At the 2026 Edinburgh International Festival, a group of artists and cultural voices came together to discuss the role of arts and culture in shaping society’s future. This was part of the festival’s inaugural Global Ideas Stage, this year’s flagship event.
On the Global Ideas Stage at the King’s Theatre, London-based research company Focaldata surveyed more than 35,000 people across 34 countries about the role of arts and culture in determining their attitude towards the future. 68 percent of the people surveyed — over two-thirds of the participants — said that an individual cultural moment, whether a piece of theater, a live music performance, a book, a film or another work of art, has made them feel more hopeful in the face of an uncertain future.
Participants were asked whether cultural moments like these “did not help at all,” helped only “a little” or “definitely” helped inspire hope in them. Of those who said a piece of art or culture “definitely” made them feel more hopeful, 26 percent claimed that their community will always pull together in a crisis. That was more than double the rate among those who said culture only helped “a little” (12 percent), and nearly triple the rate among those who said culture didn’t help at all (nine percent).
In addition, participants who said they gained a sense of hope from culture were twice as likely to believe that humanity can continue building a better world for the next generation.
“This timely polling is itself inspiring and affirming of the work we do,” said Edinburgh International Festival director Nicola Benedetti in a statement. “It shows the essential importance of arts and culture to our shared human condition, to our innate optimism and to the practice of resilience. This poll should galvanise politicians and policy makers to recognise, commit to, and invest in culture to improve the lives of global citizens.”
“What this vital poll shows is that art, music and literature are essential to give us hope about the future, because they inspire us to actually do the things that perhaps we feel we would not be capable of, and — because they are shared in common — they inspire us to come together,” added former UK prime minister Gordon Brown. “They offer the players and the stages, the architecture and history that will lay the foundations and signpost the way to the more hopeful future we so desperately need.”
The Edinburgh International Festival runs through Aug. 30, presenting performance arts works from around the world. In accordance with this year’s theme, All Rise, which is inspired by Enlightenment thought, the festival has presented a series of dialogues, performances and panel discussions on its Global Ideas Stage at the King’s Theatre. Reflecting on the 250 years since the US Declaration of Independence was ratified and Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” was published, panelists and presenters curated by Benedetti discussed the interdisciplinary role of arts and culture in shaping society’s moral imagination and inspiring the building of a better future.
