Edinburgh’s festivals to benefit from additional funding, thanks to city’s Visitor Levy
The City of Edinburgh Council’s Councillors have voted in favour of measures to support cultural partners across the city.
Festivals including Edinburgh International Festival, Book Festival, and the Fringe Society as well as community organisations, will receive a one-off 25 per cent increase in funding after councillors agreed that existing Third Party Cultural Grants partners could receive the additional funds.
A mix of cultural organisations, venues, and festivals will share approximately £1.12 million.
Extra support for all eligible cultural and arts organisations, including those operating at a local community level, will also be available via a new £2.62m Innovate fund. This is supported by the city’s Visitor Levy.
The aim of the Innovate fund is to improve resilience, support programming innovation, and enhance cultural output for successful applicants, who will also need to demonstrate how the project will benefit visitors to the city.
The agreed funding is part of a broader transformational allocation of Visitor Levy funding for culture, heritage and events worth more than £25 million over the next three years.
Cllr Margaret Graham, Culture and Communities Convener said: “I have listened and heard the views and feedback of our cultural partners in recent weeks and the 25 per cent uplift they have secured will provide certainty for the next year.
“I was absolutely clear, however, that this agreement could not be at the expense of our smaller cultural organisations across the city – many of which receive no funding at all. I have been a long time advocate of young people and communities and I know first-hand the value of local arts groups across the city.
“The funding package we agreed will see all our cultural partners benefit, whatever their size or stature, but we need to find a fairer and more sustainable way of doing business in future – something that will high on the agenda at the round table discussion I will be calling in the coming weeks.”
Image: Edinburgh International Festival/Andrew Perry
