Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Number 2 | Page 30

In ����, Rudolf Bing was seeking ways to revive the dwindling post-war
fortunes of Glyndebourne Festival Opera, of which he was a co-founder. A
British arts festival, which would give it an alternative platform and a source
of funds, was proposed, with the accompanying ideal of using international
cultural communication to help to heal the rifts and divisions of post-war
Europe. Oxford, Bath, Cambridge, Chester, and Canterbury were considered
but ultimately rejected. Then, Bing had dinner with Henry Harvey Wood,
then the British Council’s Scottish representative, and was presented with
the idea of using Edinburgh. The first Edinburgh International Festival
took place � years later, with Fringe events springing up around it which
would eventually spawn the behemoth that we know today. In the same year,
the Edinburgh Film Guild, in response to the fact that the International
Festival had excluded cinema from its offering, launched the Film Festival,
which would expand from showing solely documentaries at its inception to
embracing fiction film of all genres and origins in later decades. Over those
decades, the International, or Official Festival, the Film Festival and the
Fringe have been joined by numerous others: the Book Festival, the Winter
Festivals including Hogmanay, the Science Festival, the Military Tattoo, the
Storytelling Festival, the Imaginate children’s festival, and the Art Festival.
All human life is acted out in Edinburgh. But as with lived human life,
controversy and challenges are never far away. While they may be seen
as the lucky few by outsiders, these insider festivals often face their own
considerable challenges: high expectations bring high costs, and a prominent
public profile means unstinting openness to critique. The vulnerability of
culture year-round is often a driver of criticism for events seen as occupying
a position of undue privilege. For instance, Edinburgh City Council’s yearround
noise regulations and licensing for music events are much more
stringent compared to its flexibility where events in August are concerned.
The position of Scotland within the UK is a further source of sensitivity:
Sir Jonathan Mills, the former Artistic Director of the International Festival,
drew some criticism for deciding that his festival in ���� would not directly
engage the Scottish independence referendum.
Opprobrium reliably attends the appointment of Festival directors who come
from outwith Scotland. The removal of the UK from the European Union
after the ���� Brexit vote will cast its long shadow over ��th anniversary
proceedings the summer of ����; you can bet that the irony of the Festival
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