Capital in bid to lure west end art lovers to festivals

Arts Correspondent

Monday 23 July 2012

Edinburgh's 12 summer festivals launch a campaign today aimed at luring art lovers away from Glasgow to next month's cultural events in the capital.

Custom byline text:

Phil Miller Arts Correspondent

Posters and competition offers will be placed around the city's west end as festival organisers try to persuade residents to head east.

The move follows the attempts by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to attract more Glaswegians – next weekend it will set up its first box office at Queen Street Station.

Currently, less than 3% of Fringe ticket buyers come from Glasgow, and now the other festivals, under the umbrella organisation Festivals Edinburgh, are to target the G12 postcode. The area is considered to be predominantly middle class and popular with students.For years the Edinburgh festivals have recorded low attendance from the west and are acting on research which shows, perhaps unsurprisingly to residents of Glasgow, that the west end has the potential to deliver more ticket sales for the festivals.Festivals Edinburgh represents the 12 festivals in the capital, which in total attract more than four million attendees every year, and contribute £261 million to the Scottish economy.Faith Liddell, director of Festivals Edinburgh, said: "For the first time, Edinburgh's Festivals are undertaking a collaborative outdoor campaign in Glasgow to highlight awareness of our summer festival season. "This is the first step in what we hope is an ongoing programme of marketing within the area as we continue to promote Edinburgh's fantastic array of summer festivals which are less than an hour away by train."The two-week print campaign is costing the festivals £10,000 and is viewed as a tester to see if the posters, which feature a competition to win a trip to the summer festivals, including the Tattoo, the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh International Book Festival, will increase festival ticket buying in the area. "We're specifically targeting this area as we undertook research into our Glasgow audiences last year to identify where current bookers reside and where we could increase visitation in 2012," said Susan Russell, the marketing manager of Festivals Edinburgh.She added: "We really hope we can tap into those people who are 'staycationers', who won't go on holiday this summer or go to London for the Olympics."Last year we did research and we saw that the majority of ticket bookers at the festival came from this area of Glasgow."Our ambition is to increase the amount of people from Glasgow coming to Edinburgh in August and it will be interesting to see the results."A spokeswoman for the Edinburgh International Festival added: "We are working with Edinburgh's other summer festivals to highlight the fabulous opportunity to immerse yourself in literature, theatre, dance, opera, music, debate, comedy and more, right on Glasgow's doorstep. "From Monday adverts will roll out in the city's west end offering Glaswegians the chance to win a trip to the festivals, and with First ScotRail increasing its services over the festival period it is easier than ever for those based in the west to enjoy all that Edinburgh's festivals offer."For the box office, which will be open from July 27, the Fringe has gone into partnership with ScotRail and used £80,000 of Creative Scotland funding.Festival-goers will be able to buy and pick up pre-paid tickets from the box office, which will be open from 8am to 8pm and be sited under the station's departures board until August 27.This year, for the first time, Glasgow visitors to the festival will be able to catch a train from the capital to Glasgow at half-past midnight during the week. ScotRail is also putting on extra carriages – last year there were complaints of overcrowding – and an additional service to Dundee. Sunday morning services from Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh will be increased during August.The 00.30 Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street service, which ran at weekends only, will run seven days a week from August 4 to 26 inclusive. It will call at Linlithgow, Polmont, Falkirk High, Croy, Lenzie and Bishopbriggs.

Contextual targeting label:

Arts and Entertainment

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Capital in bid to lure west end art lovers to festivals

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED