Culture and Communities Convener Cllr Donald Wilson writes about the Winter Festival consultation launch in today's Edinburgh Evening News (Wednesday 24 February).
That’s the key question we’re asking the City as we launch our 12-week public consultation today.
We want to hear from the people of Edinburgh both on how our Winter Festivals should be delivered and indeed what should be delivered. The feedback to our consultation will shape the future direction of our celebrations from 2022 onwards, when the current arrangements come to an end. This is a good time then to take stock and look at what people think and what people want.
All the festivals in Edinburgh have come a long way since 1947 when they were deliberately created as a new way for countries to relate to each other using culture after the devastation of the Second World War. The winter festivals were more recent and stemmed at least in part from the need to manage the growing numbers to ensure public safety at that time of the year.
We want to make sure that going forward, the winter festivals achieve what is wanted by those living and working in the Capital. Things were very different last year of course but if we look back to
2019/20, the Christmas festivities in East Princes Street Gardens were visited by over 2.6m people, an increase of nearly 5% on the previous year. Hogmanay annually brings an audience of 75,000 for
the iconic midnight moment, with the Torchlight Procession on 30 December and Loony Dook on 1 January both selling out – an overall audience of 184,000 people across the three days.
This huge (and growing) number of residents and visitors brings significant financial and cultural benefits for the city. This creates both opportunities and challenges. The most recent economic data
for Edinburgh’s Christmas shows an impact of £113.2m for the city, while Edinburgh’s Hogmanay generates £39.2m for Edinburgh. Both events also employ large numbers of Edinburgh residents and
provide income for Edinburgh-based businesses and suppliers.
They bring welcome footfall and spend to our city centre, however the large audiences in key city centre spots do have a significant impact on greenspaces and transport. The growth in popularity
brings with it added responsibilities and consideration needs to be given to the future shape of these celebrations and their impact on the City.
If you enjoy the festivals as they are please tell us, but if you don’t, why not? Should more focus be put on community events, should the festivals be shorter or longer? What has worked for you, what
hasn’t?
Things look very different as a result of the pandemic but there is at least an opportunity to look at what we want and what is sustainable in terms of the Christmas and Hogmanay Festivals.
You can complete the survey online from today or call us on 200 2000 to be sent a paper copy. The consultation closes on 19 May.
We want everyone within the city – residents, communities and businesses – to have their chance to participate in this consultation so that views from across the entire city are heard. It’s very important
we get this right for Edinburgh.