Festivals Edinburgh Limited

The principal activity of the company is that of the support and promotion of festivals in Edinburgh. The company is limited by guarantee and has no share capital. Review of business The work of Festivals Edinburgh Ltd (FE) is set in the context of shared agreement to the 2030 Festival City Vision: Edinburgh, City of Imagination by Edinburgh’s Festivals and the major funders and stakeholders on the Edinburgh Festivals Forum advisory group and its replacement the Festival City Leadership Group. This strategic framework, agreed as the festivals emerged from pandemic restrictions in 2022, sets out six areas of common ambition for how Edinburgh should develop as a world leading sustainable festival city by 2030: Global Solidarity Valuable Skills and Work Connected Communities Vibrant, Sustainable Gathering Places Net Zero Carbon Future Increased Resilience, Partnerships and Investment The remainder of this Annual Report is structured according to these six areas. Global Solidarity Throughout the year, Festivals Edinburgh worked to support our member festivals’ enduring commitment to being proudly and fiercely internationalist. We continued to rebuild global networks in partnership with Creative Scotland and British Council Scotland through delivering the prestigious Momentum international delegate programme capitalising on the festivals’ peak season of August. In 2024 we welcomed 9 invited delegations, and 6 delegations referred to the programme. This resulted in connecting with around 95 delegates from 20 countries in total, making targeted connections with over 200 Scottish creative sector representatives for future collaborations and exchanges. We also engaged year-round with delegations from across Europe, Latin America, Gulf States, East Asia and Australasia, visiting Edinburgh as a centre of global good practice in festivals. Planning for the European Festivals Association (EFA) Summit took place in early 2025 for the event in April which saw FE work in partnership with EFA, Edinburgh International Festival and City of Edinburgh Council. At UK Government level, FE created regular opportunities to brief UK MPs, Ministers and civil servants on the ongoing international mobility difficulties for the festivals and wider culture sector. The impact of the festivals was celebrated at the annual Secretary of State for Scotland’s reception at the launch of the August festivals and was the subject of a UK Parliamentary debate, led by Chris Murray MP – who was informed and briefed by Festivals Edinburgh using the evidence gained from our various impact studies. Valuable Skills and Work FE worked to contribute to industry development of the creative and visitor economy through city, regional and national networks. During the year we contributed to Edinburgh’s 2030 Tourism Strategy, through our industry roles sitting on the Strategic Implementation Group, Operational Advisory Group and we now Chair the Strategic Marketing Leadership Group. Key areas of focus included: providing feedback on City of Edinburgh Council’s developing proposals for a Visitor Levy to sustain Edinburgh's status as one of the world's greatest cultural and heritage cities and to ensure that the impacts of a successful visitor economy are managed effectively and in support of the priorities as set out in the Council’s Business Plan; and developing and delivering the feasibility study proposal for a regional cultural network which secured nearly £50,000 in funding from the six local authorities behind the City Region’s Prosperity Framework.