The Edinburgh International Festival programme for Summer 2013 will be unveiled this morning at The Hub. Amid the buzz of the bacon rolls and coffee we will bring you the details of what is in store for you live as it happens. Scroll down to read the liveblog…which will update automatically with our updates and tweets from The Edinburgh Reporter and others who are at the launch.

The Edinburgh Reporter also hopes to interview Festival Director Jonathan Mills about what will be his second last Festival, and anyone else we can get our hands on. More news below as and when it happens! We are all expecting great things this morning for the EIF which runs from 9 August  to 1 September 2013. If you are a friend or patron of the Festival (which starts at £60 per annum) then you can start booking your tickets later today, but for everyone else the booking date is 23 March 2013.

Last year’s festival in an Olympic imitation of the goings on down south got off the starting blocks with Delius’s Mass of Life, hurtled up and down Arthur’s Seat with the NVA Speed of Light (which is where our photo was taken last year). Then the Scottish Play had a run around  in the big shed at the Royal Highland Showground and finally the greatest Arts Event in Scotland if not the world crossed the finishing line with the usual fireworks display high above Edinburgh Castle. What will be in store this year?

The Edinburgh International Festival began in 1947. The organisers say that their mission statement is:-

 to be the most exciting, innovative and accessible Festival of the performing arts in the world, and thus promote the cultural, educational and economic well-being of the people of Edinburgh and Scotland. We do this by:

  • Presenting arts of the highest possible international standard to the widest possible audience
  • Reflecting international culture to audiences from Scotland, the rest of the UK and the world
  • Offering an international showcase for Scottish culture
  • Presenting events which cannot easily be achieved by any other UK arts organisation through innovative programming and a commitment to new work
  • Actively ensuring equal opportunities for all sections of the Scottish and wider public to experience and enjoy the Festival
  • Encouraging public participation in the arts throughout the year by collaborating with other arts and festival organisations
  • Ensuring the Festival has adequate core funding to fulfil its mission and address its sustainability
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Phyllis Stephen
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.

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