The Edinburgh International Festival is facing a boycott campaign this summer after pro-Palestine activists reignited a dispute over its biggest corporate backer.
The Art Workers for Palestine group is calling on artists and audiences to shun the event due to its long-standing relationship with Edinburgh-based investment firm Baillie Gifford over its links with Israel.
The campaign group said it had decided to instigate its first ever boycott after repeatedly raising concerns with the festival over its backing by the company, one of the biggest private sector supporters of Scottish culture.
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It has accused the EIF of ignoring an open letter demanding the event severs its links with Bailie Gifford, which is said to have been backed by more than 700 artist, arts workers and audience members.
The boycott was announced just as the festival was unveiling its programme for this year, which will feature the biggest ever showcase of American artists, culture and stories in the 79-year history of the event.
The EIF is coming under renewed pressure two years after the Edinburgh International Book Festival announced it was ending its 20-year partnership with Baillie Gifford in response to threats of a boycott and disruption from climate change campaigners over the company’s links with the fossil fuels industry.
The 2026 EIF programme lists Baillie Gifford as the festival’s main “supporting partner,” alongside its public funders, Edinburgh City Council and Creative Scotland, the Scottish Government's arts agency.
The EIF has warned that the targeting of arts organisations by activists “threatens our ability to function, and ultimately reduces the very spaces where difficult conversations, human stories, and critical ideas can be explored.
It has insisted that support from “long standing donors” like Baillie Gifford is vital to allow it to “sustain artistic ambition, remain accessible to the widest possible audience, and contribute meaningfully to international dialogue as well as Scotland’s cultural landscape.”
The Scottish Government has previously spoken out against disinvestment targeting arts organisations and festivals, warning that they can lead to "immediate financial challenges" and can have also have a "detrimental impact" on future corporate support.
However Art Workers for Palestine said the EIF, which secured a new three-year funding deal with £11.75m from Creative Scotland last year, had “refused to meaningfully engage with calls for change”.
It has suggested that EIF artists and companies have had “gagging clauses” imposed on them to curb criticism of the festival and its funders.
It has now vowed to keep its boycott campaign in place until the EIF “ends its relationship with Baillie Gifford.
A statement from the group said: “The EIF receives the largest amount of Baillie Gifford funding of any cultural organisation in Scotland despite getting millions in public funding from Creative Scotland.
"After two years of refusing to drop Baillie Gifford, and attempts to silence artists from speaking out, we are now taking further action to kick Baillie Gifford out of the Scottish arts once and for all.
"We have reached a point where further engagement will not lead to change. This boycott is not symbolic.
“It is a necessary act of refusal - a refusal to allow cultural prestige to obscure complicity, and a refusal to accept the silencing of artists in service of unethical funding.
“We are calling on artists to refuse participation in the Edinburgh International Festival, on audiences to withhold their attendance, and on cultural workers and institutions to publicly support this boycott.”
EIF chief executive Francesca Hegyi told The Herald: "I'm glad that we live in a country where protest and activism are permitted because, right now, when we look at what is going on in the world there are plenty of places where that isn't the case.
"While we obviously have different positions on this, it is right that Art Workers for Palestine can use the platform that they have to make the statements that they want.
"We have been engaging consistently for the last two years on this and we have ended up in a different place to where Art Workers for Palestine are.
"Our board have looked at this really carefully and are satisfied that Baillie Gifford remain an appropriate partner for us.
"This is not about the importance of any individual partner. The principle that is central here is where arts organisations get their funding from. Making the books balance and being able to do what we do, to give voice to artists, is increasingly difficult.
"We have had a very welcome increase in Creative Scotland funding, but that does not make up for the effect of erosion over the last 18 years. It is not like anybody in the arts world is out of the woods.
"Our job is to make sure that the festival is sustainable as it can be so that we can jobs to artists and others into the future so they can say what they think about the world."
A spokesperson for the festival added: "We have been open about our decision making processes and the principles that inform them.
"While we recognise that not everyone will always agree with us, the decisions we make are guided by what we believe is in the best interests of the festival, its artists, audiences and long-term public benefit.
"We respect the right to speak out and demand change, however, we do not accept that targeting charitable arts and culture organisations - or the individuals that work for them - is a constructive way to achieve that. It can put these organisations at risk, despite the vital role the arts and culture play in Scotland’s society, communities and how the country connects to the world."
Culture secretary Angus Robertson said: "“The generous philanthropy of individuals and businesses is just as essential to the success of Scotland’s festivals, and the wider arts and culture sector as a whole.
"Any disinvestment campaigns, irrespective of their primary intention, could lead to immediate financial challenges for cultural organisations across Scotland, many of whom rely on a broad range of contributions from different individuals and organisations.
“The culture sector is integral to our society, environment and economy. It provides an important platform for freedom of expression and debate of the challenging issues of our time, and ethically acceptable solutions to the issues raised should be found through dialogue.
“The Scottish Government has already taken the most direct and effective action within our own powers to press for an immediate and lasting resolution to the conflict.
"Ministers continue to call on the UK Government to withdraw from the existing free trade agreement with Israel and prohibit the import of goods produced in illegal settlements.”
A spokesperson for Baillie Gifford said: "Baillie Gifford is a long-term investor with high ethical standards and a clear focus on doing what is right for the people who entrust us with their pensions and life savings.
"The assertion that we have significant amounts of clients’ money invested in the occupied Palestinian territories and fossil fuels is hugely misleading.”
