EDINBURGH will become the centre of the world's artistic political elite every two years, in a regular series of summits for arts ministers.
Jonathan Mills, the artistic director of the Edinburgh International Festival, which unveils its ambitious 2012 programme today, has revealed plans for the Scottish capital to host biennial August meetings of more than 40 government arts ministers.
The group will not only meet and discuss policy and partnerships, but take in the cultural offerings of the annual festival, Fringe, and book festival.
The first International Culture Summit will take place on August 13 and 14, during the Edinburgh Festival and just after the close of the 2012 London Olympics.
The summit, where arts ministers will debate "culture as an international dialogue", has been set up as a collaboration between the Scottish Government, the UK Government, the Edinburgh International Festival and the British Council.
Mr Mills said there will be 40 to 50 arts and sports ministers in Edinburgh for both public and private discussions at the summit, which will be hosted in the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.
He said: "When culture ministers get together, it is usually in a conference centre, removed from the art, but in Edinburgh in August you cannot move for cultural product, so this will be a great initiative that says 'you can have your TED conference, you can have your World Economic Forum, all of these hermetically sealed things, but come to the midst of this cultural celebration, and see all these festivals together'.
"How attractive would that be for a culture minister, to see how it is done, see what the mayhem is, see what all the fuss is about?"
He added: "It also has an integrity – some of these events are placed in places that are arbitrary, so that it doesn't really matter what you talk about.
"Davos [the Swiss host to the World Economic Forum] is a great private place where people can be housed in a private forum, but this is a different concept: those people who have an important role to play in culture come to the central place of a great cultural celebration, that has to be good."
Mr Mills, who confirmed his last festival will be in 2014, said: "We are certainly looking at exploring ways of making it continue, not on an annual basis but on a biennial basis.
"It has to be here [in Edinburgh], you could take it somewhere else, but can you actually have audiences of between 75 to 80 nationalities in town, artists, writers, brass bands, stand-up comics? It's extraordinary."
This year's summit programme is being devised around three main ideas: "the role of the arts and culture in deepening and broadening our understanding of the complex relationships between cultures and nations", sustaining private and public support for culture, and "future skills for the creative industries and the role of technology".
Mr Mills said: "There will be public and private sessions, sessions that are plenary sessions open to the public, and private policy discussions.
"This is good because it gives us a leadership role with a new generation of political leadership, and its value is to be seen beyond just Scotland.
"Its value to us in purely practical terms – we can say 'you've seen the Edinburgh Festival, and next time somebody comes to you to be supported to come to the Fringe, the book festival, the International Festival – you know its a no-brainer, you know you want to support them.
"Equally you want to engage with us, because look what you can achieve with the right ingredients in your own country. This is good for culture more broadly than just the UK: it's cultural exchange which encourages other cultural exchange, which is surely a good thing."
This year's EIF runs from August 9 to September 2.
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