Impact of unique Festivals programme revealed
24 July 2025
A significant increase in cultural partnerships and community engagement has been revealed in a new Edinburgh Festivals Impact Study.
The Study highlights the positive impact of the Platforms for Creative Excellence (PlaCE) programme - a partnership between the Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Festivals, and administered by Creative Scotland.
The Programme, launched in 2018 as a legacy of the Edinburgh Festivals’ 70th anniversary, was created to strengthen the festivals’ impact across Scotland’s cultural landscape, with a focus on deepening partnerships, fostering creative innovation, expanding opportunities for emerging talent, and deepening engagement with underserved communities.
Despite the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic, the independent evaluation conducted by BOP Consulting underscores the programme’s positive impact. Highlights include:
- 733 co-created projects developed over the course of the programme
- Community group engagement surged from 64 to 377 participating groups
- Total community participation reached 75,972 individuals
- School engagement expanded significantly, increasing from 497 to 694 schools
Commenting, Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary said: “Making sure Scotland’s festivals reach as wide an audience as possible, both here and abroad, was a key goal for the PlaCE programme and joint partnership with City of Edinburgh Council. These fantastic figures demonstrate just how well it did in broadening engagement with communities and schools and deepening links within the cultural sector. We expect this reach to expand even further through the EXPO Festival Fund, which forms part of the record £4 million increase for festivals in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget. We’re working closely with the sector through the Strategic Festivals Partnership to inform our next steps so communities across Scotland benefit from our world-class festivals for years to come.”
The study also contains a ‘playbook’ of recommendations for shaping future cultural programmes, emphasising sustainability, clarity and collaboration:
- Beginning Programme design with clearly defined objectives and intended outcomes
- Securing longer-term funding to foster stronger, more resilient collaborative partnerships
- Building flexibility into funding models to enhance adaptability and increase the likelihood of success
- Recognising that effective partnership-building through grant mechanisms requires dedicated time and resources to take root
- Acknowledging the importance of supporting core human resources as a vital component within programme funding
- Streamlining reporting processes, particularly when programmes are supported by multiple funders with varying requirements
Lori Anderson, Director Festivals Edinburgh said: “The success of this unique cultural partnership between Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council, and Edinburgh Festivals, which delivered enormous benefits for both creatives and communities, shows what can be achieved when such programmes have a clear common goal, sustained investment, and flexibility of funding – and there is no doubt that the report’s ‘playbook’ can become a useful guide for the development of future cultural programmes across Scotland.”
City of Edinburgh Council Leader Jane Meagher added: “The success of the PlaCE programme, and the partnership behind it, is clear from these impressive figures. The cultural sector is the lifeblood of Edinburgh’s Festivals, and engaging closely with communities is so important to the festivals’ legacy, so I’m delighted that this programme is making a difference in both areas. We’ll continue to build on this work as we look to the future of Edinburgh’s Festivals, and now other organisations will be able to draw from the lessons learned over the last seven years.”