£5m public boost for Festival to beat credit crunch costs

Published on Friday 13 February 2009 00:06

PUBLIC funding for the Edinburgh International Festival is set to top £5 million for the first time, The Scotsman has learned.

It emerged yesterday that director Jonathan Mills has secured yet another huge boost for the festival's coffers after winning almost another 300,000 for this year's event.

The festival has just brokered an extra 200,000 deal brokered to help organisers combat the impact of the economic downturn. It has already been granted 100,000 from the Scottish Government's Homecoming fund.

But now the city council, the Scottish Arts Council and the Scottish Government have agreed to put up a further 180,000 to deal with extra costs predicted by the festival because of the credit crunch and the slump in the pound over the last 12 months.

The Scotsman can reveal a further 100,000 in additional funding has been earmarked by the city council for other festivals in the city, including the Fringe, the film festival and the book festival. Funding of 800,000 for the winter festivals has been held at 800,000.

Although a 250,000 rescue package for the Fringe was announced in November, the city council only agreed a 125,000 loan at that point.

The EIF won a record 4.7 million in public funding last year, up 600,000 from the previous year, after Mr Mills threatened to cut back the festival's programme if it did not receive greater backing.

Half of the festival's public funding comes from the city council, with the rest being made up by the Scottish Arts Council, the Scottish Government and EventScotland.

Its public funding will almost certainly top 5 million if it receives a similar injection from the Scottish Government's festivals EXPO fund .

That was the EIF's share of a 1.3 million cash pot made available by the government in the first year of the new scheme. Some 4.7 million is expected to be allocated through the EXPO fund over the next two years.

Steve Cardownie, the city council's deputy leader, said: "We did provide additional funding for the International Festival last year to improve its programme and, unlike in previous years, it was brought in on budget and there were improved ticket sales.

"There has been a request for additional funding again and these costs are shared between the council and the government."

A spokeswoman for the EIF said: "We have basically requested the same level of funding as last year, with a slight increase to reflect inflationary pressures and the current value of the pound, as this means the festival will have to pay more to bring performers in from overseas."