Euro Fests: Edinburgh, New Horizons, Zurich

£10M For Edinburgh Festivals

The Scottish government and Edinburgh city council both pledged to provide £5 million each to grow festivals in the Scottish capital. 

– New Horizons Germany

“It is hoped the platform will support new innovative programming and skills development opportunities across the capital’s eleven major festivals between 2018-2023,” Edinburgh News reports. Edinburgh’s journey to become one of the world’s most renowned destinations for performing arts began in 1947, when the Edinburgh International Festival was launched. The Fringe was founded in the same year as the alternative, independent and less official counterpart.

According to Nicola Sturgeon, first minister in the Scottish parliament, Edinburgh’s festivals today attract “audiences from across the globe, generating more than £300 million for our economy and supporting more than 6,000 jobs.“ Edinburgh Festival Fringe made some headlines recently, after people complained about the working conditions at the event. People accused the event’s organizers of employing full-time staff as volunteers to save labor costs.

Unite, Britain’s largest trade union, launched a campaign called Fair Fringe to improve the wages and conditions of Edinburgh Fringe staff, local politicians pledged to make the issue a priority. The Fringe Society, the organizers of the event, recently held their annual general meeting, where the subject was addressed briefly.

In a statement provided to Pollstar, the Society says: “The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the organization that underpins the structure of the Fringe, we exist to support the venues and companies who choose to participate in the Fringe each year. Our aim is always for those who choose to be involved in the Fringe, in whatever capacity, to have the best experience possible. 

“The Fringe Society respects the ambitions of the Fair Fringe charter and will continue to work closely with Fringe venues and companies to ensure a fair and positive working environment for all. We have committed to commissioning an external agency to carry out an independent and professional survey of Fringe working conditions and will continue to have an open and collaborative conversation with the Fair Fringe campaign and Unite.”

New Horizons Germany Debuts Successfully

The first edition of the EDM festival New Horizons attracted some 55,000 to Germany’s Nürburgring, Aug. 25-26.

The lineup for the first edition included Robin Schulz, Felix Jaehn, Armin van Buuren, Jauz, Martin Solveig and many more.

A festival representative said the New Horizons premiere “exceeded their expectations.”

Promoter Alda Events already announced the dates for the second edition of the festival: Aug. 24-25, 2018.

Record Attendance For Zurich Openair Switzerland  

– Zurich Open Air 2017

The seventh edition of Zurich Openair in the Swiss capital city attracted some 80,000 visitors Aug. 23-26.

This marks a significant increase compared with the 50,000 visitors who attended in 2016.

This year’s lineup included Mumford & Sons, First Aid Kit, Major Lazer, The xx, The Prodigy and more.

Heavy storms on Thursday meant that the concerts by Frickle Friends and The Kooks had to be scrapped, Luzerner Zeitung reports.

Apart from that, no major incidents took place.

Promoter ZO Festival AG told the paper that less medical treatments than in the past years had been necessary, with only a few for alcohol and drug abuse.