14.8.04

Art world attacks festival's musical focus: Edinburgh's art world has hit back at what it sees as the 'patently absurd' exclusion of the visual arts from the Edinburgh international festival. Richard Demarco, the veteran programmer who has been a key figure in the city's arts scene for decades, co-founding the Traverse Theatre and enticing such artists as the late Joseph Beuys to Edinburgh, said: 'You are morally responsible for including visual art - or you mustn't call it the greatest festival in the world'. Brighton Festival already has a vibrant, yet under-appreciated, visual arts component -- the Open Houses -- though you could get the impression that Nick Dodds wished it would quietly go away! As a dedicated follower of the Edinburgh Festival model, might we now see a change in Dodds' policy of snubbing the visual arts?

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