Deaf Action has made a plea to the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland and called on them to guarantee a fairer deal for Deaf Arts.
The third annual Edinburgh Deaf Festival is currently taking place in the capital and runs in tandem with the Fringe. Despite the success of the first two years of it, organisers fear for its future without proper support and hope to see things change.
Scottish Culture Secretary Angus Roberson recently pledged more funding for Scotland’s festivals and a strategic partnership with Creative Scotland and Event Scotland. In that open letter, he described art festivals as a ‘jewel in the cultural sector and national life’.
He also stated: “With the help of the sector, which has already identified many of the necessary next steps, I want to ensure that we are best supporting festivals. This will include additional Scottish Government funding, which is committed to raise additional annual spending on culture and the arts by £100m by 2028/29, aiming for an increase of £25m next year.”
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Since then, further concerns have since been raised further about widespread cuts.
Late last year, Deaf Action shared numbers on their website which showed one in five people have some form of hearing loss, yet just 0.4 percent of funding goes towards deaf-led projects. They described it as a ‘significant discrepancy’ and called for it to be fixed then, and they are now repeating that.
They say warm words aren’t enough and Creative Scotland have previously rejected three-year funding requests by the Edinburgh Deaf Festival.
As well as the issues with funding, Deaf Action is also concerned by how little is done to ensure deaf people are represented in their decision making and policy and how little staff training on deaf awareness.
Philip Gerrard, CEO of Deaf Action which runs the Edinburgh Deaf Festival, said: “We welcome the latest warm words from the Scottish Government, but what we need is prompt action.
“This festival has been a huge success but we only just managed to survive this year due to the funding challenges, and 2025 looks bleak. Festivals take a long time to organise, and that cannot be done without financial security.
“We previously took the Scottish Government at its word when its British Sign Language National Plan pledged to work with Creative Scotland to support and encourage deaf arts. The results have been failure, disappointment, bundles of red tape.
“This is a unique festival which has been built and developed by the deaf community for deaf and hearing audiences. It is lively, vibrant and fun – providing a showcase for deaf talent, providing access to deaf culture and supporting and encouraging deaf young people.
“All we want is a fair deal so we can ensure that this festival has a sustainable future and can make its contribution to Scotland as a nation of fabulous festivals.”
This year’s festival had to be slimmed down due to the shortage of funds but has presented its first-ever specially commissioned play. The Ghost of Alexander Blackwood celebrates the lives of Edinburgh’s early deaf rights pioneers and is a work of an all-deaf team and has helped deliver one of the festival’s key goals, which is to provide opportunities for deaf creatives.
The programme also includes work from Gavin Lilley, renowned deaf comedian, John Smith, and much more including a cabaret which features dance, sign songs, comedy, dram and monologues in England and British Sign Language.
The festival also has a programme of tours, workshops, family and children’s activities for BSL while their ‘interpreter on demand’ services allows deaf people to arrange an interpreter or captioner for fringe shows that are not accessible.
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