It was a lightly delivered, even stray comment, but one that seemed to hold greater import than the manner in which it was conveyed. Last week, Fergus Linehan, artistic director of the Edinburgh International Festival, was talking to a bunch of journalists around the table in his office at the top of the Hub on the Royal Mile. We were there to talk about the early announcements for the 2016 festival, including an opera, the appearances of Mogwai (to perform a live soundtrack of Mark Cousins film Atomic - Living in Dread and Promise) and member of various bands, including Lau, The Unthanks and Portishead in a fascinating new project called Flit.
But it was when we were discussing the landscape of the city itself that Linehan touched on something I know has bugged, or concerned, various directors, of various festivals and companies, over the years. Linehan was asked whether he had anything particular to say about the ongoing controversies over two Edinburgh developments, the contentious re-modelling of the St James Centre and the fate of the Royal High School. He declined to comment specifically, but he did add, intriguingly: "It also opens up the question that there hasn't been new cultural facility built in the city for an extraordinarily long time. That's a question. The fabric of the ongoing stock of buildings is a big question and we need to be engaged with that as well."
This was an interesting diversion in the conversation. It is clearly something on Linehan's mind.
It may seem, on the surface, that Edinburgh is well served by its venues. The Usher Hall is, for orchestras, in a class of its own. It is less suited for drama and opera. The capital has its established theatre spaces: The Traverse, the Royal Lyceum, The Kings, the Festival Theatre, and the Playhouse. The Queen's Hall is a good venue for a certain kind of event and music.
And yet: I know some in the cultural world have been eager for the capital of this country to have a, in the old sense, a capital performing arts centre. But, in another sense, that takes a lot of capital.
What would this dream venue include? A modern auditorium fit for the world's orchestras and the biggest bands. Fit for recording them, too. A space also capable, in a flexible but sustainable way, of staging opera and theatre. A home, perhaps, for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Maybe, too, an additional space for touring bands and DJs. And, even, rehearsal space for theatre and music, and a recording studio. One former executive at the Edinburgh International Film Festival also once waxed poetic about the city having festival-class screens to show movies, as well as a sense of occasion and, as it was explained to me, a consistent sense of a centre.
Now, in the currant financial climate, and the no-doubt cuts to come, the idea of building a facility such as this in Edinburgh seems like a pipe dream. And even calling for such a project - which would cost north of £100m - could harm the cause of the arts in a time where they will need, at agency and governmental level, to scrap for every dime. And also: where would it go? The centre of Edinburgh is not rich with space that could be developed in this way. It would need ready road access for trucks and facilities, as well as public access.
And given the ugly developments heading for for the St James Centre and the controversy over the Royal High School project, perhaps Edinburgh does not need another row over a 'prestige' project. Which is not to say that our capital should not have a centre to rival the Lincoln Center (the New York centre for which a recent revamp cost $300m) or the Barbican Centre of London (which cost the equivalent of £400m in today's money).
Why not? It is the world's biggest and (can we say?) best festival: should it not have a new, world class, modern stage? Glasgow, after all, has a gleaming new Theatre Royal and on Monday I will be shown around the RSNO's sparkling new headquarters in that city's centre.
Mr Linehan is already tinkering with his venues - The Hub will be a major venue next year. Perhaps there is a degree of frustration with what venues the Festival has to play with, especially at a time of year when the Fringe is living in every conceivable space in the city. But, perhaps the time is not right for raising this prospect. But it can be raised anyway - at some stage in the near future Edinburgh, and Scotland, will have to rethink its major cultural hardware. Why not start planning, or at least dreaming, now?
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here