Manifesto calls for artists and performers to be given free access to Edinburgh's cultural spaces and unused buildings
Artists and performers in Edinburgh would be given more year-round access to venues and unused buildings under a new blueprint aimed at overhauling the city’s arts and cultural sector.
Edinburgh Reimagined calls on cultural institutions and businesses to provide space to “creative freelancers” in the city for little or no cost.
The city council is being urged to carry out a comprehensive audit of all available space in the capital and encourage its use for cultural activities, as well as adopt a “can-do attitude” throughout the year and not just in August, to address an “ongoing dearth of accessible space” for artists.
The manifesto recommends a shake-up of boards running arts bodies to ensure there is “diverse representation that audiences are keen to see on screen and on stage”.
Produced by freelance creative producer Morvern Cunningham, and as a result of months of talks with artists and organisations, the manifesto calls on the council to
instigate a cultural strategy to respond to the impact of the pandemic.
Cunningham warns that without “fundamental change across the board,” Edinburgh’s cultural sector is facing a “looming hellscape,” claiming that, while millions of pounds have been pumped into cultural institutions, “precious little” support had trickled down to independent artists and freelances.
She writes: “If a global pandemic which shuts everything down overnight and then continues to keep things closed for 12 months and more isn’t the impetus for starting again with care and love and the power of hindsight, then frankly, I don’t know when is."
Cunningham, founder of the
Leith Late festival, adds: “A radical shift in our value systems and the support structures that uphold them is required in order to generate a tangible change in the way cultural activity is expressed in the city.
“This isn’t the job of any one person or entity to address, we all have to be willing to do the work in order to collaboratively achieve a better balance of cultural power going forward. The work of change is for all of us.
"The recalibration required will only be achieved through fundamental change. ”