon Williams David Hinnrichs Michael Borland

Gorgie/Dalry Community Association and Gala Day Beltane Fire Festival Meadows Festival Association Christorphine Fair Edinburgh Principal Hoteliers Association Edinburgh Hotel and Guest House Association Rothesay Hotel

In addition the consultants attended two meetings of the Joint Festivals Working Group 3. Invited to comment by mail

Rick Conte Edinburgh Puppet Company Ali Kerr Lung Has Theatre Company Morven McLean The Drama Practice Susan Lofthus Cutting Edge Theatre Mark Pencaik Blue Boat Fiona Ward The Edinburgh Quartet Suzanne Mitchell Environmental Arts Theatre Company Rebecca Kilbey First Bite Theatre Co. Pete Clark Benchtours Andy Howitt Scottish Youth Dance Alan Irvine Freshmess Richard Medrington Richard Medringtons Puppets Irvine Allan Cat, A, Productions Ethelinda Lashley-Johnstone Helter Skelter Dance Company Paul Pinson Boilerhouse Theatre Company Angus Reid Speakeasy Productions Lorraine Freemand Doughdo Club Sue Wilson North Edinburgh Arts Sian Fiddimore WHALE Diksha Joshi Baharatiya Nari Sabha Akin Fatumbi Africa Centre Tessfu Gessesse Black Community Development Project Amrit Lal Edinburgh Hindu Mandir & Cultural Centre Trishna Singh Sikh Sanjoj Naina Bala-Minhas Nari Kalyan Shangoo (NKS) Mohammed Shaffi Pakistan Society Mohindra Dhall Scottish Indian Arts Forum Rekha Gupta Bengali Cultural Association Adil Abraham Scottish Refugee Council Stephanie Wong Edinburgh Chinese School Carol Main National Association of Youth Orchestras Jane Howie Fight or Flight Stellar Quines Telford College Glen Bennett EAE Professor John Mavor Napier University 109

Morag Arnot Professor Ian Brown Professor Sir Stewart Sutherland Professor JS Archer/Peter Wilson

Napier University Queen Margaret University College Edinburgh University Heriot Watt University

110

APPENDIX 4 : Plenary/Working group membership

Herbert Coutts, Director of Recreation, City of Edinburgh Council (Chair) Ginnie Atkinson, Producer, Edinburgh International Film Festival Joanna Baker, Marketing & Public Affairs Director, Edinburgh International Festival Raoul Barbier, Senior Economic Development Officer, CEC City Development Neeru Bhatnagar, Arts Development Officer, CEC Recreation Joyce Borthwick, Projects Manager, CEC Environmental & Consumer Services Marion Bourbouze, Senior Marketing Manager, The Audience Business Leslie Evans, Corporate Project Manager, CEC Corporate Services Brian Farrell, Corporate Strategy Manager, CEC City Development Dave Farrer, Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh & Lothian Simon Gage, Edinburgh International Science Festival Paul Gudgin, Director, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Lynne Halfpenny, Arts Development Manager, CEC Recreation Mike Hart, Edinburgh International Jazz & Blues Festival David Jackson, Chief Executive, The Audience Business Mel Jameson, Edinburgh Military Tattoo Faith Liddell, Director, Edinburgh International Book Festival (till August 2000) Catherine Lockerbie, Director, Edinburgh International Book Festival (from August 2000) Mary McGookin, Arts Unit Manager, CEC Education Moira McKenzie, Performing Arts Manager, CEC Recreation Brian McMaster, Director, Edinburgh International Festival Fiona Michie, Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh & Lothian

111

Pauline Mullin, Edinburgh International Science Festival Jack Munro, Edinburgh & Lothians Tourist Board Angus Murdoch, CEC Environmental & Consumer Services Jacqui Murphy, Corporate Finance, CEC Finance Isabell Reid, Head of Corporate Communications, CEC Corporate Services Donald Smith, Director, The Netherbow:Scottish Storytelling Centre Katie Stuart, General Manager, Imaginate (Scottish International Children's Festival) Jim Tough, Combined Arts Director, Scottish Arts Council Kenneth Wardrop, Strategy & Projects Manager, CEC City Development

112

APPENDIX 5 : Festival factsheets

Edinburghs Capital Christmas Edinburgh Festival Fringe Edinburghs Hogmanay Edinburgh International Book Festival Edinburgh International Festival Edinburgh International Film Festival Edinburgh International Jazz & Blues Festival Edinburgh International Science Festival Edinburgh Mela Edinburgh Military Tattoo Festival of the Environment Puppet and Animation Festival Scottish International Childrens Festival Scottish International Storytelling Festival

