Ishan Crawford

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, the organisation that runs the world’s largest arts festival, has issued a new plea for financial support from the Scottish Government to help it recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and secure its long-term sustainability. Fringe Society faces ‘crisis point’ The Fringe Society, which supports artists, venues, producers and audiences, said it was facing a ‘crisis point’ after losing 80% of its income in 2020 and 2021 due to the cancellation and scaling back of the festival. It said it had used up its reserves and relied on loans and grants to survive,…

The Fruitmarket, Edinburgh’s contemporary art gallery, is hosting a new exhibition as part of the Deep Time festival, which celebrates the city’s geological and cultural heritage. The exhibition, titled p.e.r.s.o.n.a.l.c.l.u.t.t.e.r, features the work of six artists who use everyday objects and materials to create installations that reflect on the meaning and value of clutter. What is p.e.r.s.o.n.a.l.c.l.u.t.t.e.r? The exhibition’s curator, Fiona Bradley, explains that p.e.r.s.o.n.a.l.c.l.u.t.t.e.r is an acronym for “Personal, Emotional, Relational, Spatial, Organisational, Narrative, Aesthetic, Linguistic, Cultural, Liminal, Unconscious, Temporal, Transformative, Experimental, and Relational”. She says that these are some of the aspects that the artists explore in their…

The chief executive of Ferguson Marine, Tim Hair, has been accused of misleading a Scottish Parliament committee over the safety changes that added £24 million to the cost of two ferries. Safety changes were not part of the original contract The Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee was investigating the ferry fiasco that has delayed the delivery of two vessels for Caledonian MacBrayne by more than four years and increased the budget from £97 million to £230 million. According to a report by the Scotsman, Hair told the committee in June that the safety changes were part of the original contract…

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival, has revealed a huge financial black hole as it struggles to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Fringe organisers have launched a £7.5 million emergency appeal to secure the event’s survival and ensure its accessibility and diversity in the post-Covid world. Fringe lost millions during pandemic The Fringe, which showcases thousands of performances across comedy, theatre, dance, music and more, was completely cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. This year, the festival has operated at a fifth of its normal size, with only about 700 shows…

Scotland is facing a historic opportunity to reinvent its economy and society based on the principles of wellbeing economics, according to a new report by the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) Scotland. The report, titled “Reinventing Scotland: ‘Policy’ can’t save us – wellbeing economics can”, argues that the current economic system is failing to deliver social justice, environmental sustainability and human flourishing, and calls for a radical transformation of the way Scotland measures and pursues progress. What is wellbeing economics? Wellbeing economics is an alternative approach to economic policy and practice that puts the wellbeing of people and planet at the…

The Scottish Parliament has passed a motion calling on the UK government to support a ceasefire in Gaza and condemn the violence that has killed more than 200 people, mostly Palestinians, in the past week. The motion, which was backed by all parties except the Conservatives, also expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people and urged the UK to recognise Palestine as a state. Cross-party support for motion The motion was brought forward by the Scottish National Party (SNP), which leads the Scottish government, and was co-signed by the Scottish Greens, Labour and Liberal Democrats. It stated that the Parliament “unequivocally…