Indian, Chinese culture to take centre stage at Scotland festival next year

LONDON - The cultures of India and China will be the main highlight of the Edinburgh International Festival, which will take place in Scotland next year.

Festival director Jonathan Mills came up with the idea to feature the two countries in the major Asian Pacific themed event.

“Jonathan Mills’s vision for the festival each year has been to shift the focus outwards from Europe to explore more distant horizons and cultures,” the Scotsman quoted a spokeswoman for the EIF as saying.

“The 2011 festival will continue that exploration and offer new experiences, including work from Asia. We will be able to say more when we make our scheduled announcement in the middle of November,” she said.

Professor Natascha Gentz, director of the Confucius Institute for Scotland, which promotes Chinese culture and language, has welcomed the move.

“Focusing as we do on China, we know there are a number of world-class artistic companies, both contemporary and traditional in dance, opera, theatre and music,” she said.

“Bringing a selection of such companies to the Festival will help to broaden awareness of contemporary China’s divergent and exciting cultural scene,” she added. (ANI)