113

Edinburgh's Capital Christmas

Festival History
Established in 1999, Capital Christmas is the most recent addition to the citys annual calendar of festivals. In its first year it featured new Christmas lights for Princes Street, more Christmas trees in local areas, a Christmas Cavalcade and Winter Wonderland in Princes Street Gardens. Edinburgh Capital Christmas 2000 is being planned and co-ordinated by Unique Events. This year there is to be a European theme: Norwegian Christmas Tree German Traditional Market Italian Feast Spanish Street Theatre Company Fireworks Christmas Cavalcade Winter Wonderland

Nature of Agreement with Council

Overseen by the Department of City Development and currently delivered by Unique Events.

Collaborative Working
City of Edinburgh Council Unique Events Princes Street Retail Association Edinburgh & Lothians Tourist Board Gilded Balloon Productions

Business Plan
Annual operational review reported to the Executive of the Council.

Finance
1996/97 Funding from CEC NA 1997/98 N/A 1998/99 N/A 1999/00 364,000 2000/01 185,000

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

In its first year, the organisers, working with the Education Department, involved a number of Edinburgh primary schools in the Christmas Cavalcade. The schools were provided with floats for their particular contributions. Several schools used the project to work in partnership with parents and external organisations to deliver aspects of the curriculum Maths, Language, Expressive Arts, Religious and Moral Education.

Sponsorship

N/A

NA

N/A

165,000

31,000

Total Income

N/A

N/A

N/A

Total Expenditure

N/A

N/A

N/A

529,000

216,000

* Audited accounts not yet available for these two years N/A: Not in operation until 1999/2000

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 20000

Venue Costs All premises operated by the City of Edinburgh Council

N/A 1996/97

N/A 1997/98

N/A 1998/99 1999/2000

114

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Festival History
The first Fringe Festival took place in 1947 when eight companies decided to perform in Edinburgh, despite not being invited to the International Festival's post war celebration of culture. Now recognised as the largest arts festival in the world, the Fringe features over 600 companies over a 3-week period. The Fringe organisation supports companies, providing information and practical advice on how to stage an event in the city. In addition, it co-ordinates the management of events in the High Street in collaboration with the Council, and organises the free event, Fringe Sunday.

Nature of Agreement with Council

3-year funding agreement with the Department of Recreation and a 1-year funding agreement with the Department of Corporate Services.

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the service include: City of Edinburgh Council, Fringe Companies, Sponsors

Business Plan
3-year plan, to be reviewed in 2001.

Finance
1996/97 Grants from CEC 37,773 1997/98 34,718 1998/99 31,830 1999/00 31,830 2000/01 32,500

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

The Fringe has produced Fringe for Schools publications in the past, although the timing of the event proves difficult for responses from schools. This year, opportunities for street performances in the High Street were extended to include school and community groups. In funding Diverse Attractions, the Education Department supports an organisation that provides a performance venue specifically for local groups.

Sponsorship Total Income including above Total Expenditure

100,206

95,299

112,809

800,353

761,068

869,223

747,976

731,645

773,627

* Audited accounts not available for these two years

Attendance Venue Costs

Festival Attendance Figures 860000 790,000 800000 814000

The Festival currently has a 25 year lease on its High Street premises until 2012. The token rental of 1.00 per annum reflects the investment of 125,000 made by the Fringe in 1986 to upgrade the premises. The market rent for the new Fringe Festival Club in Warriston Close is 20,000 per year. The Fringe invested 60,000 to upgrade the premises and a rent-free period has been agreed for the period to 2002/03 (inclusive).

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

115

Edinburgh's Hogmanay
Festival History
The Edinburgh's Hogmanay Festival was launched in 1993 with three objectives: To attract tourists to the city in a traditionally off-peak period To enhance Edinburgh's national and international profile To provide a structure for local Hogmanay celebrations It was conceived as a 3-4 day programme of indoor and outdoor events, with something of interest for everybody. The Street Party, on Hogmanay itself, quickly became the main media focus, although it is only one, albeit significant, component of Edinburgh's Hogmanay. The success of the festival is reflected in the rapid growth in its popularity over a few short years, which, among other things, results in an estimated annual benefit to the City's economy of around 30m (according to LEEL Economic Impact Study).

Nature of Agreement with Council

Overseen by the Corporate Services Department and delivered by a franchisee (currently Unique Events).

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the festival include:- City of Edinburgh Council, S.E.E.L, Edinburgh & Lothian's Tourist Board, Lothian & Borders Police, Unique Events.

