HIGHLIGHTS of the Edinburgh International Festival are to be beamed into homes around the world in the largest arts transmission of its kind, writes Annette McCann.
Radical plans to put video footage of the performing and visual arts on the Internet are to be backed up by giant outdoor screens which are to be erected in Princes Street Gardens.
The eight-hour daily shows may also be taken to Glasgow and Dundee via public screens, with both city councils expressing an interest. The facility will also allow for some live transmissions.
The extravaganza, which is being marketed under the label Festival Revue, has attracted the backing of major companies, including Sony, who will provide the 11sq metre screens.
More than #500,000 in sponsorship has already been raised for the programme which will feature worldwide premieres and contributions from big name bands such as U2.
The shows and website will be free to the public but the organisers said they were confident it would not affect ticket sales.
Paul Blyth, the managing director of the Midlothian-based broadcast company behind the event, C5TVC, said the aim was to make the programme more accessible.
He said: ''The Edinburgh Festival has become almost a victim of its own success in that members of the public can find it very difficult to decide what to go and see. I do not think that it will stop people from coming as we cannot replicate the atmosphere of a real live show.''
If the extravaganza proves to be a success, the organisers plan to take the festival highlights to London and New York next year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article