Edinburgh International Festival 'back to what we're used to' next year, vows Nicola Benedetti

The violinist said a strategy to increase the cost of tickets at the higher end of the scale to fund concessions aimed at opening up the festival to a wider audience had been successful, saying there had been an uptick in both sales volumes and revenue compared to 12 months ago.

And she insisted the EIF’s partnership with Baillie Gifford would continue beyond this year, despite backlash from pro-Palestine campaigners, who hit out at the Edinburgh fund manager over its investments in defence firm Babcock International. Ms Benedetti said the festival was “confident in our decision” to retain ties with Baillie Gifford.

Ms Benedetti said she wanted local authorities to make it easier to open up public spaces for cultural purposes - such as allowing this year’s EIF Big Singalong with Dougie MacLean in Princes Street Gardens. She said she hoped to gain access to Festival Square outside the Usher Hall in future years, for free, drop-in performances and a Fringe style street food and beverage offering.

The EIF director described the decision not to hold a major opening ceremony this year as “not a big loss”. However, she did not rule out its return in future, saying it could come back “possibly, but not necessarily”.

“It is not a big loss,” she said. “The power of each one of these moments is that you can only occupy the space you're in at that time. Everybody’s going to make choices and we're meant to be different every year. We're not meant to be a carbon copy and things that are predictable.

“All of our fundraising efforts are in full top gear and the festival, I'm confident will enter again, a period of growth and intensifying of presenting the world's greatest art.

“This year was a bit of an outlier because we did not know what funding we were getting. But I would say we should be back to a similar scale by next year to what we're used to.”

Today, on the eve of the EIF’s 2025 launch, ticket sales are already at 70 per cent - 11 per cent higher than the 59 per cent of tickets sold at the same time last year.

The festival is this year a “scaled-back” model, due to the uncertainty surrounding funding last year. There are a total of 133 performances scheduled for this year compared to 161 in 2024.

The grand opening event, which has previously included light projections and large-scale concerts at Edinburgh Castle, Tynecastle Park football stadium and the Usher Hall, has also been cancelled.

But the EIF will still boast a programme that includes more than 2,000 internationally renowned artists from across 42 nations.

This year’s festival has a tiered ticketing system with a focus on affordability and accessibility. A significant portion of tickets are priced at £30 or less. Every performance offers £10 tickets for those who need them.

Ms Benedetti said: “We've had an uptick in our in our sales, so everything for us is very much moving in the right direction. And some of that is programming choices, but some of it is also affordability.”

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The EIF was one of a number of organisations to receive multi-year funding from Creative Scotland in January. At the time, Ms Benedetti said she was “greatly relieved” to see the EIF's core funding increase from its annual grant of around £2.3m to £3.25m this year and £4.25m from next year.

However, she told The Scotsman a mix of funding sources was needed to maintain the festival and described the corporate partnership landscape as “very challenging”.

Last year, the Edinburgh International Book Festival was forced to end its partnership with Baillie Gifford, warning it was no longer able to deliver a “safe and successful” event amid “threats of disruption”. Meanwhile, the EIF has itself come under scrutiny from the Art Workers for Palestine Scotland movement due to its ties with the Edinburgh-based fund manager’s investments in Babcock International.

Ms Benedetti insisted the partnership with the fund manager would continue beyond this year amid a “continual dialogue” over ethics. She said there were “live discussions” with other companies over potential tie-ups.

“I think people have been put off entering into corporate partnerships with artistic organisations, given the the intensity of attack and backlash over the likes of Baillie Gifford,” she said.

“We scrutinise all of our partnerships and relationships on a continual basis, and that is a an open and active conversation between our staff and our board. But we're proud of the partners that we have working with us at the festival.”

She added: “We welcome the right corporate partners and will continue to seek that kind of portfolio fundraising, whether that is individual philanthropists and donors, whether it's statutory funding or trusts and foundations, or that of corporate partnerships.”

Ms Benedetti wants to open up Festival Square opposite the Usher Hall as a community space, with the “full kind of food and beverage experience”, as well as drop-in concerts. She called for authorities to make the process more straightforward.

“It's quite competitive and complicated for us, a charity that is trying to provide free access and cultural experiences that is available on a drop-in basis for the public,” she said. “The process of securing these spaces can be just arduous and time consuming and has a commercial, competitive feel to it.

“We want to work towards these spaces being as as available for that purpose as possible.”

Ms Benedetti said she believed collaboration between festivals was key, pointing out that members of the public did not visit only one festival.

“I think the public are not interested in which festival put on which,” she said. “You do have certain people who are just avid fans and followers of a particular festival. But for the majority of people, it is the eclecticism and the diversity of what's there that attracts them to the city, and that is what they celebrate and love so much, and that makes us the world festival city.”