Business Plan
3-year plan reviewed annually.

Finance
1996/97 Funding from CEC*
250,000

1997/98
443,000

1998/99
343,000

1999/00
593,000

2000/1
200,000

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

The Hogmanay Festival has provided performance opportunities for groups of young performers, in particular the City of Edinburgh Music School. Previous projects have also involved local school children and community groups.

Sponsorship Total Income including above Total Expenditure

252,000

214,500

247,000

**

**

987,754

980,027

1,198,000

**

**

943,985

980,027

1,198,000

**

**

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 425,000 450,000 500,000 565,000

*Event organised by CEC. Figures relate to Budget for the event rather than grants. **Not available for these two years

Venue Costs Ross Theatre rental of 4,000, plus additional costs for fit-out days. Assembly Rooms rental of 11,500 plus additional costs. Other non CEC venues were used in the city centre.

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

116

Edinburgh International Book Festival

Festival History
The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is the largest book festival in Europe. It is held in marquees in Charlotte Square Gardens during the Edinburgh Festival period in August. The Festival comprises a large selling exhibition of books, a childrens programme, performance spaces where authors read, discuss their work and participate in debates, and a caf/bar. The first festival was held in 1983, and it was originally conceived as a biennial event. In 1996, its Board of Directors took the decision that the Festival should become an annual event. The City of Edinburgh Council increased its grant award to 11,642 in 2000/01 in recognition of the festivals commencement of the Scottish Arts Councils Advancement programme.

Nature of Agreement with Council

3-year funding agreement with the Department of Recreation.

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the service include:- Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Book Trust, Book Sellers, Authors/ agents, Publishers and City of Edinburgh Council.

Business Plan
3-year plan as part of SAC Advancement Programme.

Finance Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

The Edinburgh International Book Festival provides a highly valued and popular schools programme. For this years Festival, 7,000 children and 500 staff attended from over 80 schools. As well as visiting the Festival, most schools develop the experience further through follow up work in art and language. The Festival also marketed events specifically to particular community groups and schools and special ticket offers were included. Out of school events for young people were oversubscribed.
Grants from CEC 1996/97 1,820 1997/98 5,376 1998/99 4,677 1999/00 7,712 2000/01 11,642

Sponsorship Total Income including above Total Expenditure

Note 1

105,518

86,937

112,187

Note 1

369,856

406,766

486,379

Note 1

439,483

476,702

564,384

*Audited accounts not yet available for these 2 years Note1: bi-annual event

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 62,700 64,000 70,000

Venue Costs
The Book Festival site is gifted by the proprietors of Charlotte Square Gardens on an annual basis. Costs for the site are restricted to a reinstatement bond.

N/A (off year) 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 1999/2000

117

Edinburgh International Festival

Festival History
The Edinburgh International Festival was founded in 1947 with the objective of creating a world class cultural event which would bring artists and audiences of many nationalities together. The achievement of this aim over the years has ensured that the annual three-week Festival is now one of the most important cultural celebrations in the world. The 2000/01 Festival broke all records for earned income and achieved an increase in audience numbers to 400,817. International companies showcased included The Cleveland Orchestra, the New York City Ballet, Netherlands Dans Theater, Stuttgart Opera, alongside theatre from USA, Sweden Germany, Argentina, and Ireland, as well as some of the best Scottish traditional artists.

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the festival include: City of Edinburgh Council Orchestras, Theatres, Dance & Opera Companies in Scotland and around the world Business both in and outside Edinburgh Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh & Lothians Scottish Tourist Board Edinburgh Tourist Board

Business Plan
Four year financial plan is in place. A 3 year business plan is under development.

Finance - All figures in thousands

1996/97 Grants from CEC 1,300 1997/98 1,254.5 1998/99 1,174.5 1999/00 1,174.4 2000/01 1,200.9

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

The year round education programme of the EIF gives access to workshops, lectures, performances, in-service, resource materials and curricular support for all ages. The organisation's work with international artists in the education programme results in participation by schools, community organisations and the general public alongside artists of international standing.

