Edinburgh Festivals: Cultural and Economic Contribution

Debate between Clive Efford and Chris Murray

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Chris Murray (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford, and I am very grateful to the House for allowing me to have this debate today.

I have three purposes for calling the debate. First, I want to draw attention to the economic and cultural phenomenon that has developed in Edinburgh. Secondly, I want to talk about the challenges and opportunities that the Edinburgh festivals face, and how there is a clear role for public policy. Thirdly, I will argue that it is not just about what the Government can do to support the Edinburgh festivals, but what the Edinburgh festivals can do to help the Government achieve their goals for the country at large of economic growth, breaking down barriers to opportunity and establishing Britain’s place in the world.

The Edinburgh festivals and Fringe are not simply a highlight in my city’s annual calendar, or an attraction to lure some tourists for the month of August. In August, Edinburgh becomes the cultural capital of the world. The gathering of creative talent and cultural wealth is truly unique. The Edinburgh festivals and Fringe did not happen by accident. Years, indeed decades, of painstaking commitment have led to the phenomenon we see today—not least in recent years, with a pandemic, Brexit uncertainty, and a cost of living crisis, which is also a cost of putting on a show crisis.

The Edinburgh international festival started in 1947, when Europe was emerging from the shadow of war. The German venues that had previously played host to opera and classical music festivals were closed. Edinburgh, undamaged by bombing, with stunning scenery and spectacular venues, was a perfect location to bring people together. Indeed, in the years after the war, the international festival was twice nominated for the Nobel peace prize for its work bringing people together. At the same time, a group of acts that were uninvited to the official festival pitched up anyway and performed in the city. They were described as performing “on the fringe”, so the Edinburgh Fringe was born. We politicians have just come from our party conferences, with a hive of activity on the conference fringe, but the very concept of a fringe event comes from Edinburgh. Ours, I have to say, is more glamorous than the political version.

But that was then. Today, the Edinburgh festivals and Fringe are the third biggest ticketed event in the world. Edinburgh puts on an event on the scale of the FIFA world cup or the Olympic games every year. I think we have become numb, through familiarity, to the scale of what has been achieved. We are talking about 4,000 shows that attract an audience of 3.5 million and over 300 venues across the city, ranging from the Usher Hall to basement comedy clubs. It is a phenomenon, truly unique and exceptional in scale.

What started in the 1940s as the international festival and Fringe has now grown into the biggest cultural gathering in the world. It includes the Edinburgh book festival, the world’s largest literature festival; the Edinburgh film festival, the world’s longest-running film festival; the Edinburgh military tattoo, an iconic celebration of one of Scotland’s biggest cultural brands; the jazz festival, the biggest of its kind in the UK; the television festival, with its agenda-setting Mactaggart lecture; and the arts, children’s, storytelling, and science festivals.

Other countries take years to plan, and millions in public money, to put on events at such a scale. The Paris Olympics this year attracted 20,000 participants to its one-off event. The Edinburgh festivals attracted double that—and we do it every year. The scale is impressive, but I argue it is important for two reasons. The first is economic. It not only generates £400 million in economic impact, creates a supply chain of £15 million for 800 businesses, of which 97% are based in the UK and 80% are small and medium-sized enterprises, and represents incredible public investment, with £33 generated for every £1 invested by the public purse—it also creates an economic ecosystem. We may not get that one emblematic, televised moment of an Olympic opening ceremony, but that moment is attenuated throughout the year, every time we watch a comedy show, drama or talent that was incubated in Edinburgh.

Think of the Fringe: it is not just an attraction for audiences to watch shows, but the global trade fair for comedy and the arts. New shows, new materials and new acts show off their wares and get snapped up. We just get to watch. The UK is a cultural powerhouse, and our cultural and creative sectors can thrive in the way that they do because we have the Edinburgh festivals and Fringe operating at this capacity in our country. On that note, I am sad to see that today the Fringe’s chief executive, Shona McCarthy, is stepping down after nine years. She has done an incredible job in Edinburgh, and we wish her well.

Secondly, the festivals put Edinburgh on the global plane, and Britain needs cities operating at that level. Edinburgh has the raw material to thrive in the 21st century: we have a thriving university sector, with world-class clusters in research and development, IT and biotech; we have the energy transition on our doorstep; we have a dynamic financial services sector; and we have a world-class tourism offer. When we add the festivals and Fringe, Edinburgh’s potential moves to that of the top tier of global cities, ranking like a British San Francisco.

