Future of art and festivals is at risk amid funding pressure, Fringe chief warns
THE future of the Edinburgh Festivals are at risk if the UK continues down the path of cuts to arts education, Fringe bosses have warned.
As the Edinburgh Festival Fringe comes to a close again, the society’s chief executive Shona Mccarthy has penned an open letter addressing concerns organisers have about the arts sector.
In the letter, she wrote that a number of issues, including the rising cost of living, accommodation, funding cuts, and more is having a detrimental impact on artist’s ability to produce work and perform.
While the festival has been labelled a success this year, with 2.6 million tickets issued and thousands of shows across multiple venues in the city, Ms Mccarthy said it cannot be used to “mask the struggle for artists to emerge let alone thrive in the UK right now.”
Her overall message was “there is no Fringe without art. There is no art without artists”.
The Fringe boss described the current situation for artists in the UK as of “great concern” and said the importance of funding to keep up the annual celebration of artists, venues, producers and promotors all of which took a huge financial risk to entertain – cannot be understated.
It comes after arts body Creative Scotland announced it was closing its Open Fund for Individuals to new applications as the Scottish Government has been unable to confirm if £6.6 million of funding would be released to the arts organisation.
In Shona Mccarthy’s open letter, she takes aim at policymakers and warned that they should not become complacent over the festival’s success.
She wrote: “The cumulative effect of the relentless rise in the cost of everything, and an unhelpful policy environment facing the arts sector has resulted in widespread concern that is keenly felt by artists.
“From the availability of affordable accommodation, blunt policy changes which have consequences for major events, to continuous public sector cuts; we need to ensure that the hard-won and fragile success isn’t met with complacency by those who can influence change.
“It is not enough to have old stories of how important Edinburgh’s festivals were in providing healing and connection after the Second World War. They are important now, contributing hugely to health, well-being, joy and job creation.”
This year 3,746 shows were registered at the Fringe, with 60 countries represented, and 900 media outlets from 27 countries.