Sponsorship

1,137

1,498

1,538.9

1,548.5

1,702.9

Total Income including above Total Expenditure

5,616

5,693

5,643.7

5,498

6,050.1

5,663

5,592

5,762.3

5,618.5

6,449.2

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 421,000 395,946 387,629 400,817

Venue Costs
The Festival is based at the Hub and uses a number of other venues which it hires, including: Usher Hall Edinburgh Festival Theatre Kings Theatre Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre Queens Hall Royal Lyceum Theatre St Giles Cathedral St Marys Cathedral Canongate Kirk Greyfriars Kirk McEwan Hall Reid Concert Hall

1997

1998

1999

2000

Nature of Agreement with Council

3 year funding agreement with Recreation Department 1 year agreement with Education Department

The total cost of venues in 2000 was 723,136

118

Edinburgh International Film Festival

Festival History
Established in 1947, the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is the longest continually running film festival in the world. It attracts local and international audiences and film makers and makes a key contribution to cultural provision in the City. It is a successful and significant event for the film industry as well as for film goers. The Festival was accepted onto the SACs Advancement Programme in 1997. This three-year development process has resulted in a major investment in the infrastructure with the aim of achieving long term financial stability.

Nature of Agreement with Council

3-year funding agreement with Recreation Department 1-year agreement with Education Department

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the festival include: Royal Lyceum Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh cinemas Various industry-related Organisations City of Edinburgh Council Scottish Screen

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

Despite the fact that the Festival operates during the summer school holiday period, it has progressively developed its education programme. It offers screenings for primary and secondary school students, aimed at media studies, arts, modern studies and PSD areas of the curriculum. These are organised in collaboration with the Filmhouse which has a distinguished record of education related work. More widely, aspects of the Film Festivals programme, such as the Reel Life and Mirrorball sections, offer a varied masterclass and workshop experience for the public. The Festival also provides a platform for emerging film makers. Working with Scottish Kids Are Making Movies (SKAMM), young people have produced a Young Peoples Guide to the Festival.

Business Plan
5-year, as part of SAC Advancement Programme

Finance
1996/97 Grants from CEC 69,350 1997/98 66,924 1998/99 64,465 1999/00 64,465 2000/01 64,446

Sponsorship Total Income including above Total Expenditure

224,960

141,847

318,644

292,483

347,815

608,867

588,263

688,654

785,851

602,302

594,974

722,536

739,996

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 37,000 42,795 44,614

*Audited accounts not yet available for these 2 years

Venue Costs
Office Rent - Filmhouse - 7,038 per annum plus 3,500 for Portakabin office for 4 months. Venue Hire for Programme Exhibition 2000 costs - 55,654; 1999 costs 49,440 Venue Costs Delegate Centre - 2000 costs - 15,800; 1999 costs - 13,317

31,430

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

119

Edinburgh International Jazz & Blues Festival

Festival History
Established 22 years ago, the Festival aims to provide the best of jazz and blues to the largest possible audience. The Festival has showcased international figures as well as Scottish jazz and blues performers. The Mardi gras and Jazz on a Summers Day events are particularly popular. The festival is delivered with the assistance of local volunteers. For the last 4 years, the Festival has had a co-promotional agreement with Assembly Direct .In 2000 the festival successfully secured headline sponsorship from the Bank of Scotland.

Nature of Agreement with Council

1-year funding agreement with Education Department 1-year funding agreement with Recreation Department

Collaborative Working
Napier University Assembly Direct Jazz performers City of Edinburgh Council

Business Plan
3-year business plan in development

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

The Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festival supports the formal music curriculum by offering opportunities to young jazz musicians to work with internationally renowned artists. It also offers a high profile platform for performances by Edinburgh pupils. In partnership with Napier University, the Jazz Festival has recently established a summer school open to the public. Local pupils taking part enjoy discounted tickets for performances during the Festival.

Finance
1996/97 Grants from CEC 51,865 1997/98 49,117 1998/99 46,960 1999/00 46,960 2000/01 46,960

Sponsorship Total Income including above Total Expenditure

56,201

33,000

37,000

237,425

225,331

284,391

228,495

221,196

287,729

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 46,087 37,400 34,079 38,866

*Audited accounts not yet available for these 2 years

Venue Costs
Festival RentalThe Hub Queens Hall Ross Theatre La Belle Angele 5,950 5,850 1,500 900

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

The Festival does not pay rent for its operational base.

120

Edinburgh International Science Festival

Festival History
Edinburgh International Science Festival was created by the Department of Economic Development and Estates in 1989. Now in its 13th year, it attracts around 150,000 visits annually to some 250 events. The festival comprises two principle parts: 1. National schools touring programme:
This takes science-based events into schools across the whole of Scotland. In the year 2000 some 45,000 children will be reached in this way. It is widely respected both by teachers and funders for providing high quality, educational and innovative resource, capable of reaching any part of the country.

Nature of Agreement with Council

1 year funding agreement with the Departments of Education and Corporate Services.

