It wasn’t built in a day: How the Edinburgh Festival came about…
Many of us who have been working towards transforming Chiang Mai into a festival city, are more than aware that creating a city-wide grounds-up cluster of festivals is a Herculean feat. Those of us who are committed to supporting this ambitious initiative have, among other models, taken inspiration from and look towards Edinburgh’s approach to help guide Chiang Mai.
It is important to understand that the success of Edinburgh took not just years, but decades in its making and required a shared vision, if a variety of strategies, by each group, organisation, sector or persons involved.
It all began in 1947 with the founding of the Edinburgh International Festival by a Rudolf Bing, a refugee to the United Kingdom post war. The aim was to promote healing and unity after World War Two through global performing arts. While casting his eyes across war-bombed UK, he found that most cities didn’t think that they were up for such a challenge.
Serendipitously, Edinburgh, a city with an almost stage-like cityscape, lifted its hand and said, “aye”. International acts were curated and invited and year on year the festival attracted more visitors and garnered wider support. Seeing such success, many uninvited groups also began to arrive, living and performing on the fringes of the main festival. These self-funding groups lead to the spontaneous birth of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which was the true driving force of how Edinburgh eventually became a festival city.
The fringe festivals with their eclectic and independent shows and performances spoke to the grass roots residents of Edinburgh. While the more high-brow productions supported by philanthropists and high net worth sponsors put on by the main festival lent legitimacy and prestige to the city. It was soon realised that both offered the Scottish city great value, and in 1958 the Fringe Society was formed to uphold the Fringe’s values of inclusivity, experimentation and imagination. The Fringe Festival is not curated and is all self funded, allowing anyone from a taxi driver with aspirations to be an opera singer to a school dance troupe to carve out space to perform; sinking or swimming at their own risk. Over the years some of the world’s most famous talent has been found on Edinburgh’s fringes—Hugh Laurie, Dame Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Rachel Weisz, Dame Judi Dench, Rowan Atkinson, Alan Rickman, Graham Norton, Russel Brand, Robin Williams, and Jude Law.
Over the decades, corporate-funded festivals began to pop up to take advantage of the ever-increasing interest in the festivals. Today six large festivals jostle for space in Edinburgh city every August. There is the Edinburgh International Festival, a celebration of arts, showcasing world class music, opera, dance and theatre, funded mainly by governments—the United Kingdom’s as well as dozens of others from around the world hoping to showcase their own performing arts. The Festival Fringe which has open access and is members driven, meaning if you wish to put on a performance go ahead, but you will have to do so at your own risk…and reward. Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, a hugely famous spectacle held at Edinburgh Castle nightly featuring military musicians and performances from many countries, this event has proven to be a great ambassador of Scottish culture. Edinburgh International Book Festival, a major literary event which receives most of its funding from Creative Scotland, an agency which distributes funding for the arts while receiving funding from the Scottish National Government and the National Lottery, celebrating Edinburgh’s status as a UNESCO City of Literature. And the Edinburgh Art Festival which features exhibitions and events across the city and receives its funding from both the Scottish Government and the City of Edinburgh Council.
Each festival is independent, and for it all to work seamlessly over a short period of time each year, each festival offers up one vote on a council. While some festivals are wealthier and larger than others, they each have one equal vote when it comes to making shared decisions. The Fringe, for instance, has little to no funding as its performers need to do their own marketing, find their own venue, sell their own tickets and create their own audience, while the Military Tattoo is funded with the deep pockets of corporations as well as selling tickets at giddying cost.
A multitude of councils, agencies and groups are then set up to support what is the world’s largest cultural event which sells more tickets than any other event in the world except for the Olympics and the Football World Cup. A committee is set up to ensure important events don’t clash, another to oversee traffic flow, yet another to offer a fair sharing of venue locations and spaces, yet another to oversee ticket bookings. There are organisations set up to take cultural events on tour around rural Scotland so that everyone can access the arts. There are others which decide on how to use income from the festivals to promote the next generations of talent and creativity. There are those working to ensure the old town that is the UNESCO World Heritage Site isn’t negatively affected by the festivals. And others looking to capitalise on the festival’s success in driving tourism to and business to Scotland. The festivals have spawned industries.
While festivals are independent, Edinburgh has learnt through experience not to waste resources, instead sharing them for maximum benefit with other major players including the city which has to manage systems such as garbage collection and traffic management. The city also has the privilege of collecting venue licences, charging 300 pounds per venue, which goes into the city coffers. Anything can potentially be a venue if it complies to regulations set by the city; even a collection of toilets one year were used as a show location.
Edinburgh has long been a seat of learning and its many universities are highly involved in the festivals, not only creating subjects and degrees for students to graduate from and head straight into the festival industries, but also as landlords of both venues and accommodation. As dorms empty of students for the summer, they fill up with visitors and performers. Some students even stay on over the period to earn money working in the festivals.
Citylife will continue this series over the coming months, expanding on the roles played to b ring about such an ambitious annual event.
See the VDO here https://youtu.be/BA1nQiitK8g
