Edinburgh reveals plans for city-wide arts and culture shake-up by 2030

A new culture vision for Edinburgh is expected to see the environmental impact of events reduced, pressure on the city centre eased, and historic art collections showcased across more of the Scottish capital.

New hubs with links to city centre venues are expected to be created across the city over the next eight years to help meet an ambition of ensuring that everyone in Edinburgh has easy access to “meaningful” experiences.

The new 2030 culture vision, which is aimed at ensuring Edinburgh retains its crown as a "world-leading cultural capital”, envisages the arts being “embedded" in a network of 20-minute neighbourhood areas.

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A review of all council buildings will explore ways of expanding the city’s cultural offering, while the council will examine how to make its own museums and galleries collection, which includes more than 200,000 objects, accessible at more locations.

A new 2030 vision aimed at shaping Edinburgh's cultural sector over the next eight years has been published. Picture: Kenny Lam/VisitScotlandA new 2030 vision aimed at shaping Edinburgh's cultural sector over the next eight years has been published. Picture: Kenny Lam/VisitScotland
A new 2030 vision aimed at shaping Edinburgh's cultural sector over the next eight years has been published. Picture: Kenny Lam/VisitScotland

Developed with arts organisations, the blueprint suggests Edinburgh’s proposed tourist tax could be used to help develop new infrastructure and commits the city to ensure green spaces are “respected.”

Arts organisations will be encouraged to make their boards more diverse, peg ticket prices as affordable as possible, and ensure volunteers and interns “feel valued and treated fairly”.

The new blueprint, aimed at shaping the sector’s recovery from the impact of the Covid pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, has emerged after the collapse of the Filmhouse and the film festival, moves by the book festival to cut jobs and scale back its programme, and the temporary closure of a National Galleries attraction.

The 2030 vision highlights how cultural organisations and venues have had “little or no income for over two years and are struggling to stay afloat financially, rebuild staff teams, rethink business models, and redesign their offers”.

The transformation of the old Royal High School in Edinburgh is expected to be one of the most significant cultural projects in the city over the next eight years. Image: Richard Murphy ArchitectsThe transformation of the old Royal High School in Edinburgh is expected to be one of the most significant cultural projects in the city over the next eight years. Image: Richard Murphy Architects
The transformation of the old Royal High School in Edinburgh is expected to be one of the most significant cultural projects in the city over the next eight years. Image: Richard Murphy Architects

The blueprint states: “It is likely that continued change and unpredictability will be constants for the foreseeable future. The priorities for the council must be to find ways in which it can continue to support the cultural ecology of Edinburgh with ambition and integrity to retain its position as an international focal point for creativity, and to ensure that all residents have equitable access.

"Delivering on these priorities will involve navigating several considerable challenges, some specific to Edinburgh and some being felt nationally.

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”There is a concentration of cultural provision in the city centre, leading to many other areas feeling neglected and less valued, and to high peak concentrations of people with a consequential negative environmental impact in the city centre.

“Great care needs to be taken to manage this and balance the responsibilities of a welcoming host with care for residents and the environment. Equally, public finances are forecast to be very constrained over the next four years and philanthropic giving is becoming increasingly competitive.

“These financial pressures are taking place against a background of significant inflationary pressures that will affect everyone, but will be felt most acutely by the least well-off and most vulnerable.”

Val Walker, the city council’s culture convener, said: “The pandemic had a massive impact on this sector, but also meant creative minds have been hard at work to reappraise long-term challenges as well as look for new opportunities.

"It’s exciting that we’re finding new ways of working to reach existing and new audiences and support career development of those in the sector.”

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