Despite agreeing a £650,000 funding package to help Edinburgh’s Festivals to grow alongside the Olympic games and the 2014 Commonwealth games, councillors have been criticised for failing to address a decline in the numbers of visitors to some of the city’s festivals.

The high profile sporting events on the horizon are regarded as both a threat and an opportunity to the Edinburgh festivals. The extra funding from the council will be used to ensure that the Festivals “compete with London in 2012 and complement Glasgow effectively in 2014.”

The decision follows a year when the main summer festivals in the city beat the recession to deliver an overall growth in visitor numbers, even though many of the smaller events saw a decline in audiences.

The Edinburgh Mela, The Edinburgh International Film Fesitival, The Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festival all posted lower audience figures in 2011. But the drop in visitors to those festivals was offset by a growth in visitors to the two largest festivals - the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Edinburgh International Festival.

Much of the drop in visitor numbers to the smaller festivals was ascribed to the poor August weather this year, and the economic impact of the recession.

Although the Edinburgh Mela saw the largest drop in visitor numbers overall, councillors at the Culture and Leisure committee were most concerned about the vitality of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The festival saw a 12% drop in visitors compared to the previous year, with a 22% drop in paid ticket sales.

See the data: Which Edinburgh Festivals beat the recession this year?

A new Director has been appointed to run the EIFF for 2012 and festival organisers have already pledged to bring back glitzy awards, as well as the red carpet premieres, that critics blamed for the lack of audience interest in 2011.

Despite these moves, opposition councillor Norma Hart said that the administration should be taking far more interest in ensuring that the Film Festival audience does not decline further.

After the meeting, Cllr Hart said: “The stand-out figure for me was the Film Festival, and the drop of 22% and the fact that the report itself didn’t really address that. Under questioning the Convenor and her official, made it clear that they thought that was not their problem, but it was the film festival’s problem.”

“The reality is the council will have a say. We are a key funder, so we will have a say, and it will not just be up to the film festival board. So, I think we have to wait and see with them, and give them the opportunity with their Director coming in, but we will need to keep an eye on it.”

“I think more needs to be done. We can’t afford to let that drop anymore. If there’s a further drop of 22% again this year then we’re really in trouble.”

A question mark remains over how much money the film festival will have to spend in 2012.

Commenting on the drop in visitor numbers experienced by some of the other festivals, Cllr Hart said: “It’s entirely appropriate for the City of Edinburgh Council to take an interest in the figures across all the festivals, and to be concerned about, what in most respects is a modest drop in some of them.”

“We have to allow for things like the weather, the trams, and other factors, like the accommodation product which is being considered by another committee. I’d like to see a more joined up approach.”

As well as the drop in numbers attending the film festival, figures presented in a report considered by the council show that there was a 22% year on year drop to visitor numbers at the Mela Festival, whilst the Book Festival also saw a 5% drop in visitors compared to the previous years.

Cllr Cardownie, who is the Festival and Events Champion for the city said he was not concerned about the decline in ticket sales at the smaller festivals.

He said: “They’ve not seen a decline. If you look at how the figures are summarised, the Fringe Festival had a record year, in terms of people attending events.

“We’ve got a huge recession taking place at the moment, and we’ve always been blessed with high figures, and so it’s very easy to slip.

“The weather made a huge difference this year. Promoters at the Fringe told me that they’ve had record ticket sales this year, but their bar takings were down, because many are in the open air.

“People were not hanging around outside, understandably, because if you weren’t underneath an awning you were going to get soaked. So their bar taking were down, but their ticket sales were up. So art is alive and well.”

Like the Edinburgh International Film Festival, The Edinburgh Mela Festival has also recently appointed a new Director, Chris Purnell. He previously worked as the Director of the London Mela. Mr Purnell said: “In 2010 there was a huge production called CARGO, which gave the Mela a marketing boost that year.

"Although the weather was relatively kind to the Edinburgh Mela this year, we’re in a difficult economic climate. Considering all these factors, our numbers have held up reasonably well."

Despite only being in the job for two weeks, Mr Purnell also sounded a note of optimism for the 2012 Mela. He said: “We are working on a number of significant projects for 2012, and we’re well placed to benefit from improved links with the London Mela and the 2012 Olympics.”

This sentiment was echoed by another member of the Culture and Leisure Committee, Councillor Munro who said: "The decline is more reflective of the economic situation that people find themselves in.

"This year we had more acts and they were more highly acclaimed."

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Photo: Edinburgh Blog