New group vows to push city festivals

The Scottish Events and Festivals Association aims to increase knowledge of how much the festivals are worth to the economy and will be independent from government agencies such as Creative Scotland and Event Scotland.

Dr Jane Ali-Knight, director of the festivals, events and tourism institute at Edinburgh Napier University, will be one of the new body’s key advisers, it was reported today.

She said: “There is nothing like this body in Scotland at the moment. Events and festivals are sometimes subsumed by the wider tourism industry, which they are very different from.

“There are some very big events coming up in Scotland over the next few years and there is a feeling within the industry that there needs to be a cohesive voice to speak directly to government.”