75 Years of the Edinburgh Festivals

That this House congratulates the Edinburgh Festivals on their successful 75th anniversary season; notes that the first festivals took place in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War and sought to use culture as a healing balm to bring peoples and nations together in celebration of common humanity and help 'the flowering of the human spirit'; recognises that the Festivals have become increasingly internationally successful with audiences reaching almost 5 million per year; commends that the Festivals overcame the challenges facing live events and returned at 80 per cent of their previous programming level, hosting nearly 3,000 performances per day; believes that the Festivals enhance our international profile as a contemporary, creative, outward-looking nation, attracting 25,000 cultural participants from more than 70 countries and thousands of accredited media; celebrates the range of national artist showcases, including each of Australia, Switzerland, Canada, South Korea and Mexico; highlights the contribution of the Ukrainian performers granted special exemption by their government to put down weapons and take up instruments in Kyiv's twin city Edinburgh; considers that the Festivals today act as economic as well as cultural powerhouses, bringing an estimated impact in 2022 of £216 million, creating the equivalent of 4,200 jobs and supporting the tens of thousands more jobs in Edinburgh's wider creative and leisure sectors; and wishes the Festivals every success as they seek to build on this anniversary year and develop their vision of Edinburgh as a world-leading sustainable festival city that is globally-minded, locally-rooted and creatively-led.