Edinburgh festival faces uncertain future - organisers

Nicola Benedetti took over the running of the festival in 2022

The Edinburgh International Festival faces an "uncertain" future until it hears about funding, organisers have said.

The event - part of the wider Edinburgh festival that takes place every August - has not yet had funding commitments confirmed from arts body Creative Scotland.

Organisers say its public funding has declined by around 40% in the past decade while running costs have soared by 200%.

It comes as the opening events for next year's festival are revealed, with festival director Nicola Benedetti announcing the 2025 theme will be The Truth We Seek.

Among the planned concerts - based around exploring people's relationship with the truth - are the world premiere of Scottish Ballet's Mary, Queen Of Scots, which explores the stories around the monarch's life and legacy from the perspective of Elizabeth I.

It will also see the European premiere of a "bold re-imagining" of Orpheus And Eurydice by Australian Opera, featuring acrobatic artistry by circus ensemble Circa and performances by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Opera Chorus.

US-based National Youth Orchestra 2 will also make their European debut at the festival.

Performers rehearsing Orpheus and Eurydice by Australian Opera

However a three-night gala opening event has been dropped. In recent years this has involved special concerts like the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra performing film music at Tynecastle stadium.

An spokesperson for the festival said: "Like hundreds of other organisations across Scotland, we face uncertainty as we await the results of Creative Scotland’s MYF decisions, which were delayed to align with the Scottish government’s budgetary process.

"Our public funding has reduced by around 40% in 10 years. We have increased fundraising by 200% in that time, but our costs have also increased by 200%.

"High inflation, rising costs and 17 years 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."

Ms Benedetti told the Scotsman newspaper that the festival, which takes place from 1-24 August, was being "squeezed".

The award-winning violinist has regularly warned of difficulties facing Scotland's cultural sector.

The National Youth Orchestra 2 will make their European debut next August

A decision on funding for the next three years had been expected last month.

However that has been postponed until January, less than two months before the full programme launches, as Creative Scotland will not know its budget until after the Scottish budget in December.

The Scottish government previously said it hoped to increase arts funding in 2025/26.