Director of Edinburgh international festival warns cuts put its status at risk

Last year’s opening event of the festival transformed George Heriot’s school. This year’s opening event has been cancelled amid funding concerns. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

The director of the Edinburgh international festival has warned it could lose its status as one of the world’s greatest arts events without significant increases in public and philanthropic support.

Nicola Benedetti, a Grammy-winning classical violinist who became the festival’s director in 2022, said in an interview with the Guardian she feared the creative arts that underpinned it were at risk of stagnating because of repeated funding cuts.