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the service include:- National Museums of Scotland, Royal Botanic Garden, Zoo, Dynamic Earth, 3 Edinburgh Universities, Science Based Professional Bodies in the UK

Business Plan
2 year plan to be reviewed annually.

2. Main festival in Edinburgh at Easter:

This part of the festival takes place during the Easter School holidays and attracts both family visitors and adults. A number of key venues are used across the city, and the Festival works in partnership with many organisations to stage events. The Science Festival was a world first. It has been copied in at least ten countries, and is held up as the founder of a new means of communicating science to the public. It has contributed in a large way to raising Edinburgh's profile as a place where science is part of the culture. For this reason Edinburgh remains a world leader in its support of a culture that incorporates science. Many cities have copied its lead and are continuing to do so.

Finance
1996/97 Grants from CEC 127,500 1997/98 127,500 1998/99 127,500 1999/00 127,500 2000/01 205,177

Sponsorship Total Income including Box Office and Misc. Income Total Expenditure

223,219

379,194

230,508

470,460

607,903

510,576

487,941

594,473

518,381

* Audited accounts not available for these two years

Venue Costs
The Assembly Rooms are rented for 25,000 during the Festival. Offices outwith the Festival are rented for 10,000 from a private landlord.

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 175,256 155041 160290 112920

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99 1999/2000

These figures relate to festival only, not the schools programme.

121

Edinburgh Mela
Festival History
The Edinburgh Mela was established through a partnership between Edinburgh District Council , the Scottish Arts Council, Lothian Regional Council and voluntary sector organisations, in September 1995. The word "Mela" means gathering. The festival has contributed to the development and support of the rich diversity of cultures in the city. The 2000 festival at Pilrig Park was the first outdoor event, following 5 years at Meadowbank Stadium. The Mela takes place over a Saturday and Sunday following the end of the Edinburgh International Festival. A number of events lead into the main weekend event.

Nature of Agreement with Council

3-year funding agreement with the Department of Recreation . I-year agreement with Education Department

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the service include:- City of Edinburgh Council, SAC, ELREC, Saheliya, Rainbow People, NKS, Department of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Government of Rajasthan), University of Dhaka, Rabindra Bharati University, Pilton Video, Sports Scotland, Tourism Cooperative-India

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

In liaison with the Education Department, the Mela has worked in a number of Edinburgh primary schools on arts based activities, supporting cross cultural understanding. In 2000/01, for the first time, the festival received Council funding to engage artists/teachers to work in local schools and with community groups, producing artwork displayed at the Mela.

Business Plan
3-year plan, to be reviewed in 2002.

Finance
1996/97 Grants from CEC 51,000 1997/98 49,215 1998/99 44,000 1999/00 46,167 2000/01 47,317

Sponsorship

10,165

14,359

4,402

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 30000 9500 14000 15000

Total Income including above Total Expenditure

101,696

91,451

83,317

110,179

90,201

72,577

* Audited accounts not yet available for these two years

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

Venue Costs
Pilrig Park was provided free of charge by the City of Edinburgh Council.

122

Edinburgh Military Tattoo

Festival History
The Edinburgh Military Tattoo was conceived and first performed in 1950 as the Army in Scotlands contribution to the Edinburgh International Festival. Today, with its unique blend of music, ceremony, entertainment, and theatre set against the backdrop of Edinburgh Castle, it is without question one of the worlds greatest shows. Each year, more than 200,000 people see the Tattoo. They come from every corner of the globe (around 35% of the audience is from overseas). They are also joined each year by around 100 million television viewers worldwide. The result is an unforgettable annual spectacle that is renowned around the world and one which has taken its place as the very drumbeat of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Business Plan
Three year business plan

Finance - All figures in thousands

1996/97 Grants from CEC 0 1997/98 0 1998/99 0 1999/00 0 2000/01 0

Sponsorship

Total Income including above Total Expenditure

2,608

2,698

2,952

3,222

tbc

2,582

2,691

2,819

3,067

tbc

Venue Costs
875,000 approximately

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 200000 200000 200000 200000

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

The figure given is the average for each year

Nature of Agreement with Council

Help in kind is offered.

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the festival include: Army in Scotland City of Edinburgh Council

123

Festival of the Environment

Nature of Agreement with Council Festival History
From its beginning in 1991, the Festival has been a partnership involving: The City of Edinburgh Council The Public and Private sectors Local and National environmental organisations The local voluntary sector Overseen and delivered by the Department of Environmental and Consumer Services. No funding agreement.

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the service include:- City of Edinburgh Council, Private Sector, Local/National environmental organisations, voluntary sector

The festival is run by the Department of Environmental and Consumer Services. Normally there is at least one event organised by the Department to act as a focus, supplemented by a week of events organised by groups and organisations in all sectors. The main change came in 1997, with a move from Spring to Autumn.

