Edinburgh Festival Celebrates the Start of its 70th Anniversary with Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom

Preparations are moving into the final phase for this year's opening spectacular of the Edinburgh International Festival, Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom. From Monday passers by will be able to see the beginnings of visible set up for the event around the St Andrew Square.

With just a week to go until the Festival's anniversary celebrations get under way, Associate Artists 59 Productions, the creators of Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom have shared a first glimpse of what audiences can expect to see, giving just a hint of the scale, colour and immersive aspects of the event. Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom happens over a period of two hours on both Friday 4th and Saturday 5th August on a 20 minute loop allowing more people than ever before the opportunity to enjoy it.

Everyone can join in the opening celebrations and can queue in George Street for entrance from 10.30pm until midnight. All the first admission tickets for the free event were snapped up as soon as they came out.

In Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom, 59 Productions transforms not only a single building but uses the facades around St Andrew Square in Edinburgh's New Town to create a vast canvas for projection-mapped animations. The Square becomes an immersive environment of colour, texture, sounds and sensations that places the audience at the centre of a visually stunning digital constellation allowing them time and space to explore. This visual spectacle will be accompanied by a soundscape by composer and musician Nick Powell who among his extensive theatre credits has written the score for many popular shows at the International Festival in the past including Lanark and The Wonderful World of Dissocia.

Today Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, confirmed the Scottish Government's Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund contributed £100,000 in support of Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom recognising its status as a key moment in the 70th Anniversary celebrations and noting its ambitious, inspiring and artistic visual representation of those 70 years to create a fitting tribute to Edinburgh's legacy as the city that inspired cities around the world to celebrate cultures.

The Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom is made possible by support from a portfolio of partners across the private and public sector. This is the second opening event in a three year partnership between the International Festival and Standard Life - the International Festival's Opening Event Partner - which supports the event alongside other key funders including EventScotland, part of VisitScotland's Events Directorate, and the University of Edinburgh, which have supported the Festival's Opening Event since its inception in 2015.

Entry to the event is free. To guarantee access for the 10pm start there are a limited number of tickets for both nights available on 3 July at eif.co.uk/bloom. Ticket holders will have access to the arena from 9pm. Non-ticket holders will be admitted from 10.30pm on a first come basis.

Tickets are available at eif.co.uk/bloom.

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