Festivals

Visit our Festivals features pages which include an introduction to the programme of Edinburgh Festivals 2008.

Festivals are fun and provide an opportunity for audiences to see and hear established artists and discover new or previously unheard-of talents. We support festivals because they bring high quality work to audiences across the country.  They can also encourage excellence, innovation and development within individual artforms.  Festivals provide an opportunity to promote Scotland’s artists to local communities, to foster tourism, and to boost local economies.

We invest around £3 million in festivals across Scotland. This ranges from the major Edinburgh festivals – International, Book, Jazz and Fringe – to scores of smaller festivals in both urban and rural settings, including the Butelive festival on the Isle of Bute and the St Magnus Festival on Orkney.  We also fund festivals run by enthusiastic volunteers, particularly for folk music, storytelling and drama.