Let’s avoid turning Brexit drama into a crisis for arts
● This year’s festival season was dominated by warnings about the impact of leaving
Could Brexit kill the Edinburgh International Festival and other global crowd-pulling events in Scotland? And how could we make them “Brexit proof ”?
Apprehension has been building that the biggest arts event in the world may be blighted by tighter controls at borders that could discourage or disbar participants and audiences.
A few weeks ago, the Festival’s director, Fergus Linehan, gave full vent to his fears that a no-deal Brexit will have a “disastrous” and “horrible” impact next year.
He warns he could not see how a “terrible mess” could be avoided in 2019 and said he is having to prepare for a scaled-back event, drawing up contingency plans to pull the plug on some projects due to uncertainty over the economic impact of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.
The “horrors” of Brexit, he adds, have become more and more apparent, with the EIF already struggling to find staff to work at its headquarters on the Royal Mile and facing the prospect of mounting red tape and soaring costs to bring in artists and performers.
Fringe Society chief executive Shona Mccarthy has also expressed fears that international artists would go to festivals elsewhere due to the cost and complexity of coming to Edinburgh.
And concerns have been echoed by Nick Barley, artistic director of the Edinburgh Book Festival, and a plethora of leading arts event organisers across the UK in a recent letter in the Guardian.
From international conference events through sporting fixtures, book fairs, horse racing events and pop music concerts, there is barely an organisation that is not apprehensive about how “Brexit” might affect them.
Hundreds of organisations hold events and conferences across the UK each year and are vitally dependent on their ability to attract top drawer artists, performers, and above all international audiences to ensure these events are a success and continue to win public attention and support.
The Guardian letter, signed by representatives of 27 arts organisations in the UK including Donald Smith, the director of the Scottish international storytelling festival, and Alistair Moffat, director of the Borders Book Festival, raised serious concerns over the rise in refusals of artists’ visas to perform at festivals, including the Edinburgh Festival.
“The current visa application process for artists,” it pointed out, “is lengthy, opaque and costly, with artists and/or festivals often spending thousands of pounds on visas and associated costs for a visit of often only a few days.
“The overly complex process leads to mistakes being made by both applicants and assessors, and refusals being made for visas that could theoretically be granted.
“Artists have to surrender their passport while the application is considered. Although the Home Office aims to complete most visa applications within 15 working days, applications can take much longer. There is no way for the inviting festival to find out the progress of a visa application, or answer any questions that arise, leading to refusals where missing information or documentation could easily be provided.
“The situation has led to artists now telling festivals they are much more reluctant to accept invitations to come to the UK due to the visa process.”
Over three weeks in August, the Edinburgh Festival brings top class performers of music, theatre, opera and dance from around the world to perform. Only the Olympics and the World Cup exceed the number of tickets sold for our festival events.
This year’s programme pulled in some 2,750 artists from 31 nations, with audiences drawn from more than 80 nations.
Edinburgh residents may splutter at the onset of “peak
“The Treasury’s Brexit panic means you can no longer trust the Treasury’s forecasts” Tory MP Jacob Rees-mogg
“Very quickly people will see that this is not Project Fear but Project Reality – this is complete madness” Labour MP Chuka Umunna
“There is barely an organisation that is not apprehensive about how Brexit might affect them”
“In the UK we talk about Brexit and Brexit and Brexit. It is an important issue, but it isn’t the only issue that is out there in terms of global trade” International Trade Secretary Liam Fox
tourism” in August, for the influx now is truly daunting. According to figures collated by Edinburgh City Council, the International Festival itself pulls in an estimated 452,000 people, the Book Festival 360,000 and the Festival Fringe an awesome 2.5 million.
The festivals’ economic impact has been estimated at £280 million in Edinburgh and £313m across Scotland overall, representing a 19 per cent and 24 per cent increase on the figures reported in 2010.
Scotland’s capital thrives on its outstanding presence on the global stage. And much of its appeal is due to the city being host to the festival. To thrive as a global event like this, reputation is everything. But so, too, is ease of entry and movement.
So the concerns are real and need to be heard by government ministers in their approach to negotiations in Brussels and in particular their contingency planning in the event of a “no deal” Brexit.
Equally, however, care should be taken not to create such an atmosphere of foreboding that international events fall victim to fears of what might happen as opposed to a set of changes that may bring less of a dramatic impact than some have suggested. Equally, problems in attracting administrative staff, for example, may have more to do with pay levels and grades than visa applications.
The most pronounced warnings also beg questions as to how countries outside the EU and with their own migrant and border protocols are able to achieve and sustain a global presence for international events.
The Paris terrorist attacks which killed 130 people, together with terrorist atrocities in London and Manchester, have brought an urgent rethink of border security. The influx of more than a million migrants in 2015 also greatly increased public anxiety and one after another, EU states re-imposed border controls amid fears over safety in public areas. The problem is far from confined to UK entry.
Countries outside the EU and, like the UK, outside Schengen, have also had to contend with the requirement for tighter surveillance. Norway,for example, is able to attract hundreds of cultural and political events every year ranging across classical and contemporary music, jazz, art exhibitions, and literary events such as International Ibsen Festival held between 8 and 19 September. This is on top of a crowded calendar of international business and political conferences covering everything from healthcare to environmental issues and natural sciences.
Switzerland has excelled at internationally renowned events such as the Montreux Jazz Festival and the World Economic Forum at Davos. This pulls in 2,500 participants from more than 100 countries including 219 public figures, 40 heads of state, 30 heads of international bodies and hundreds of academics and journalists.
Seen in this broader context, the acute worries expressed by the Edinburgh Festival director might well seem alarmist. “We are at such a strange place as the horrors become more apparent,” he declared. “I just can’t see how it’s not going to be a disaster. It’s not an ideological position, but I just can’t see how it’s not going to be a terrible mess. We work in a European environment… This city is about finance, tourism, culture and the universities. These are all really international industries, so you can see how it will be particularly problematic.”
However, lest our vision becomes too Euro-centric, visitors from the US and Canada outnumber those from Germany and France, and we attract more from Australia than the Netherlands. As for visa requirements, it is likely that exemptions will be extended from key skilled workers to cover other areas. Much can be gained, too, by looking at how international events in other countries are coping.
From this broader experience we can learn, and in an ever changing world help create and sustain our own event resilience.
“Whatever else Brexit may bring, it will bring English sparkling wine, providing a level of cheer to British drinkers, greater than that provided by the French champagne” Environment Secretary Michael Gove
“Care should be taken not to create such an atmosphere of foreboding that international events fall victim to fears of what might happen”
“My concern about the increasing prospect of a no-deal Brexit certainly wasn’t allayed in that meeting”
Nicola Sturgeon after talks with Theresa May
“Ifiwasinaliftwith Nigel Farage I’d rip him to shreds” Entertainer Paul O’grady, an anti-brexiteer