Business Plan
Annual

Finance
1996/97 Funding from CEC* ** 1997/98 26,382 1998/99 39,163 1999/00 31,719 2000/01 29,000

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

The Festival of the Environment aims to raise awareness of environmental issues across stakeholder groups, encourage participation in protecting the environment, and encourage enjoyment and appreciation of our environment.

Sponsorship

**

16,266

16,000

36,617

12,500

Total Income

**

42,648

55,163

68,336

41,500

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures (estimated) 9000 N/A 1996/97 N/A 1997/98 1998/99 1999/2000 11000

Total Expenditure

**

42,648

55,163

68,336

41,500

* Event organised by CEC. Figures relate to Budget for the event rather than grants **Ledger records not available

Venue Costs
In 1999 the Edinburgh International Conference Centre was rented for 28,000 during the Festival.

124

Puppet and Animation Festival

Festival History
The Puppet and Animation Festival 2000 was the 17th annual celebration of puppetry and animation in Scotland. The festival offers children's events and workshops, not only in Edinburgh but also throughout Central and Southern Scotland. The festival provides a showcase for both national and European companies to promote their work. It originally consisted of a week of performances/workshops at the Netherbow Arts Centre in Edinburgh, but this year the festival lasted for a month, presenting over 150 events, provided by 18 companies at more than 70 venues throughout central and southern Scotland. The festival invites companies such as Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre, Ken Speekle Puppets and Banyan Puppet Theatre Company.

Nature of Agreement with Council

2-year funding agreement with the Department of Recreation. (Due for review under the new corporate procedures in 2001/02, when 3-year funding will be possible)

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the service include: City of Edinburgh Council, SAC, other Local Authorities in Lothian and Scotland.

Business Plan
3-year plan running concurrently with SAC business plan.

Finance
1996/97 1997/98 7,143 1998/99 3,393 1999/00 3,393 2000/01 5,093

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

Through its expanding workshop programme for children and adults in aspects of puppetry and animation, the festival provides opportunities for involvement in creative educational activities. Festival performers, including local and international puppeteers, deliver many of the workshops. The Festival is developing as a year round education resource. Puppetry is an appropriate medium for arts education, combining art, music, language, and drama. The Festival is also increasing its collaboration with community networks in Edinburgh, e.g. West Edinburgh.

Grants from CEC

7,598

Sponsorship Total Income including above Total Expenditure

42,594

33,267

21,493

37,924

38,163

25,356

* Audited accounts not available for these two years

Venue Costs
The Festival currently pays an annual rental of 2,818 to the Netherbow Arts Centre.

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 2169 1386 2579 1808

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

125

Scottish International Children's Festival

Festival History
Established in May 1990, the Scottish International Children's Festival (SICF) has become a unique 7 day performing arts event. Initially it was held in performance tents at Inverleith Park but moved indoors in 1998 to theatres in the city. In 1998 the festival became part of the SAC's Advancement programme. This 3 year development has resulted in the festival becoming a subsidiary of the new key organisation 'Imaginate'. This change has enabled the company to produce work and events throughout the year for children as well as the children's festival.

Nature of agreement with Council

3-year funding agreement with Recreation Department. I-year funding agreement with Education Department

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the festival include:- major theatre venues, Scottish Arts Council, City of Edinburgh Council, Scottish Local Authorities.

Business Plan
3-year plan was prepared as part of SAC Advancement Programme. It is to be reviewed in 2000.

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

The Festival offers children (3 14 years) educational opportunities to access high quality performing arts, particularly theatre, which addresses some of the requirements of the Expressive Arts curriculum. School pupils form the major part of the audience at the Festival, which is open to everyone at the weekend. The Outreach Programme for Edinburgh schools is planned in collaboration with the Education Department. The Showcase Event, funded by the SAC, provides a useful work opportunity for children and young people. Negotiations are currently underway between the Festival and the South Edinburgh Social Inclusion Partnership on developing life by learning initiatives.

Finance
1996/97 Grants from CEC Sponsorship/ Trusts/ Foundations Total Income including above Total Expenditure l 63,621 1997/98 60,301 1998/99 57,012 1999/00 57,012 2000/01 57,012

94,644 ** 292,301

40,650

52,300

33,400

51,500

236,189

217,831

255,114

333,173

218,204

225,444

277,913

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures 17,522 17,901 13,448 13,590

* Audited accounts not yet available for these two years ** 2 festivals sponsorship income

Venue Costs
Venue Rental charges amount to 20,100 during the festival with a variety of landlords.

