The Edinburgh Festivals get a taste of India

It’s a not-so-warm 15 degrees. The traffic is at a chaotic standstill in the muted sunshine. The streets are throbbing with energy, and eight festivals rub shoulders, exchange ideas, and explore new connections with artists.

Edinburgh at the height of its summer festival season?

No.

This is January 2011 and the eight festivals concerned – the Edinburgh International Festival, the Festival Fringe Society, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, the Edinburgh Mela, the Edinburgh International Science Festival, the Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay are not in their currently frost-clad city but... thousands of miles away in India, building connections that will continue to ensure Edinburgh’s creative vibrancy, and its relationship with one of the most remarkable nations in the world.

For we are here to begin a dialogue that will build towards 2012 and 2014 when the greatest sporting events in the world – the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games – and the greatest arts event in the world happen in the same country at the same time.

Generously supported by the British Council Scotland, not just financially but through their brilliant knowledge of individuals and networks on the ground, this mission to India is the most ambitious exploration to date of how Edinburgh’s Festivals can work with key nations to assert the essential role of culture and the role of festivals – curated and open-access – as cultural powerhouses and platforms. This is about building connections between countries that extend well beyond those of artists and their audiences to diplomacy, education, tourism and business, allowing our festivals to act as global ambassadors for Edinburgh and Scotland (an initiative also supported by Creative Scotland and EventScotland).

We have spent time in Delhi meeting with some of the most interesting artists, companies, producers and organisations in India to hear about their work and ideas and to tell them about the astonishing opportunity that Edinburgh can offer. And some of the artists and producers here, the Edinburgh Festivals veterans, will be telling their stories about how our festivals have transformed their creative and career development.

We have seen some remarkable work in Jaipur, attending the Jaipur Literature Festival and the Jaipur Heritage Festival, both of which have provided great platforms for us to hold conversations about seeking new partnerships and sowing the seeds for future exchanges. But we have also been promoting our festivals, our city and our country, our combined future ambitions for deeper and lasting collaboration with the Indian Government, exploring future relationships with cultural agencies and foundations and the private sector in Delhi and Rajastan and working in new ways with Edinburgh's City Council and the Scottish Government. We want to use the profound connections our festivals make with India and the rest of the world to build a sense of a creative, ambitious, welcoming Scotland for visitors, students, and businesses.

In 2010, Delhi handed the Commonwealth Games to Glasgow. In 2011 Jonathan Mills, the Director of the Edinburgh International Festival will present his new programme ‘To the Far West’, which brings the best Eastern talent to Scotland – including artists from India. This is just one example of a record of important Indian programming that will take place across the very many stages of Edinburgh.

This mission marks the beginning of a deeply fruitful new stage to our relationship with this astonishing country India, whose own future will be defining all of ours.