I have not secured this debate to extol the benefits of my city, although, as I think you can tell, Mr Efford, I could do that at length. My argument today is that there is a role for Government, and I want to make five points about the role of public policy.

First: funding. I am not asking for more money, per se—although that would be welcome—but I do argue that the Edinburgh festivals need economic stability and the ability to plan. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has said that she plans to move to multi-annual budgeting; no sector would benefit more from that than the creative sector. Will the new Government be exploring how to leverage economic stability and multi-annual financial planning to support the arts?

Secondly: recognition. I have tried to set out how the Edinburgh festivals are a national jewel. We value our cultural sector in Britain and we know how much institutions such as Wimbledon, the premier league, the Proms and the Edinburgh festivals set us apart. No Government would let those fail, so is it right that we make the Edinburgh festivals compete for funding like any and all creative ventures? Is it fair on any arts project, big or small?

Thirdly: cross-UK engagement. Cultural policy is devolved, quite properly, and you will find no greater defender of devolution and the importance of respecting the status of the Scottish Parliament than I, but, with the election of a UK Labour Government, I hope that we are moving to a less antagonistic, more constructive relationship. There have been some failings in Scottish Government policy on culture in recent years, such as the ongoing debacle in Creative Scotland and the fact that, in just nine months, the Scottish Government published an absurd 10 strategies on culture, but I hope that the new Government will work as constructively as they can with the Scottish Government to support the festivals.

I would also say that to see the festivals thrive we need a constructive relationship between UK, Scottish and local governments. Edinburgh puts on a show of this size every year, yet, per capita, it is the poorest-funded local authority in Scotland. Council budgets are severely overstretched, as disproportionate cuts are passed from Holyrood to the city chambers. That means that the People’s Story Museum in my constituency, which tells the story of working class history, is currently temporarily closed, and it means that the Brunton theatre in the Musselburgh part of my seat is also closed. I know that the Minister has no responsibility for that, but it is important to set it on the record when we talk about culture in Edinburgh.

Fourthly: visas. The festivals depend on artists and technicians coming from overseas, but the process is cumbersome, expensive and, most dangerous of all, unpredictable. Can the Department for Culture, Media and Sport work with the Home Office to explore ideas, such as those set out by the festivals visa working group, to navigate that?

Finally: crisis support. This year the Edinburgh book festival, the world’s biggest book festival, lost its funding from Baillie Gifford, the investment firm, after a campaign by Fossil Free Books. I do not wish to rehash that affair here, save to say that although I fully support tackling climate change, I am unconvinced that defunding a book festival is the way to go about it. Is there something we can learn from that episode? In this country, the cultural sector depends on philanthropy as well as public investment. Is there a way that DCMS can help book festivals, or indeed any festival, navigate the controversies that can abruptly arise in the social media age? I know that the new Government are fully committed to seeing the cultural and creative sectors thrive, so I would be grateful if they could undertake to give these issues some consideration.

It is important that Parliament recognises that other countries would give their eye teeth to have what Edinburgh has established in the past 75 years. We fail to polish the cultural jewels in our crown at our peril. We have an opportunity. The potential for the festivals to thrive is right in front of us. The Fringe is opening a new home in the Old Infirmary and the Dunard Centre will add a new modern concert hall to the city’s venues, but the support of public policy is necessary to achieve that.

Think back to the 18th century. Some argue that the reason Edinburgh became a leading city of the enlightenment was the structure of the old town. Nobles, artisans, middle-class professionals, skilled and unskilled workers lived cheek by jowl on top of each other in the old town’s tenements. That created the incubator where debates and ideas could thrive, and that is how the enlightenment took hold there. Today we have a similar phenomenon, from the most avant-garde and edgy Fringe performances trying something new to the international festival and the best classical music performances in the world, with the world’s biggest literature festival discussing the most salient ideas of our time in the same place at the same time. It is in this petri dish that humanity hatches and nurtures the creativity that can drive our economy and our society in the years ahead. That is why I called this debate to discuss the power of the Edinburgh festivals.

[Clive Efford (in the Chair)]

Order. I remind Members that they should stand if they intend to contribute to a debate.