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

126

Scottish International Storytelling Festival

Festival History
The Scottish International Storytelling Festival is the showpiece event of the Scottish Storytelling Forum, founded in 1993. The purpose of the association is to promote the study, practice and knowledge of storytelling in Scotland as a contemporary art among all age groups. It provides training opportunities, skills development, high quality performances and work within the community with all age groups and abilities. The festival, which runs over 2 weeks, embraces venues not only in Edinburgh but also East Lothian, Fife and Midlothian. Edinburgh venues include: The Netherbow Arts Centre, The National Museum of Scotland, Royal Botanical Gardens and the Thistle Foundation.

Nature of Agreement with Council

3-year funding agreement with the Department of Recreation and a 1-year funding agreement with the Departments of Corporate Services and Education.

Collaborative Working
Key partners in delivering the service include: City of Edinburgh Council, Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh University, Moray House, Stories in the Air (forum for storytelling for Sign Language for the deaf) The Festival is managed by the Scottish Storytelling Centre at The Netherbow which mounts a year-round programme of storytelling events and training.

Business Plan
3-year plan, to be reviewed in 2000/2001.

Contribution to Formal and Informal Education in the City

The Festival delivers curricular and crosscurricular opportunities in 5-14 Expressive Arts, Environmental Education, Language, Personal and Social Development, and other areas. A city-wide outreach programme for nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, involves 5,000 children. Year round in-service workshops and curricular support material extends this service, as does the distribution of the National Directory of Storytellers to schools. After-school provision, training programmes and increased community participation complement its work in the formal education sector.

Finance
1996/97 Grants from CEC 2,434 1997/98 2,335 1998/99 2,147 1999/00 3,760 2000/01 4,500

Sponsorship Total Income including above Total Expenditure

3,000

5,000

19,411

30,074

26,622

19,410

30,333

26,493

* Audited accounts not available for these two years

Attendance
Festival Attendance Figures (in Edinburgh) 5771 N/A 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 1999/2000 7015 7003

Venue Costs
The Festival receives free rental for office space throughout the year and for the Festival events from the Netherbow Arts Centre. A contribution from the organisation is made towards the overheads of the Centre.

127

Festivals Strategy Action Plan Introduction

Responsibility for ensuring implementation of the Festivals Strategy will be held by a Festivals Strategy Implementation Group chaired by the Recreation Department. For ease of implementation we have grouped together inter-related recommendations into relevant action points. All the Strategys recommendations appear in the sequence in which they are listed in the report and have been cross-referenced into the Action Plan. Several recommendations require to be noted for future reference rather than implementation; these are listed at the end of the Action Plan for information.

128

No

Action

Related Recommendation/s

Implementation Partner/s
CEC FC ETAG Festivals SAC SEEL TAB

Timescale

Resource Implication

1.

The Recreation Department will work with the Festivals and Events Champion Committee to ensure a broad understanding of the value of the festivals is achieved among strategic agencies and the general public at local, national and international levels.

1A.1, 1B.4, 1B.7, 1B.8, 1B.19, 1B.20, 2B.7

Year 1 onwards

Officer time

2.

Develop a branding strategy 1B.5, 2B.1, 2B.2, which strengthens the 1B.20, 2B.7 identification of the City with all the festivals. Review and expand the membership of the Joint Festivals Working Group (JFWG) to address future marketing strategy in partnership with ETAG. 1B.6, 1B.9 1B.10, 1B.11, 2A.1, 2B.3, 2B.4, 2B.5, 2C.1, 4C.3

Year 1 onwards

Officer time Revenue budgets Officer time Revenue budgets

3.

Year 1 onwards

4.

Identify champion within 1B.12, 2B.6, 4A.2 the City Council to progress implementation of Festivals Strategy across Council and ensure festivals interests and potential contribution are represented.

Year 1

Achieved

No

Action

Related Recommendation/s

Implementation Partner/s
CEC FC ETAG Festivals SAC SEEL TAB

Timescale

Resource Implication

5.

Identify a suitable mechanism to take forward and develop a co-ordinated approach to potential training, mentoring employment and skills exchange, which will include participation by individuals, festivals, tertiary education organisations, social inclusion partnerships and other partnership organisations. Festival and Events Champion Committee to convene an internal crossCouncil working group to address infra-structure issues related to the Festivals Strategy.

1B.13, 3D.1, 3D.2, 3E.2, 3E.3, 3F.1, 3F.2, 4B.4, 4C.5, 4C.6

Year 1 onwards

Officer time Revenue budgets

6.

