THERE is a month to go before the start of the 78th Edinburgh International Festival, alongside the range of other festivals in the city which have come to define the month of August.

The city will be crowded and there will be performances in every available space, on street corners, community centres, workplaces and parks. The Festival that started it all, the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) established post war in 1947, continues to bring world-class performances in theatre, opera, music, and dance to audiences from across the world.

The trade union movement has a long connection, with Edinburgh Trades Union Council having a seat on the EIF board from those early days. Bringing communities together was an early commitment, although arguably not always followed through.  

The origins of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe can be seen in the appearance of eight smaller theatre companies including the Glasgow Unity Theatre group, performing uninvited in Edinburgh in 1947, having been turned down for inclusion in that first EIF programme.

Whilst there may be a continued perception of the Edinburgh International Festival as exclusive and hard to access, strenuous efforts have gone in over the years to change that. This year being no exception. Having served on the EIF Board of Trustees for six years, I have seen, and been part of, a commitment to increasing the reach of the International Festival.

This has been a period which has included two years of the Covid pandemic and a continuing period of recovery for the whole creative sector, the Scottish Parliament election of 2021 and the UK government election of 2024, and growing economic inequality across the world.

The Edinburgh International Festival runs from August 1-24 2025. Tickets are on sale for a wide range of performances, and the opening weekend is marked with family events in the Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens.

A “Big Singalong” led by Dougie Maclean, composer of the well-known folk ballad Caledonia, is free to join and will certainly fill the city centre with music and song. With a ceilidh also planned, and a Family Concert in the Usher Hall, it is hoped that there will be significant participation from across the city.

Last year’s Family Concert saw the Philarmonia Orchestra play to a packed Usher Hall, with children encouraged to participate as the orchestra played sections from the Carnival of Animals, and concluding with the Flight of the Bumble Bee.

The concert was signed throughout for those with hearing difficulties, a reminder of the commitment to improving inclusion, but also of the great skill involved in interpreting music with sign language.

Central to that afternoon was Nicola Benedetti playing the violin solo of The Lark Ascending. One of the EIF community partnerships established in 2024 was with @Space at the Broomhouse Hub. During the 2024 Festival a Virtual Reality Experience presentation by the Philarmonia Orchestra was laid on, supported by community centre volunteers, encouraging schools and groups to learn more about the way in which an orchestra works, and to learn more about the piece The Lark Ascending.

This undoubtedly contributed effectively to the audience experience at the live performance at the end of the festival. It will be interesting to see the evaluation after 2025 of this particular community partnership and learn for the future.

On a larger scale, as an EIF board member with a connection to the trade union movement, I have been interested in the work being done to develop a much wider definition of “community” within the programming and marketing.

Significant improvements have been made around accessibility, with the appointment of an accessibility manager in 2024, and specific support through free companion tickets, an access pass, and 50 per cent discounts for D/deaf, disabled, or neurodivergent audience members. Partnerships have been established with a range of organisations working with disabled people, and information shared with the STUC disabled workers committee and its networks.

The trade union movement is arguably the largest civic society membership organisation in Scotland — one very large “community.” The STUC represents over 550,000 workers through 40 affiliated trade unions and 20 trade union councils.

Some of these trade unions have a specific interest in the creative sector, working conditions, future skills development, and protecting a workforce which has been struggling during and following the pandemic. A recent STUC report highlighted some of the challenges for the many freelance workers in the sector. 

The STUC, the TUC, and the European and international trade union networks of which we are part, will be reflected within the Edinburgh International Festival. This will be both within the performances and audiences, and everyone who contributes to making it happen, including public transport workers, local authority workers. Initiatives such as the Young Musicians Pass and the EIF Art of Listening programme which has now presented free workshops to thousands of schoolchildren aged 10-12 across Edinburgh, brings classical music to a wider audience.  

These are our children and young people, looking to the future. This festival is for the whole trade union movement, not only those who work in the sector, and a range of ticket pricing initiatives are underway for all the EIF performances — across theatre, dance, music and opera — including £10 on the day and some £10 in advance too.

There is a trade union and labour movement connection to be maintained at the Edinburgh International Festival, as it approaches its 80th anniversary in 2027. I have learned a lot over the last six years and tried to feedback to the Edinburgh trade union council and STUC too. It is to be hoped this will continue from amongst the incoming EIF board membership as there is much more to discuss.

But for me today, never have the words of the American female textile mill workers’ dispute in 1912 been more relevant, as the international situation must dominate our thoughts — these women sang in struggle, in poverty and in hunger. They sang of the need for “bread, and roses too.”

As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day

A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray

Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses

For the people hear us singing, bread and roses, bread and roses.
As we come marching, marching, un-numbered women dead

Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread

Small art and love and beauty their trudging spirits knew

Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses, too.

Ann Henderson was an EIF board member, August 2019-June 2025.