Book festivals issue funding plea after dropping Baillie Gifford as sponsor

Book festivals that cut ties with Baillie Gifford following pressure from climate and pro-Palestine activists have issued a plea for new funding amid fears for their survival.

The nine festivals admitted there were “challenges to our continued flourishing” and said they had joined forces to issue a “call for increased support”.

They include the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Hay Festival and Borders Book Festival, which ended long-standing partnerships with the Scottish investment firm following a campaign by the protest group Fossil Free Books.

The group has threatened protests and boycotts if the festivals continued to take funding from Baillie Gifford, which they claimed has large investments in fossil fuel companies and was complicit in Israeli military action in Gaza.

The Edinburgh-based fund management company, a long-standing supporter of the arts, has insisted the criticism is unfair as it invests far more in clean energy companies than firms with links to fossil fuel.

It has also claimed that accusations of links to occupied Palestinian territories are “offensively misleading”.

However, several book festivals reluctantly caved in to the demands, with Edinburgh International Book Festival describing the pressure it faced as “intolerable”. Baillie Gifford then ended support of UK book festivals as a result of the campaign.

In the call for new funding, the nine festivals described themselves as an “essential part of an open society”, which helped writers, improved public discourse and had previously been growing. However, the festivals added they now needed new streams of financial support.

“As charities and non-profit organisations, all our festivals operate mixed-funding models that rely on public funding, corporate sponsorship and individual giving,” the statement, also signed by Wigtown Book Festival and Stratford Literary Festival, said.

“Without this, festivals cannot continue to thrive and engage new audiences. In supporting our work, you are helping to build a better world. Join us.”

The Fossil Free Books campaign gathered momentum last year when Greta Thunberg cancelled a book festival appearance in Edinburgh, citing “greenwashing”.

The singer Charlotte Church and Nish Kumar, the comedian, were among those to pull out of the Hay literary festival in Wales earlier this year in protest at its links to Baillie Gifford.

Church said taking “dirty money” would make the arts “complicit” in threats to “the lives of Palestinian children and the future of healthy ecosystems on earth”.

Backlash against protest group

Hay Festival said it had ended its relationship in part because of “intense pressure on artists to withdraw” from its event.

However, other cultural organisations have recently rejected pressure to cut ties with Baillie Gifford amid a backlash to the Fossil Free Books campaign.

The Edinburgh Fringe and National Museums of Scotland have said they will maintain sponsorship deals with the investment firm, with John Swinney, the First Minister, criticising the demands of activists.

In a statement issued to The Guardian in response to the book festivals’ funding plea, Fossil Free Books claimed credit for securing a £100,000 donation to be shared between the events from the publisher Bloomsbury.

‘Sustainable funding’

“As writers and other book workers, we care deeply for literary festivals and support their call for sustainable funding,” the group said.

“A member of FFB directly reached out to Bloomsbury suggesting they donate to book festivals in light of Baillie Gifford’s withdrawal, and was responsible for securing their support.

“We are grateful for new backing in the face of arts austerity as we work towards a long-term model, and hope to celebrate more wins for and with our festivals soon.”

It encouraged “people and publishers” to read the festivals’ statement and to “give where they can”.

It also urged festivals to “work with authors and outside groups such as Culture Unstained to develop transparent, ethical fundraising policies”