This article appears as part of the Herald Arts newsletter.

Nobody should be in any doubt that the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) is the jewel in Scotland’s cultural crown.

Or, to put it another way, that it is Scotland’s most visible and important manifestation of soft power. Which means the EIF is insulated, to an extent, from the severe budget cuts currently affecting the arts community in Scotland.

Not that there hasn’t had to be some trimming and cutting back on the part of the organisation, as Festival Director Nicola Benedetti admits in a wide-ranging interview with Herald arts writer Teddy Jamieson.

“Given the current uncertainty of public art funding in Scotland we have planned prudently for the 2025 festival, which means practically we will present a more compact programme and be increasingly reliant on income from earned ticket sales and the generosity of those who support us,” she tells him.

One casualty has been the well-liked EIF curtain raisers, mass-participation opening events such as 2015’s Harmonium Project, which saw a John Adams choral work performed inside the Usher Hall while fantoosh projections lit up the venue’s exterior. Or Deep Time, from 2016, which celebrated the work of pioneering 18th century geologist James Hutton with an epic light-show on Edinburgh Castle and an equally epic soundtrack from Glasgow post-rock legends, Mogwai.

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All agree that Ms Bendetti has been a breath of fresh air for the EIF. If she didn’t exist, you........

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