John Swinney has said dialogue and respect for free speech are important after the Edinburgh International Book Festival ended its 20-year sponsorship with Baillie Gifford.
However, the First Minister stressed the Scottish Government could not be expected to fund every cultural event amid a tight budget.
The festival’s organisers said they had come under “intolerable” pressure from climate campaigners, who criticised Baillie Gifford’s investments in fossil fuels.
More than 50 authors and and event chairs taking part in last year’s festival signed an open letter demanding organisers find alternative sponsors if the investment management firm did not divest billions.
But last week another group of writers said the campaign against the festival was “deeply retrograde” and signed an open letter saying they are concerned about its future.
Mr Swinney was asked about the developments during an election campaign stop in Stirling.
He told the PA news agency a “significant difficulty” had been created for the Edinburgh International Book Festival and similar events.
He said: “What I would encourage is dialogue between all the various interested parties.
“I would encourage a respect for the process of engagement and respect for free speech, so that we find a way through all of these issues which enable people to make their arguments, but also enables us to have important events such as the Edinburgh International Book Festival effectively supported.”
Asked if the Scottish Government could help with the book festival’s funding, Mr Swinney said there are “enormous pressures on the public finances”.
He said: “We have to recognise that the public purse cannot stretch to meet every requirement that is put in front of it.”
The First Minister said he valued the cultural sector and the Government would do as much as it can to support events such as the book festival.
Last week, Jenny Niven, chief executive of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said the event’s future is at risk because of the lack of a principal sponsor.
She said: “Undermining the long-term future of charitable organisations such as book festivals is not the right way to bring about change.
“It diminishes the voices of those who feel strongly about these complex issues and it will be infinitely harder to build and sustain well-funded cultural institutions in the future than it is to put them out of business today.”
Nick Thomas, a partner with Baillie Gifford, said previously that the firm is stepping back “with the hope that the festival will thrive this year and into the future”.
He said: “We hold the activists squarely responsible for the inhibiting effect their action will have on funding for the arts in this country.
“Baillie Gifford is a long-term investor with high ethical standards and a complete focus on doing what is right by our clients.”
He added: “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels.”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel