Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Number 2 | Page 93

What Will Be Edinburgh’s
Testimony?
Chris Creegan
Chris Creegan is Chief Executive of the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability. He was
previously Director of Corporate Affairs and Deputy Director of Qualitative Research at NatCen
Social Research. Chris has written widely on equality and social justice issues. Chris has a long record
of involvement in public life. He is currently Chair of Trustees at SAMH, the Scottish Association
of Mental Health and was Chair of Trustees at Scottish Adoption from 2008-2015. Chris is a keen
runner with Edinburgh AC and writes a personal current affairs blog which can be found at www.
chriscreegan.com and on Twitter @Chris_Creegan
I have lived in Edinburgh for �� years; it is the place I call home. But I grew
up in Manchester; it was the place where I first learned the power of art.
In May, the Manchester poet Tony Walsh (����) set a dizzyingly high bar for
the capacity of artistic expression to bear witness. His poem, “This is The
Place”, immediately became an anthem for defiance and resilience in the
face of unspeakable horror. As I listened to Walsh recite his poem on the
steps of Manchester Town Hall, my sense of home was challenged more
profoundly than I could ever have anticipated. And that is what art must do.
As Walsh spoke, his accent, tone, and delivery, were all unmistakably
Manchester. The story, the sentiment, and evocation were all irresistibly
Manchester. Defiant but warm, he was resolutely Manchester.
The barbarity of the Manchester bombing speaks to a new found twentyfirst
century decadence World War II was supposed to have eliminated.
Edinburgh’s festivals have borne witness to our changing world in the last
seven decades. The Edinburgh International Festival (����) was created to
provide “a platform for the flowering of the human spirit” in the aftermath
of the greatest tragedy of the twentieth century.
Since ����, the depth and breadth of artistic
expression which has flourished here has
provided testimony to far more than the city
itself. It has come to define Edinburgh the world
over. So as the EIF turns ��, how does it speak of,
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