Edinburgh City Festivals

Festivals Edinburgh is a strategic umbrella organisation focused on over-arching areas of mutual interest. Its sole focus is to maintain and develop the value of the Festivals’ and the Festival City’s leading position locally and globally, via major collaborative projects and strategic initiatives.

What is Festivals Edinburgh?

All of our work is dependent on a strong commitment to collaborative working and on a sense of shared ambition and responsibility across all our member festivals. The Festivals Edinburgh Board is made up of the Festival CEOs or Directors; and each Festivals Edinburgh workstrand is directed and supported by collaborative working groups comprising of staff members from the Festivals themselves.

At the time of its founding in 2007, the then Director Faith Liddell worked 2 days a week. As of 2024, the organisation employs 6 staff, including current Director Lori Anderson. Festivals Edinburgh is currently funded by subscriptions from our member festivals and project funding from a variety of public or private sector support.

How did Festivals Edinburgh begin?

As well as being the result of the shared understanding, the will and the ambition of its constituent Festivals and Directors, the creation of Festivals Edinburgh was also galvanised by three key documents:

The City of Edinburgh Council’s Festivals Strategy
The subsequent Economic Impact Evaluation of Edinburgh’s key Festivals
And finally and most importantly the Thundering Hooves Report

Thundering Hooves (metaphorically named after the sound of the competition catching up with Edinburgh) confirmed the internationally significant role of Edinburgh’s Festivals and suggested that there were grounds for confidence in the short-term of their pre-eminent position. However, the report concluded that when viewed against the sustained development of some of the actively competitive cities over the next 5-7 years, Edinburgh’s current enviable position as a pre-eminent Festival city was less secure. The Thundering Hooves report made recommendations to ensure Edinburgh’s role as the major international Festival city is secured into the future.

Although the festivals had been working together for some time and there was already a draft Business Plan for a proposed Edinburgh Festivals Association, it was the medium and long term agenda set out in Thundering Hooves and summarised in the Thundering Hooves Action Plan that defined Festivals Edinburgh’s role as a strategic organisation. The fourteen recommendations in the Thundering Hooves Action Plan can be distilled into four key areas;

Strategic planning
Marketing
Programme development
Infrastructure

These four areas provided the initial focus for the work of Festivals Edinburgh and a clear agenda for the work of the bodies we work most closely with. More detail on our current strategic priorities can be found in Our Strategy.

Unaddressed, these priorities represent significant threats to the festivals and to Edinburgh as the world’s leading festival city. Addressed through our own work, and in collaboration with our stakeholders and funders, they offer significant opportunities to enhance our world's leading status.

Who are the Board and Staff of Festivals Edinburgh?

The Festivals Edinburgh board comprises the CEOs or Directors of its member festivals:

Chair

Belinda McElhinney: Executive Director, Edinburgh International Children's Festival

Board Members

Fiona Alexander: Producer of Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival
Jason Barrett: Chief Executive, Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Hassun El-Zafar: Director & CEO, Edinburgh Science Festival
Francesca Hegyi OBE: Executive Director, Edinburgh International Festival
Kim McAleese: Director, Edinburgh Art Festival
Tony Lankaster: Chief Executive, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society
Jenny Niven: Director, Edinburgh International Book Festival
Penny Dougherty: Festival Director, Edinburgh's Hogmanay
Donald Smith: Director, Scottish International Storytelling Festival
vacant: Edinburgh International Film Festival

Festivals Edinburgh staff:

Kirstie Allan: Business Support Officer
Lori Anderson: Director
Verity Leigh: International Projects Manager
James McVeigh: Head of Innovation & Marketing
Hannah Baker: Bookkeeper
vacant: Digital Officer

What is your Business Plan & Strategy?

Formed in 2007, Festivals Edinburgh is a strategic umbrella organisation focused on over-arching areas of mutual interest. Its sole focus is to maintain and develop the value of the Festivals’ and the Festival City’s position locally and globally, via major collaborative projects and strategic initiatives.

The first Business Plan ran from 2008-14 and the second from 2015-20. In 2019 the Edinburgh Festivals and Festivals Forum stakeholders launched a mid-term review of their previous strategy and began developing a new future vision reflecting on the latest opportunities and challenges. After the Covid-19 pandemic struck, this work was updated to propose principles for how the festivals and the festival city could rebuild and support wider renewal in a changed era.

