Festival 'Vital' Says Minister
Last updated: 05/10/2006 - 15:58
Scotland's Culture Minister Frank McAveety has called the annual Edinburgh Festival central to the nation's cultural celebrations.
The annual Edinburgh Festivals are central to the celebration of culture that is taking place in Scotland this summer, Culture Minister Frank McAveety has said.
Speaking at the Scottish Arts Council festival reception for artists performing at the annual event, he said that Scotland is a small country with a large ambition - to be confident in its artistry, abundant in its creativity, and international in its outlook.
Mr McAveety said: "The Festivals continue to build on their success year on year, attracting record audiences and in providing one of the most diverse, stimulating and exciting cultural events taking place anywhere in the world.
Tourists
"They attract large numbers of tourists from across the globe. Scotland and Edinburgh welcome them with open arms - not just for the economic benefits they bring, but for the important role they play in the city at this time. The visitors - cultural or otherwise - are a vital component in the very special atmosphere that is created in Edinburgh.
He continued: "The Scottish Executive is proud of what the Festivals have achieved in the past and supportive of what they hope to do in the future. Our investment in the arts and culture is substantial; Executive funding has shown year on year above inflation increases and is to rise to £160 million in 2005-06.
"Scotland today has some of the most exciting and diverse arts and cultural experiences available in the world. Our visual artists, musicians, designers, writers, actors, theatre directors and film makers are acclaimed at home and abroad."
From its beginnings in 1947 as "a platform for the flowering of the human spirit". The Edinburgh International Festival has inspired people to put on shows of their own on the outskirts of the 'official' festival. Hence the existence today of the 'Edinburgh Festival Fringe'. Now a registered charity, the Festival 'proper' has attracted half a dozen or so more festivals running from around August to early September. Collectively this whole group of events has come to be known as 'the Edinburgh Festival'.
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