Edinburgh festivals to go digital

Edinburgh's 12 major festivals, including its most popular performing arts event, will become the first in the UK to have a major digital development boost.

Festivals Edinburgh, the umbrella organisation of the city's events, has received GBP 300,000 from Creative Scotland's National Lottery Fund to create the Edinburgh Festivals Innovation Lab.

The two-year initiative will see leading thinkers, technologists, artists, audiences and digital communities work together to develop ideas that will improve and inspire the audience experience.

This will include ways to distribute the digital content of festivals and support digital programming.

Faith Liddell, director of Festivals Edinburgh said: 'Over the next two years, our world-renowned festivals will be a stage and a showcase, a playground and a platform for a number of innovative pilot projects and initiatives.

'We are delighted that Creative Scotland has chosen to invest in our ambition, as we focus on digital technology and innovative practice to maintain our global competitive edge.'

The lab is part of Creative Scotland's Amb:IT:ion Scotland programme, which supports arts organisations in building their digital capacity.