Seventeen hundred performers from many countries, including 600 from Scotland, are delivering the 2025 Edinburgh International Festival’s exciting range of theatre, dance, opera and music
The ambitious offering includes the eight-hour opening concert of John Tavener’s Veil of the Temple. The following day, the public is invited to join the free Big Singalong in Princess Street Gardens directed by the artistic director of Edinburgh’s Love Music Community Choir.
The inclusivity and ethical sensitivity of the twenty-four-day cultural party boldly touches on many serious topical political issues under this year’s banner slogan, “The Truth We Seek”. These include climate change, colonialism, genocide, Palestine and the crazy banking crises of 2008 from which we are still suffering.
Thus it is puzzling that the Festival programme proudly declares its supporting partner is Baillie Gifford (BG), the centre of controversy for years across a multitude of festivals because of their alleged investment in fossil fuels and armaments potentially used by Israel against Palestinians. (See articles in The Ferret.)
There have also been accusations of investments “in companies linked to the (illegal Israeli) settlements, including” Booking Holdings for “advertising accommodation in the West Bank”, Cemex for providing “materials to build checkpoints and Israel’s ‘apartheid’ wall in the West Bank” and Cisco Systems for its “provision of services to the Israeli military.” Baillie Gifford’s portfolio holdings showed “it had 41 million shares in Amazon worth £4.1bn in September 2023.” It is feared that Amazon’s contract “to provide technology services to Israel’s government” will include the products of the Nimbus Project, which even Amazon’s workers have published an open letter protesting.
After the presentation, I spoke about the issue with Nicola Benedetti, Festival Director, and Roy Luxford, Creative Director of Programming. They claimed they had engaged with BG on the matter and even publicly stated their position, which they would send to me along with a response to my request about the amount of funding they are receiving from BG. In a longer conversation with Roy, I was told that EIF believed that BG was ethical in its investments and that the allegations of their having any connections with the West Bank are not true.
Seven days later, Hugo Mintz, Head of Communications, wrote in response to my requests, “Baillie Gifford has been a steadfast donor to the Edinburgh International Festival for decades, for which we are incredibly grateful.” His e-mail contained nothing about their engagement with BG about their investments or the public statements the EIF has made on the issue. He adds, “we share public concern about the climate emergency and the devastating situation in the Palestinian Territories and the Middle East.”
Theatre management is almost always more cautious than other cultural workers claiming concerns about funding. In 2024, this caution resulted in a lot of ridiculous and upsetting censorship of the arts while those in charge of theatres hoped the issue of Palestine would disappear. It didn't. The International Court accused Israel of war crimes, people continued to march and cultural workers complained bitterly to managers in hiding.
The pressure has cracked the walls of cultural silence, and, not for the first occasion, the Edinburgh International Festival this year will illustrate the breakthrough. I recall during the years of the Bush and Blair rampage across the Middle East, there were times when the anti-war shows on the Festival Fringe outnumbered all the other political shows put together.
The EIF press briefing for Festival 2025 gave us a glimpse of cracks in the wall of silence. Nicola and Roy's separate presentations gave special mention to a number of political shows. Not surprisingly, they spoke about a new satirical play about the banking crises by James Graham, the UK’s currently most successful playwright. The fine actor Brian Cox, who is also the producer of a newly filmed version of Caryl Churchill's play Seven Jewish Children, is to play the “founder of modern capitalism”, Adam Smith, as we are taken through the collapse of RBS, its reckless investment decisions, the lack of regulations and the flawed executives.
Also praised was a collection of plays entitled Cutting the Tightrope dealing with censorship, particularly of Palestine, colonialism and racism. Nederlands Dans Theater and Complicite fuse “contemporary dance with striking soundscapes and dialogue” to bring us Figures in Extinction from a collaboration between choreographer Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney that bears “witness to a destruction we both cause and endure”. Among other shows named in the presentation was Faustus in Africa! from Handspring Puppet Company, which confronts “the catastrophic costs of colonialism and the climate emergency.” The Festival is such a rich glimpse of world theatre, you wish people across the world could see it. Perhaps one day they will.
There are good reasons to be concerned about BG funding. A recent headline on the BBC web site says, “BP has announced it will cut its renewable energy investments and instead focus on increasing oil and gas production.” It’s not that they forgot the Climate Emergency. They just followed the money. That is a pressure on all investment companies that needs counter pressure from us to keep them ethical.
The Green MSP Ariane Burgess has argued that “BG’s ethical position might be summed up as ‘the end of the world is nigh, how can we make money out of it?'” If cultural organisations don't tell us about their funding arrangements with a potential devil, they risk adding to the silence that allows Faustus to get away with it.
Although there is still no official statement about funding, sources among BG and EIF workers are unhappy with the secrecy and tell me it is currently £250,000. That amount is a good explanation of why the EIF is not sending me the information I asked for. It's also why there was no mention of Baillie Gifford in the presentation to a room full of journalists, despite it being a current controversy. None of the EIF scheduled talks lists it, and the 116-page programme simply mentions they are a partner.
I asked Roy if he would have included a show about Baillie Gifford. He said he would if there was one but there wasn’t one. Of course, Faustus of the EIF could have commissioned one, but would they really give us “The Truth We Seek” if that potentially loses them 250 thousand?
Baillie Gifford has developed an ethical policy that excludes investments in “anti-personnel landmines, biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, and cluster munitions.” If Edinburgh International Festival “share public concern about the climate emergency and the devastating situation in the Palestinian Territories and the Middle East”, they should ask their partner Baillie Gifford to add fossil fuels, more aspects of the armaments industry and Israel to their list.