Wed 13 Dec 2006

The Edinburgh International Festival has received one-off payments totalling

£1 million from Dunard Fund and the Scottish Arts Council, putting the Festival in a better position to plan for the future.

Following a commitment of a £500,000 matching funds challenge grant from Dunard Fund, a privately run Scottish charitable trust, the Scottish Arts Council has matched the contribution with a further £500,000.

The money will be set against losses incurred in previous years through investing in the quality of programmes in order to maintain EIF’s position as the world’s premier arts Festival.

Linked to this funding, the Festival will meet a number of strategic criteria which focus around staff restructuring, governance and business planning, set in agreement with the Scottish Arts Council.

Jonathan Mills, Festival Director said, ‘This is an amazing gesture from Dunard Fund, matched by the Scottish Arts Council, for which we are very grateful. It allows me to concentrate more fully on planning for the future, and to engage in discussions about the funding levels required to maintain the Festival’s pre-eminence.

‘We are particularly thrilled to receive this accolade from Dunard Fund, because this private donor has recognised the excellence and the status the Festival has achieved and maintained in recent years, and has made a free choice to support our vision for the Festival.’

Carol Colburn Høgel, a director of Dunard Fund, said ‘We are pleased and proud to be able to help the Festival with this challenge grant, and credit goes both to the Festival for persuading the SAC, and to the SAC itself for its thoughtful and sympathetic consideration. Partnership funding is always an attractive idea and in this case we each claim 100% satisfaction from our respective 50% contributions.

‘The more far-reaching questions about individual, corporate, and public sector support for the arts in the UK require serious dialogue and a change in UK tax code with regard to individual charitable gifts.’

Jim Tough, Deputy Chief Executive, Director of Arts, Scottish Arts Council, said,

‘The Scottish Arts Council values the contribution made by the Edinburgh International Festival to Scotland’s world-class cultural landscape and will continue to invest in its success and as a flagship for Scotland. Given its recent financial challenges, we believe that effective long-term planning and risk management are paramount for the EIF and welcome the Board’s agreement that it will lead this process to a successful conclusion, so vital for the sustainable future of the Festival.

‘Both this £500,000 one off intervention and the proposed £400,000 increase to the EIF’s annual grant in 2007 are a significant commitment intended to secure that sustainability.’

ENDS

For further information please contact the EIF press office on 0131 473 2020

press@eif.co.uk

The 2007 Edinburgh International Festival runs from Friday 10 August to Sunday 2 September. The full programme will be announced on Wednesday 28 March 2007.

www.eif.co.uk

The Edinburgh International Festival is supported by The City of Edinburgh Council and the Scottish Arts Council and The National Lottery through the Scottish Arts Council.