A Win for Community-Based Culture in Edinburgh
We’re delighted to share some genuinely significant news for North Edinburgh Arts and organisations like ours across the city. Following sustained collective advocacy, the City of Edinburgh Council has backed increased investment for regularly funded cultural organisations and, crucially, opened up new Visitor Levy funding to community-based cultural organisations for the first time.
This decision matters. As a member of the Creative Community Hubs Network, alongside WHALE Arts and Lyra, we’ve argued that community-based culture isn’t just about reach or breadth, it’s ambitious, professional artistic work that deserves recognition and investment in its own right.
Our Chair, Lesley Hinds, welcomed the Council’s decision to listen to both festivals and community arts organisations, and we’re looking forward to ensuring community arts and culture have a genuine seat at the table when future decisions about Edinburgh’s cultural landscape are made.
Full announcement from the Creative Community Hubs Network
Community-based cultural organisations have welcomed a significant shift in Edinburgh’s cultural investment after the City of Edinburgh
Council backed increased support for regularly funded organisations and opened new Visitor Levy funding to groups rooted in communities across the city.
The Creative Community Hubs Network had called for the Innovate allocation to be protected and developed into a substantial one-year fund open to professional community based cultural organisations. It also supported a 25% uplift for organisations receiving regular Council cultural funding, provided this did not reduce Innovate.
The decision follows sustained advocacy by the Creative Community Hubs Network, Lyra, North Edinburgh Arts and WHALE Arts, and recognises that Edinburgh’s cultural infrastructure extends beyond organisations already receiving regular funding. Their case
was clear: established cultural institutions and community-based culture both matter to a world-leading cultural city.
At present, just 6% of the Council’s regular cultural funding goes to community-based cultural organisations, with many professional organisations in Edinburgh’s communities locked out of the regularly funded portfolio for more than a decade. The Network has challenged the idea that community-based culture represents “breadth” rather than “depth”, pointing to ambitious professional work already being made in Edinburgh’s neighbourhoods.
This is about the whole cultural ecosystem
Kate Griffin, CEO of WHALE Arts, said:
“We are delighted to see the Council recognise the importance of investing in Edinburgh’s cultural ecosystem and open up opportunities to creative organisations across the city. We see every day the difference creativity and culture make to people’s lives and communities.
Culture is at the heart of what makes Edinburgh — bringing people together, strengthening communities and creating opportunities for people across the city to participate, contribute and belong.”
The people of Edinburgh should see the benefit
Lesley Hinds, Chair of North Edinburgh Arts, said:
“I am pleased the City of Edinburgh Councillors have listened to both the Festivals and Community Arts and Community organisations to increase investment in the arts in Edinburgh. I look forward to working with the Council and Festivals, in the coming year, to ensure Community Arts and Culture organisations have a seat at the table when discussing Arts and Culture in Edinburgh.”
Professional art happens in our communities too
Jo Timmins and James Preston, Co-CEOs of Lyra, said:
“Today’s decision changes the conversation about how Edinburgh invests in culture. Councillors have recognised that organisations like Lyra, making professional art in communities must have the opportunity to be funded in their own right. For the children and teenagers we work with, investment cannot keep being pushed into the future. Young people only get one childhood.”
A collective voice for Edinburgh’s cultural sector
Morvern Cunningham and Eva McKenzie, co-leads of the Creative Community Hubs Network, said:
“Today’s decision is the right outcome for culture in Edinburgh’s Festival City. A 25% uplift for existing Strategic Partners which includes festivals and community-based organisations, plus a significant resource made available to everyone to apply for, including grassroots
organisations and initiatives. We would hope that going forward, Edinburgh’s cultural reputation extends from the grassroots up, reaching residents and visitors deep into the city’s infrastructure and supporting a thriving cultural ecosystem for many years to come.”
Turning recognition into meaningful investment
The Council’s Visitor Levy programme aims to support local talent, spread cultural activity and make culture more accessible, affordable and embedded in communities. Opening Innovate to professional community-based cultural organisations is an important step towards those ambitions. Edinburgh is the world-famous cultural city. Its communities are part of that cultural city too
The Creative Community Hubs Network is a network of community-based arts and cultural organisations working across Edinburgh. WHALE Arts, North Edinburgh Arts and Lyra are among the organisations represented through the Network and were involved in making deputations to the City of Edinburgh Council in support of increased cultural investment and wider access to Visitor Levy funding. Edinburgh’s Visitor Levy came into effect on 24 July 2026. The levy is 5% of eligible paid overnight accommodation, capped at five nights. The Council expects the levy to raise approximately £45–50 million a year by 2028/29. After specified allocations and costs, 35% of net proceeds are allocated to culture, heritage and events.
Cover Image by Craig Maclean: GATHER Exhibition, features NEA Community Banner (work in progress) and members of Art for Grown Ups group