A series of collective conversations gathered feedback from local residents through Community Councils, from artists and creatives through Creative Edinburgh, and from businesses through Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce. This was part of a wider period of reflection and rethinking by individual festivals and others at local, national and international levels.

The result of this collective internal research and external discussion is our agreed 2030 Vision to be a world leading sustainable festival city, with six ambitions to protect and develop our position encompassing shared values of being globally minded, locally rooted, and creatively led.

What is the Festivals Forum?

The work of Festivals Edinburgh, the ongoing success of Edinburgh’s Festivals and the continued development of Edinburgh’s reputation as the world’s leading festival city is made possible by the enlightened advice, support, investment and confidence of a number of key partners and funders who sit on the Festivals Forum.

The transformative Thundering Hooves report (2006), its successor Thundering Hooves 2.0 (2015) and the current City of Imagination: 2030 Festival City Vision [2022] were indeed commissioned by these key national and city partners: the Scottish Government (previously the Scottish Executive), EventScotland, Scottish Enterprise, Creative Scotland (previously the Scottish Arts Council) and the City of Edinburgh Council.

These reports make recommendations on the strategic developments required to maintain the global competitive advantage of Edinburgh’s Festivals and the first report led to the establishment of the strategic body that oversees and facilitates the implementation of all recommendations – the Festivals Forum.

The Festivals Forum [established March 2007] is a high-level strategic commission bringing together representatives of those with a stake in maintaining the future success of the Edinburgh Festivals. Its main purpose is:

To ensure that Edinburgh maintains its position as the pre-eminent Festival City delivering cultural, social and economic benefit to the city, the region and the country
To agree the long term strategic development of the Edinburgh Festivals, working closely with the festivals, Festivals Edinburgh and the Thundering Hooves Steering Group
To articulate and oversee the investment strategy required to sustain Edinburgh’s position as the world’s leading Festival City
To support and encourage a positive working relationship between the festivals and their stakeholders
To monitor and ensure the delivery of this TH 2.0 Strategy and Action Plan

Membership

Membership of the Festivals Forum is non-executive and organisation members are ex-officio representatives. Whilst the Festivals Forum is not legally constituted and therefore not subject to specific governance requirements, it is recommended that the independent members should serve a maximum of three terms of three years making a total of nine years. There is no limit to the number of organisations that can be represented and new ones can be engaged as appropriate. However the following is the core membership of the Festivals Forum:

British Council Scotland, Director - Peter Brown
City of Edinburgh Council, Convenor of Culture and Communities Committee, Festivals and Events Champion - Councillor Val Walker
City of Edinburgh Council, Chief Executive - Paul Lawrence
Creative Scotland, Chief Executive - Iain Munro
Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, Chief Executive - Liz MacAreavey
Edinburgh Tourism Action Group, Chair - Donald Emslie
Festivals Edinburgh, Director - Julia Amour
Scottish Government, Director for Culture and External Affairs - Shona Riach
University of Edinburgh, Principal & Vice Chancellor - Peter Mathieson
VisitScotland, Head of Development [Events Directorate] - Marie Christie

Three independent members are appointed to reflect wider sectors and international perspectives:

Susan Deacon [Chair]
Maggie Cunningham
Gordon Dewar

In April 2016 Susan Deacon became the chair of the Festivals Forum, succeeding Lady Susan Rice who had held the post since April 2008.

Roles & Responsibilities

Members of the Festivals Forum are either ex-officio representatives of particular organisations or independent members. All members agree:

To ensure the implementation of the 2030 Festival City Vision action plan and monitor its progress
To support the long term success of the Edinburgh Festivals
To act in the best interests of the Edinburgh Festivals where possible, accepting that the interests of the organisation they represent may occasionally take priority
To attend a minimum of two out of three Forum meetings a year, playing an active part in the Festivals Forum
To lead and contribute to delegated task groups set up by the Festivals Forum
To host occasional meetings of the Festivals Forum on a three yearly cycle
To act as a formal conduit between their organisation and the Festivals Forum, feeding back relevant information to their organisations and bringing pertinent information to the Festivals Forum’s attention
Where applicable, to liaise with the officer delegated to represent their organisation on the Thundering Hooves Steering Group who will ensure implementation of the Festivals Forum’s strategic objectives

