THE Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) opened last weekend, with fantastic performances and an energy which was very refreshing. In her first year as festival director, Nicola Benedetti has taken as her theme from Martin Luther King Junior’s last book Where do we go from Here: Chaos or Community?

The Hub, the building at the top of the Royal Mile by Edinburgh Castle, where the staff team is based and which was traditionally a festival hub, is open to the public, with a range of free (ticketed) events and evening performances. The opening night there, on Sunday August 6, brought some of those musicians together in warm and high-spirited performances, joined at various points by Benedetti.

Benedetti also played earlier that afternoon, with the Grit Orchestra, a unique ensemble which brings together leading jazz, folk and classical musicians, played in the Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens for all to hear — in collaboration with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the performance was well received.

That afternoon concert ended on a touching note in memory of Rab Noakes, who died last year. Rab was a Scottish folk singer-songwriter, active in many different arenas, and a longstanding member and activist in the Musicians Union, remembered particularly for always encouraging younger members and performers.

The EIF opening concert in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, the Scottish premiere of composer Tan Dun’s Buddha Passion, saw Tan Dun conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the RSNO Youth Chorus, and the Edinburgh Festival Choir to a full house and a standing ovation. Buddha Passion is set at the foot of the Himalayas and inspired by Chinese and Sanskrit texts. The bringing together of different cultures and musical traditions was a great start to this world-acclaimed festival.

For trade unions, there has always been a link with the EIF from its earliest days in the late 1940s with Edinburgh TUC represented on the board. While the history of the Fringe is also rooted in working-class engagement (or exclusion from) the International Festival, that will be explored in another article. For this piece, I would encourage trade unionists from across the world to look at and invest in, the International Festival.

Many of the performers will be trade union members themselves, and the working conditions in which EIF performances take place are informed by trade union representation, continually seeking to ensure high health and safety standards.

There is always more to do, but the themes around this year’s Festival certainly lend themselves to working together, using a collective voice, with an absolute commitment to fighting for arts and culture to be given the resources that the sector needs to survive and grow.

There are also ways to get more involved. The EIF runs an all-year-round community and schools engagement programme, free tickets have been distributed for a number of the EIF events this year to community groups, young people, and NHS staff in recognition of their contribution both during the pandemic and ongoing.

The 30 per cent concession discount on all ticket prices includes concessions for arts workers. There is a special £10 on-the-day ticket price for any unsold seats at a number of the high-profile performances, also available to arts workers.

Trade union reps and members have been encouraged to participate in the three free “Conversation” events on the themes of the festival — last week a wide-ranging discussion took place on the theme Exploring Community over Chaos, to which the Edinburgh-based Trade unions in the Community was able to contribute, and hopefully conversations will continue to bring some joint projects together in the year ahead.

The next two events in this series of conversations, to which everyone is welcome. On Tuesday August 15 at 2.30pm: Exploring Hope in the Face of Adversity — Scottish poet and playwright Jackie Kay and British-Iranian artist Fari Bradley explore the power of hope and creativity in adverse circumstances.

On Monday August 21 2.30pm: Exploring a Perspective That’s not one’s Own. Author Dina Nayeri and cultural development specialist Fairouz Nishanova in a discussion about the power of listening to different perspectives, chaired by author and journalist Chitra Ramaswamy. These events take place at the Hub, tickets are free and can be booked at www.eif.co.uk.