Breakdown of Edinburgh Festivals and Fringe Public Funding : FOI release

Information requested

A breakdown of the public funding provided for the Edinburgh Festivals.

Response

Please see the information below which provides a breakdown of the funding for the festivals as per your request.

Looking at the festival funding in more detail, £2.3 million of support was used to help the major festivals, including the Fringe, International and Film Festivals to return strongly in their 75th anniversary year, through the Platform for Creative Excellence (PLACE) Resilience Fund. This was in addition to our continued £1 million match-funding with the City of Edinburgh Council for Year 5 of the Edinburgh Festivals PLACE programme. This builds on the critical success of events such as the Fringe Festival’s limited edition in 2021, which was able to go ahead through close working with clinicians and local authorities. In partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council, we have jointly made available £1.3 million (£1 million from Scottish Government and £300,000 from City of Edinburgh Council) via the Gateway process to coved Covid-mitigation costs for the Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival as part of the Gateway process in 2021.

We also provide a regular £2 million annual support to our EXPO schemes for festivals, which support the likes of the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival which has a global reputation for showcasing the very best in children’s theatre and dance productions from around the world. All the Edinburgh and Glasgow major festivals have collectively received just over £4 million [£4,096,146] of Scottish Government grant funding since the start of the pandemic through repurposed Expo funds, over 2 years (2020 – 22).

In addition, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society received a £1 million interest-free loan in 2020, a oneoff grant of £81,000 for festival resilience, and emergency funding grants through the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund £149,000, and the Pivotal Events Businesses Fund £150,000. Key Edinburgh Fringe venues and producers received £1,088,000 in Covid relief funding, in addition to Gateway funding, which is broken down below:

Pivotal Events Businesses Fund

• Assembly £150,000
• Gilded Balloon £150,000
• Underbelly £150,000
• Summerhall £150,000
• Pleasance £138,000

Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund

• Pleasance £100,000
• Underbelly £250,000

Individual festivals have also been supported through Scotland’s Events Recovery Fund which was led by EventScotland, with the Edinburgh Art Festival receiving £5,000, and Edinburgh International Children’s Festival receiving £25,000.

The following festivals have also received a total of £1,510,333 of funding through the Recovery Fund for Cultural Organisations as detailed below:

• Arts £82,311
• Imaginate £169,704
• Science £242,434
• Scottish International Storytelling Festival via Traditional Arts & Culture Scotland (TRACS)
• £92,733
• Jazz £210,032
• Hogmanay / Underbelly £111,914
• Celtic Connection via Glasgow Life £601,205

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