Leith Festival in plea for financial backing

Published on Friday 24 April 2009 01:55

ORGANISERS of one of Scotland's main community festivals have pleaded for greater public funding after the eleventh-hour withdrawal of its main financial backer.

Leith Festival has been running for more than 100 years, but organisers say the future of the event is in doubt because it receives such a small subsidy.

The festival, which has expanded over the past five years and is now held across 50 venues, has lost a sponsorship deal with troubled property giant Forth Ports. The 10,000 deal has been scrapped just weeks after the firm pulled out backing of the Mela, Scotland's major multicultural festival.

As details of this year's festival were unveiled yesterday, organisers said their ambitions to grow and develop the event needed better backing from funders such as the city council and the Scottish Arts Council.

This year's event is backed to the tune of 5,000 by both organisations, while the council's tram company is contributing another 3,000.

It is hoped this year's festival will deliver a much-needed boost to the Leith area in the wake of widespread disruption caused by tramworks. But the festival's council grant is the same as it was in 2002 when it boasted just 25 events.

Artistic director John Paul McGroarty said: "We have now reached the stage where we are outgrowing the venues that we use. We want to do a lot more in terms of programming our own shows, but we need core funding to do that."