EIF director Nicola Benedetti talks to The Scotsman's Arts Correspondent Brian Ferguson
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00:00 Okay, Niki, you've been planning ahead for the festival in recent months, but one of
00:06 the big things this year is you're making a real effort, it seems, to make the festival
00:11 as affordable as possible. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the offers and
00:15 things you're going to be doing?
00:17 Yes, absolutely. So this year is our most generous ticket concession offer to date,
00:23 and that looks primarily at 50% of our tickets being £30 or under, and our £10 affordable
00:31 tickets being available across all performances. We're also increasing things like our Young
00:36 Musicians Pass, which gives 2,000 free tickets to young aspiring musicians aged 8 to 18.
00:44 The whole principle that we've been working really hard on behind the scenes is how can
00:50 we scrutinise all the data and look at ensuring that for those that have any kind of financial,
00:59 logistical, practical barriers being able to come to what we offer, we've removed that
01:06 barrier. So it's been a lot of hard work to try to make that possible, but we're really
01:13 proud of what we've achieved, especially within this climate.
01:16 So how important is it to make the festival as accessible as possible, and also to get
01:19 that message out there to people in Edmonton far beyond this event that's going on?
01:25 Yes, obviously we are functioning within a time of economic squeeze, but this is deeper
01:32 than that for me personally, and therefore for the whole organisation, which is a matter
01:37 of principle. We're an organisation that is supported and funded and have a civic duty
01:44 to make what we do as available and accessible as possible. And that's not just looking at
01:50 practical barriers such as resource and finance, but also looking at how we communicate to
01:56 people, what kind of environment do we give to people, how do people feel when they walk
02:00 through our doors, how welcome are they, and how much sense of belonging do they feel in
02:08 our home. So we've looked at every which way to provide that sort of no barrier to you
02:16 enjoying what it is we have to offer to you. And I think we've made huge progress in all
02:22 those fronts.
02:23 So this is your second year, your first year, I think it's fair to say you had a few experiments.
02:27 Tell us about the ones that really worked that you're bringing back.
02:30 Like the beanbag ones.
02:31 Exactly, I know the beanbags came back.
02:34 I think there were some experiments that perhaps didn't go quite to plan last year, but a vast
02:40 majority of them, I think we felt like we took a risk and it really paid off. I also
02:45 feel like the whole principle of asking a question to the audience and therefore opening
02:50 out this as a shared pursuit, shared journey, shared direction was something that tangibly
02:57 changed the vibration of the festival. And therefore you are a little bit freer to take
03:03 those risks. But I think all things around our direct communication, so things like the
03:09 text messages that we sent to all audience members, provided you had a mobile phone,
03:13 on the days of performances, trying to give more personal insights into why did we pick
03:18 these artists and this particular work of art. But then also changing up with formats.
03:26 So of course, here in the hub where we are just now, that was a particular example of
03:33 really looking at what actually physically is the setup of the stage and how can you
03:37 create deeper communion between audience and performer. And a lot of these principles like
03:44 that and the fact of removing the stalls in the Usher Hall and putting a bunch of beanbags
03:48 instead, they may feel sort of new and evolutionary or revolutionary, but in fact, they're really
03:55 harking back to a lot of the more informal and tactile nature of a lot of these art forms
04:04 that gave birth to them. I always like to use Vivaldi as an example. Now his environment
04:09 was particularly raucous and unruly, but it was alive. And I think that's the principle
04:17 that is so important for us to get across. This is a living, breathing organism. It's
04:24 not something that is set in stone and is immovable, is stagnant, is not personal. We're
04:31 not going to get everything right every time, but that's the point, especially a festival.
04:35 A festival is a dense and condensed explosion of creativity that happens in a particular
04:42 time once a year. And we've got to enter into that state of experiment and of risk and of
04:51 trial and sometimes error. But I think that spirit, we really entered into that last year
05:01 through our theme this year with Rituals That Unite Us. It's continuing in the vein of bringing
05:07 people close together around a shared pursuit of curiosity. And I think, I just can't wait.
05:13 And finally, you'll be making a few appearances on stage, I suppose.
05:16 Yes, I will, again. So last year, as you'll remember, it was a few sort of unexpected,
05:21 I kind of popped up with my violin here and there. Last year, I did most of that in the
05:26 opening three days, whilst we had the most intense, sort of like unbelievable number
05:33 of things going on at one time. I don't know what made me think that that was a great idea,
05:37 but I did survive it and I did all my performances. This year, there'll be sort of staggered bit
05:43 more like something at the beginning and then something more towards the end. But yeah,
05:48 my violin's got to come out at some point.
05:51 Thank you.
05:52 Thank you so much.
05:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]