Thundering Hooves Steering Group

A further group was created in 2007 to ensure that the work of the Festivals Forum is carried out - the Thundering Hooves Steering Group [THSG]. This is the officer led group of the main funding stakeholders of the festivals and current membership includes:

City of Edinburgh Council
Creative Scotland
Scottish Government
British Council
VisitScotland
Scottish Enterprise
Festivals Edinburgh

The THSG meets ahead of the Festivals Forum to plan agendas, brief member CEOs, elected members and politicians in advance of meetings. Afterwards THSG is responsible for implementing any action agreed by the Forum, negotiating associated collaborative funding packages, acting as the panel for assessing specific project funding, closely monitoring the 2030 Festival City Vision action plan and identifying additional opportunities and threats.

What is the Thundering Hooves Steering Group?

City of Edinburgh Council
Creative Scotland
Scottish Government
British Council
VisitScotland
Scottish Enterprise
Festivals Edinburgh

How do you develop your programme of work?

It is the role of the working groups and the senior team at Festivals Edinburgh to develop and deliver collaborative projects and initiatives within these strategic priorities - with the Board being the main decision-making body to which all recommendations are brought. The process by which collaborative projecrs are developed is outlined below:

FE Process

In this process, initial ideas [Future Gaze] are brought to the Board for their consideration, at which point the Board says one of two things - yes, proceed with the thinking, or no, stop this work. If the Board say yes, we usually commission some research - either internal or external - in the knowledge that effective projects have a strong evidential base. We would also at this point bring it in to the agenda of an existing working group or, should an appropriate group not exist, form such a group - possibly a time-limited pop-up group.

Such a group then has responsibility for the development of strategy, with the resulting strategic plan brought to the Board for their consideration. At this point, the Board can say one of three things - yes, proceed with the thinking; no, stop this work; or revise the current thinking, at which point we go in to an iterative process [as indicated in the graphic above]. If the Board says yes, the group develops an action plan which again is brought to the Board for approval - at which point the Board has the same three options as before.

Once the Board finally agrees to the delivery of a programme of work it is the responsibility of Festivals Edinburgh to find the funding to make it happen, from whatever source - public, private or third sector - is appropriate. However rather than waiting until the end of the research and development process to find the funding, we explore funding opportunities from the very outset of the process - meaning that we are in a position to move fast once the Board gives the green light.

What is your environmental policy?

The Edinburgh Festivals have been working together to share knowledge on reducing our environmental impacts since 2011, when we co-founded Creative Carbon Scotland and then the Green Arts Initiative which now has 280 members nationwide.

In 2020 the festivals agreed a shared Carbon Reduction Route Map identifying key areas of responsible and leading practice. In 2021, we then announced plans for how we will respond to the climate emergency and help Edinburgh achieve its goal of reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2030. The publication ‘Taking Action on Climate Change’ outlines how the festivals are accelerating their own response to climate change - in the year when the eyes of the world turned to Scotland’s hosting of the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 - playing their part in ensuring a world in which people, nature and culture can flourish sustainably for the benefit of future generations.

‘Taking Action on Climate Change’ notes that if the Festivals are to flourish in a net-zero carbon future, they need to find innovative, sustainable ways of operating and fulfilling the function of festivals: providing time and space for people to exchange ideas and celebrate our common humanity

Planned actions are intended to reduce not only the emissions within their direct control, but also emissions that can only be addressed through partnership working and influencing those who hold the levers of power in each area. Amongst the actions identified are:

Switch to fully renewable electricity suppliers, as verified by Energy Savings Trust
Shift from paper-based systems towards digital systems
Strengthen sustainable procurement policies
Build sustainability into production design and reduce emissions from production freight
Engage participants for longer periods so they can make fewer journeys
Encourage audiences to choose lower impact travel options and expand our digital offers
Motivate others to reduce their own carbon footprint through our creatives programmes

Festivals Edinburgh publishes its carbon emissions as part of the Annual Report submitted to Companies House - which you can find listed as Total Exemption Full Accounts HERE.

For further information on the environmental policies and activities of the individual festivals, please visit their websites using the following links:

Background

Chair

Board Members

Festivals Edinburgh staff:

Membership

Roles & Responsibilities

Thundering Hooves Steering Group