Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- List of Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Cultural Resort of Europe: The Creation of the Festival, c. 1944–1947
- 3 Cultural challenge: The Creation of a ‘Fringe’, 1947–1955
- 4 Convergence of Cultures: New developments in the Arts, 1956–1962
- 5 Culture and (Im)morality: The Year of the Happening, 1963
- 6 Cultural Explosion: The Arts and Moral Conflict in Edinburgh in the High Sixties, 1964–1967
- 7 Cultural Crisis? Protest and Reaction, 1968–1970
- 8 Conclusion
- Appendix 1 List of Lord Provosts/Edinburgh Festival Society Chairs and Festival Artistic Directors, 1947–1970
- Appendix 2 Short Biographies of Oral History Interviewees
- Sources and Select Bibliography
- Index
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- List of Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Cultural Resort of Europe: The Creation of the Festival, c. 1944–1947
- 3 Cultural challenge: The Creation of a ‘Fringe’, 1947–1955
- 4 Convergence of Cultures: New developments in the Arts, 1956–1962
- 5 Culture and (Im)morality: The Year of the Happening, 1963
- 6 Cultural Explosion: The Arts and Moral Conflict in Edinburgh in the High Sixties, 1964–1967
- 7 Cultural Crisis? Protest and Reaction, 1968–1970
- 8 Conclusion
- Appendix 1 List of Lord Provosts/Edinburgh Festival Society Chairs and Festival Artistic Directors, 1947–1970
- Appendix 2 Short Biographies of Oral History Interviewees
- Sources and Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In 1971, the Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe celebrated their twenty-fifth seasons. In his foreword to the International Festival Programme the Lord Provost, Sir James W. McKay, quoted a statement made by his predecessor Sir John Falconer in 1947: ‘The human mind needs an occasional stretch into an overflowing fountain of grace and beneficence to confirm its weak faith and to anchor it to something higher than itself.’ McKay continued:
It was on this charter of idealism that the Festival was launched. Over a period of twenty-five years detail changes have been inevitable. Successive Lord Provosts, as Chairman of the Festival Society, have been inspired by Sir John Falconer's concept of the grand design and have striven to maintain the standards that have been the touchstone of success. And now looking forward twenty-five years – we shall have new members of the Festival Society, new audiences and new directors. In the midst of such a natural course of events the Festival must remain true to the idealism of its founders. It must not be the instrument of ribald or derisive jests nor the vehicle of extreme experimental phenomena. Rather it should be permitted to acquire the patina of tradition and reflect some of Edinburgh's golden age of Arts and Letters.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Edinburgh FestivalsCulture and Society in Post-war Britain, pp. 223 - 230Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2013