爱丁堡艺术节顺利闭幕|导演Nichola Benedetti：文化交流带来希望

A major new global poll unveiled at the 2026 Edinburgh International Festival found that 68% of people worldwide say culture gives them hope. 

The International Festival tackled barriers that keep audiences from world-class live performance: over 50,000 tickets were priced at £30 or under; a record 3,000 free tickets were given to Scotland’s young musicians; over 8,000 half-price and free tickets for Deaf, disabled & neurodivergent audiences; and more than double the number of £10 tickets were available across every performance.

A deep connection was forged between audiences and world-leading thinkers, artists and cultural voices: 86% of audiences rated their experience 4 or 5 stars.31 August, Edinburgh: The 2026 Edinburgh International Festival concluded yesterday, with the last of 146 performances across music, dance, opera and theatre in a 24-day celebration of the performing arts. This year’s programme, All Rise, put America in the spotlight, featuring the largest representation of American artists in the Festival’s history. With over 2,000 artists from 46 countries, hand-picked for their cultural resonance, the 2026 Festival was defined by extraordinary artists and thinkers who presented a range of contemporary perspectives, and a vision for the future.  In its inaugural Global Ideas Stage event, the International Festival unveiled a major new poll conducted on culture and hope, the largest of its kind ever undertaken on this subject. Focaldata surveyed 35,000 people across 34 countries and found that 68% say culture gives them hope, with a single cultural moment, whether a live performance, a book, a film or a piece of theatre, helping them feel more hopeful about an uncertain future. This year’s programme brought together some of the world’s leading thinkers, artists and cultural voices, including: Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, filmmaker Ken Burns, Pulitzer-Award nominee Zora Howard, trumpeter and educator Wynton Marsalis, Oscar-nominee Wagner Moura, lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson and journalist Amy Goodman. The Festival also presented a landmark exhibition The Legacy of Slavery, which gave a comprehensive history of the legacy of racial injustice, from Scotland to America. This Festival commission drew more than 7,500 people during its three-week run at the Playfair Library, in its first ever international outing outside of The Legacy Museum site in Montgomery, Alabama.

Nicola Benedetti, Festival Director, Edinburgh International Festival said:  

“These new findings confirm what I have always known, culture gives us hope. This Festival, and the audiences who have been changed by what they saw on our stages, are proof of that.  
 
“This year’s Festival theme, All Rise, was a rallying cry for collaboration and resilience, based on our firm belief that through artistic endeavour we can learn to see one another more truthfully, and more tolerantly. The 2,000 artists that joined us in Edinburgh answered our invitation with courage and generosity, grappling with urgent and profound issues – everything from AI and fake news to the opioid crisis and police brutality – holding up a mirror as well as showing us a way forwards. 
 
“We asked audiences to take a leap with us, embracing risks with an exceptional number of bold new commissions by the International Festival. They responded with curiosity and bravery. This is what it looks like when culture gives us hope.” This year, the International Festival asked for a deeper connection between audiences and artists. Across all artforms, opera, music, theatre and dance, 86% of audiences surveyed rated their performance experience 4 or 5 stars. The new ‘Lights Down, Phones Off’ initiative encouraged audiences to switch off distractions during all performances: resulting in a significant reduction in phone-related disturbances.  
 
The Festival also rolled out its broad range of industry-leading concessions and initiatives, to ensure that cost isn’t a barrier to cultural discovery. More than 50,000 tickets across the programme were priced at £30 or under, and a record 4,894 £10 tickets were offered across every single performance, a more than 50% increase on last year. Over a third of these were bought by audiences who had never attended the Festival before. Alongside this, over 8,000 tickets were issued to Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent audience members and their companions, a number of tickets that has grown consistently over the past three years. A record 3,000 Young Musician Pass tickets were issued this year, giving Scottish young musicians free access to the International Festival and creating pathways into transformative cultural experiences. Young Musician Pass holders were also given opportunities to meet and ask questions of artists including members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Colin Currie, Nicola Benedetti and some of the Festival’s Rising Stars. 
 
The Festival’s Discover series also brought over 2,000 opportunities for Edinburgh secondary school pupils to encounter opera, dance, music and theatre at performances and in their own schools, many for the first time. Taking the Festival experience out of the concert halls, weekly NHS Festival Sessions brought artists into healthcare settings for pop-up performances for staff, patients and visitors. Families also enjoyed Art of Listening workshops introducing them to live classical performance, which took place in Space @ The Broomhouse Hub for the first time. Francesca Hegyi, Chief Executive, Edinburgh International Festival said:  

“This year we have seen the unique role Festival plays in bringing together significant thinkers, political leaders, and some of the best artists in the world to Edinburgh.  “The International Festival hosted artists from 46 countries, taking to stages alongside over 700 artists from across Scotland. We welcomed 23 international delegations and served as a launchpad for the Creative Trade Forum, a new initiative to promote trade and investment for the UK’s creative sector.“What sets the International Festival apart is the global role it plays, while rooted resolutely in Scotland – more than half of our tickets go to Edinburgh residents. We provide a global stage, a meeting place for cultures and ideas, where audiences gather every year.”