Tartan Week lets US check out festivals

Published on Tuesday 30 January 2007 10:28

A MAJOR drive to promote Edinburgh's festivals is to be staged in New York as part of Tartan Week this year.

Show producers, performers, tour operators and international media are to be targeted through a string of events.

The city council and the Fringe have secured 70,000 in funding from the Scottish Executive for a dedicated programme during America's annual celebration of Scotland in April.

It will include a showcase Fringe event, featuring performers from the US and the UK, a reception promoting Edinburgh as a festival and event city, and a chance to quiz festival organisers on bringing a show to the city.

The initiative will be the first overseas drive to promote all of the city's festivals and comes on the back of the Thundering Hooves report, which warned that Edinburgh faces growing competition from rival cities vying to steal the city's cultural crown.

Edinburgh's Lord Provost Lesley Hinds said: "We plan to raise the profile of Edinburgh and its festivals to a US audience of travel agents and travel writers.

"We have such a unique and fantastic product in Edinburgh. We want to show that we have more than the well-known backdrop of the Castle and other beautiful architecture."