Nicola Benedetti reveals 'heartbreaking' cuts for Edinburgh International Festival over funding limbo

Nicola Benedetti has been director of the Edinburgh International Festival since 2022. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Nicola Benedetti has revealed the Edinburgh International Festival has had to impose "heartbreaking" cuts to its programme for next year after being left in limbo over its Scottish Government funding.

The violinist, who is the first Scottish director of the event, said all aspects of its 2025 programme have had to be "squeezed" due to uncertainty over its public funding.

Ms Benedetti revealed the festival had been forced to drop its large-scale opening event, which has been a fixture of its programming over the last decade, because it can no longer afford to pay for it.

The number of concerts in the Usher Hall, which has been a cornerstone of the festival since its launch in 1947, is also expected to be significantly scaled back.

However the festival has been able to announce a number of productions, include the world premiere of a new Scottish Ballet production inspired by Mary, Queen of Scots, and a reimagined Australian version of the opera Orpheus and Eurydice, which will feature performers from Opera Queensland and acrobats from Fringe favourites Circa.

Nicola Benedetti is the current director of the Edinburgh International Festival. Picture: John Devlin

The festival, which has staged recent curtain-raisers in the grounds of George Heriot's School, Tynecastle Park, Princes Street Gardens and Murrayfield - has already abandoned its traditional fireworks finale due to a lack of funding.

The cuts for next year's event have emerged after EIF chief executive Francesca Hegyi warned in August that the EIF was having to "plan for the worst" for 2025 and beyond due to a lack of clarity over its public funding.

She said at the time: "We are looking at a scenario in Scotland where there is a festival scene and a cultural sector which will be unrecognisable compared to what we have known, that so many people have spent decades building up."

Performers from Australia and Scotland appeared in the Edinburgh International Festival's free curtainraiser MACRO at Murrayfield Stadium in 2022. Picture: Andrew Perry

The EIF, which has had around £2.5m in Scottish Government funding in recent years, had expected to get a decision from Creative Scotland last month on a funding application for the next three festivals.

But, along with 280 other festivals, venues and organisations that have applied for long-term Scottish Government funding, the EIF will not get a decision until the end of January, less than two months before its programme launch.

When Ms Benedetti was unveiled as EIF director, then First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said: "The Edinburgh International Festival has a worldwide reputation for its excellent work in bringing world-leading artists together, celebrating the performing arts, and promoting Scotland’s rich culture and heritage to an international audience."

A dress rehearsal of the show Macro ahead of the opening night of the Edinburgh International Festival at Murrayfield in 2022. (Picture: Andrew Perry)

However Ms Benedetti has since raised repeated concerns about the level of public funding for the festival, which is said to have remained at a "standstill" for 17 years.

Asked how the festival was able to plan ahead for next year's event given the uncertainty over its future funding, Ms Benedetti said: "We have had to programme a reduced festival for 2025, which has been difficult.

"We will not be presenting our full programme until March, so I can't be too specific, but there has been a squeezing of the festival on all fronts.

"We are not going to have an opening event, for example. The number of Usher Hall performances we are presenting will be reduced.

"I understand the broader climate that we are operating within, the pressures around the cost of living and jobs, the grappling of vast shifts around budget and political reform.

"There is a lot going on, but that is not to diminish our plight and how we are striving to get our festival to where it needs to be.

“We have an ambition and a plan for growth for our festival. Given the weight that we punch at internationally in terms of our quality and level, our festival should be operating to a far higher budget.

"It is heartbreaking for us to be presenting a reduced festival. But we live in Scotland, we live in the UK. We have got to be cognisant of where we are. We have to protect the festival for the long-term, which is what we're focused on doing.”

The EIF is one of a number of major festivals which has had long-term Scottish Government funding in recent years.

Creative Scotland was due to decide on applications worth £87.5 in annual funding last month but was told at the beginning of October that it would not get an overall budget for the forthcoming financial year until December.

Ms Benedetti added: "We have asked for a significant uplift. We have seen a 40 per cent real-terms downturn (over the last decade) in what we have to work with.

"What we're asking for is for us to be able to operate at a slightly higher level. The figure looks like a lot because of the real-terms rise in costs.

"If the festival had got what it asked for last month there were levers in place which we would have been able to pull in order to present a larger festival next year.

"We would have missed the boat on some things, in terms of international artists, but there are certain things which we’d have been able to do that late in the day.

"Our whole industry is on hiatus at the moment. We’re literally all waiting for results. When we get them, it will be for the next three years, so everyone will at least know what they’re working with.

"But the counter to that has been continuous delays and a funding climate that has felt ever more precarious. Something has clearly gone wrong when (decision) deadlines have been missed by months."

A spokesperson for the EIF said: “"Like hundreds of other organisations across Scotland, we face uncertainty as we await the results of Creative Scotland’s multi-year funding decisions, which were delayed to align with the Scottish Government’s budgetary process.

"High inflation, rising costs and over a decade of standstill funding has placed all arts and culture organisations across the country in tough and uncertain circumstances and multi-year funding commitments are critical to enable us to plan ahead. 

"The funding is vital to maintain Edinburgh’s position as a cultural capital and connect Scotland to people and cultures from around the world, supporting our national cultural eco-system as well as the economy."

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “The cultural sector is integral to Scotland’s identity as a country.

“That’s why we remain committed to investing at least £100 million more annually in the sector by 2028-29, despite the UK Budget providing no additional funding for culture.

“Further details will be set out in the Scottish Budget on 4 December, but it remains our aim to provide a further increase for arts and culture in 2025-26, which will inform Creative Scotland’s multi-year funding awards in January.”