Science Festival faces axe as council gets set to slash funding

Published on Friday 27 November 2009 08:40

EDINBURGH'S Science Festival could be scrapped if council chiefs go ahead with a threatened 20 per cent cut in funding.

Staff are expected to be laid off within weeks, it was reported today.

Organisers of the festival, first staged 21 years ago, warned its "very existence" from next year onwards was in serious doubt.

The proposed cut in funding has emerged after months of talks between councillors and senior officials to identify some 90 million of savings over the next three years.

All the city's festivals face a funding squeeze over the next few years due to problems raising sponsorship and public funding cuts.

The Science Festival is said to have been singled out due to its relatively low profile compared to the film festival, the Fringe and the International Festival.

Labour councillor Gordon Munro said: "This does show that the city is truly in the hands of philistines. The Science Festival has given the city exposure all over the world and has given great return for the funding it has had."

The two-week festival, launched in 1989, was the world's first celebration of science and technology, and it is one of the largest of its kind in Europe.

It is the biggest event in the Capital during the first five months of the year, worth an estimated 2m to the Capital's economy.

This year's was hailed as the most successful ever, with more than 68,000 visitors enjoying a programme which included the world's most humanoid robot and Richard Dawkins speaking on Charles Darwin.

However, councillors are said to be unsure of the value for money the city gets for the 165,000 annual grant.

A final decision on funding is not due until February, but festival officials want council chiefs to rule out the 20 per cent cut as soon as possible to secure the event's future.

In a letter to the council, David Milne, chairman of the festival, said: "We are extremely disappointed that a recommendation has been made to reduce the festival's funding by 20 per cent.

"The council's grant supports the infrastructure of the organisation – the staff to devise the events and raise sponsorship and grants. Six people run the festival and it needs this number of staff to raise sufficient external money to operate sustainably.

"This reduction will impact upon us this year, affecting the delivery of the 2010 programme. The impact in 2010-11 would be more severe and would open a gap in funding which the board may feel cannot be made up from elsewhere and would threaten the very existence of the festival."

City finance leader Phil Wheeler said: "We are facing extremely tough budget decisions. Our focus must be to protect essential frontline services."