ARTS impresario Richard Demarco has warned that big business is destroying Edinburgh's festivals as a new survey revealed the number of people who think the city's famous cultural events make it a worse place to live is increasing.
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His comments came as the city council found the proportion of residents in the category of believing the festivals make Edinburgh a worse place to live has increased every year for the past five year, from less than half a per cent, to the six per cent.
Mr Demarco, who has attended all 70 festivals and is considered one of the cultural event's founding figures, said: "I’m not surprised and I should think it will increase in the coming years.
"It is out of control.
"It is not enough to talk about the number of people carrying torches walking down The Mound on New Year’s night, not enough to say about all the money that is coming into the city and the people watching fireworks.
"Everything in this city is now being governed by the use of cultural language as part of the world of big business.
"Everything is a money-making machine.
"The wide-ranging nature of what Edinburgh can offer is being destroyed."
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Mr Demarco also said: "I think this is a really serious problem
"The forces that are controlling it (the festival culture) now, are the same forces that are making life impossible in cities like Venice and Barcelona and the cities which attract large numbers of tourists.
"The Edinburgh festival is now going to attract more and more people and will therefore bring more and more straightforward income into the city.
"I’m wondering if we should be asking ourselves should we trust the concept of cultural activity with a money-making engine."
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He said: "What the people who come to the Edinburgh festivals don’t get, is the reality of Edinburgh.
“They get an amplified, over-egged version of the city.
“This is the case with Christmas and New Year.
"Tourism is the name of the game.
“If you really want to know Edinburgh, visitors should be told, for God’s sake don’t come during the festival.”
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