Featured Images: Andrew Perry, Jess Shurte and Maxime Ragni (Courtesy of Edinburgh International Festival)
Edinburgh International Festival attracted a more diverse audience for 2024’s edition, with double the number of tickets issued to under-18s, young musicians, and D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent guests.
After celebrating 24 days of opera, dance, music and theatre in the Scottish capital, organisers revealed that the 160 ticketed performances welcomed over 125,000 attendees. The festival, under the theme ‘Rituals That Unite Us’, brought together over 2,000 international artists from 42 nations.
The festival took place between August 2-25, with more than 50% of tickets sold at £30 (€36/$40) or less, and over 5,000 £10 tickets purchased by those who needed them most. Double the number of free tickets were taken up by NHS staff, charity workers, and low-income benefit recipients through the Tickets for Good programme.
Additionally, twice as many D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent concession tickets were snapped up with people enrolling for the Access Pass, which provided a tailored experience for those with access requirements.
Elsewhere, this year’s festival saw more than triple the number of free tickets distributed to young musicians through the Young Musician’s Pass compared to 2023, and under-18 purchases rose by 100% from last year. Over half of all bookers were new to the festival this year, the highest level since the pandemic.
“Our festival has been an outstanding success this year. The theme, ‘Rituals That Unite Us’, resonated in profound ways with our visiting artists and home community. Although we bring stories from around the world, they change when they interact with the unique spirit of Edinburgh, artist upon artist expressing their awe and desire to return,” said festival director Nicola Benedetti.
“We diversified the experiences in our venues, making the Festival as accessible and affordable as possible. Beanbags returned, as did the intimacy of our home, the Hub. We programmed exceptional international premieres, doubled the number of Under 18 tickets on last year, and tripled the Young Musician’s Pass attendees – an initiative that offers free Festival tickets to young musicians.
“Against a tumultuous backdrop of funding crisis, two aspects of our identity were reinforced and strengthened. We are deeply rooted in Scotland, and will continue to present the best of Scottish talent alongside our international counterparts. Most importantly, we are making an indelible impact on access to culture for our local community. To present the world’s greatest art to the broadest possible audience is what we are here to do.”
While the success of this year’s festival was celebrated, the event’s chief executive Francesca Hegyi highlighted concern around the “ongoing survival” of Scotland’s creative community.
“Our theme for this year’s programme, ‘Rituals that Unite Us’, beautifully captured the sense of togetherness felt throughout this past month. There’s something profound and powerful about this shared experience that brings people from every corner of the world and all walks of life together,” commented Hegyi.
“As we celebrate this year’s festival, we must also recognise the current fragility of the Scottish cultural sector. With 50% of our 2024 artists hailing from Scotland, the Festival relies on exceptional local talent both on and off the stage and we are deeply concerned about the ongoing survival of our creative community.
“The International Festival is the original spark that lit this city’s path to becoming the world’s Festival City. Now, 77 years later, we thank you for joining us once again for the ritual that we look forward to each year: the Edinburgh International Festival.”
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