Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Number 2 | Page 14

Fringe started as a counter-response this hierarchical vision, and today
represents the biggest arts festival in the world.
Scan here for a video on the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
URL: http://bit.ly/2v8OAxR
The global ideas that informed the creation of the festival resulted from
the vision of a few individuals and were fostered through a network of
global and national institutions. Broadly, they reflected the values of the
Enlightenment Project with an optimistic view of learning from human
interactions. Seventy years after the launch of the festivals, we ask ourselves
how far we have come in terms of tolerance, understanding, respect, and the
spirit of universalism.
The essays reflect the inaugural programme of the Global Cultural Fellows
launched through the Institute for International Cultural Relations at the
University of Edinburgh. During the ����-�� academic year, our Fellows
will explore ‘cultural interests and values’, including � days of intensive
activities in August ���� during the world-famous Edinburgh festivals. The
Fellows will attend pre-selected events at the festivals, as well as structured
deliberations at the University of Edinburgh. Their cultural conversations,
rooted in participatory research techniques, will explore the creation,
contestation, and choices around our cultural interests and values.
To explore cultural interests and values, we have divided the ����-��
programme for the Global Cultural Fellows into � subthemes: Highs + Lows,
Voice, Witness, Empathy, Anger + Anxiety, Culture Wars, and Global Values. A
sub-group of our fellows examines each of these themes in short essays
below. Along with the short essays from the Fellows, we are also publishing
longer essays from � Faculty Coordinators from the programme and � invited
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