Edinburgh’s festivals should start in July to make them more family friendly, according to the city’s culture chief.
Donald Wilson, the city council’s culture convener, suggested staging the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe earlier to coincide with Scottish school holidays.
However, Fringe organisers have cautioned against the move, suggesting that a change of date could be counterproductive, preventing children from attending with their schools.
Wilson has also called for shows and performances to be held in venues outside the city centre as part of a package of changes that could broaden the festivals’ appeal.
As festival season gets under way in Edinburgh, children in the city are preparing to go back to school in less than two weeks.
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Wilson told The Scotsman: “If we’re talking about increasing participation in the festivals, to have the holidays coincide with them would actually increase that sense of ownership of them.
“It’s not just families who would find it easier. I think teachers and school staff would as well.
“We have to look at widening things out geographically, but it is also about deepening their appeal. We have events and festivals that are primarily of interest to visitors to the city, but we have to make sure we’re paying enough attention to the citizens of Edinburgh.”
Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, cautioned: “While many children are introduced to the arts through their parents and families, we shouldn’t assume that all children access the arts this way.
“Schools and community groups also play a key role in making that introduction, and moving the dates to be exclusively within the school holidays could potentially limit access to the Fringe.”
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A spokeswoman for the international festival said that dates that straddled the school holidays enabled parents to bring their children to events and also helped to reach local young people through schools.