1B.14, 1B.15, 1B.16, 1B.18, 1D.5, 2C.2, 2C.3, 2C.4, 2D.1, 2E.1, 2E.2, 2E.6

Year 1 onwards

Officer time

7.

Review festivals 1B.17, 2E.3, 2E.5 requirements related to office and performance/ event accommodation and establish a clear pricing structure related to Council premises alongside a capital programme for future investment.

Year 2 onwards

Officer time Revenue and Capital budgets

No

Action

Related Recommendation/s

Implementation Partner/s
CEC FC ETAG Festivals SAC SEEL TAB

Timescale

Resource Implication

8.

Monitor audience patterns for the Fringe and EIF and review dates in light of findings. Possible market research 2002/03. Remit to Visual Arts and Craft Strategy Working Group.

1C.4

Year 2 onwards

Grant aid from CEC and SAC

9.

1C.6

Year 1

Officer time Revenue budgets Officer time Revenue budgets Officer time Commission TAB to undertake research. Revenue budgets Festivals Champion officer time

10. Increase year round festival activity in collaboration with other cultural partners. 11. The Council should seek to gather and collate data on audiences and utilise funding agreements as a means to achieve this.

1D.2, 1D.3, 1D.4

Year 2 onwards Year 2 onwards

2A.2, 2A.3, 4C.2

12. Establish a series of fora workshops to involve key influencers in the fields of commerce, transport, tourism and politics to explore areas of common interest.

2E.2, 2E.7, 4B.1, 4B.2, 4B.3, 4E.1

Year 1 onwards

No

Action

Related Recommendation/s

Implementation Partner/s
CEC FC ETAG Festivals SAC SEEL TAB

Timescale

Resource Implication

13. Building on the outcomes of the Social Inclusion Arts research, establish a Joint Working Party to address broadening and strengthening the relationship between the festivals and local communities across Edinburgh. 14. Recreation officers to establish a short-term working group with Council officers and community representatives to explore potential areas of support and development.

3A.1, 3A.2, 3B.1, 3B.2, 3C.1, 3D.1, 3D.2, 3F.3

Year 2 onwards

Officer time Revenue budgets

3C.2, 4A.4

Year 2 onwards

Officer time Revenue budgets

15. The CEC Education 3E.1 Department, festivals education and outreach teams in collaboration with SAC Education department to consider future strategy and development to achieve optimum impact and continuity of service.

Year 2 onwards

Officer time

No

Action

Related Recommendation/s

Implementation Partner/s
CEC FC ETAG Festivals SAC SEEL TAB

Timescale

Resource Implication

16. Establish one-stop shop within CEC to manage relationship with existing and new festivals. 17. Review existing Board membership of festivals and consider future Board representation from the City.

4A.1, 4A.3, 4C.3

Year 1 onwards

Officer time

4A.5, 4A.6

Year 1 onwards

None

18. The festivals with support 4C.1, 4C.2, 4C.4, from SAC, will meet to 4E.2, 4E.3, explore their response to implementation of the Festivals Strategy, identify a timetabled programme of action highlighting suitable partnerships to assist them to achieve their goals. 19. Commission a quality assessment and needs analysis to identify a programme of quality assessment measures including audience research, funding agreement PIs and peer group evaluation to steer future investment for Edinburghs festivals. 1B.2, 1B.3, 5B.2, 5B.3,

Year 1 onwards

Revenue Budget Achieved 2000/01

Year 2 onwards

Officer time Revenue Budgets

No

Action

Related Recommendation/s

Implementation Partner/s
CEC FC ETAG Festivals SAC SEEL TAB

Timescale

Resource Implication

20. The Council will work with 4D.1, 4D.2, 4D.3, festivals to review 4D.4, 5A.1, 5A.2 assessment, targets and monitoring of festivals in line with Festivals Strategy recommendations. 21. The Council will work with 5C.1, 5C.2 other Public Sector Partners to identify additional financial resources in the region of 300-500k p.a. 22. To be noted for future reference. 1B.1, 1C.1, 1C.2, 1C.3, 1C.5, 1D.1, 2C.3, 2E.1, 2E.4, 5B.1

Year 1 onwards via Funding Agreement

Officer time Revenue budgets

Year 1 onwards

Officer time Growth in revenue expenditure

Abbreviations CEC City of Edinburgh Council FC Festivals and Events Champion ETAG Edinburgh Tourism Action Group SAC Scottish Arts Council SEEL Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh & Lothians TAB The Audience Business