Richard Demarco

Richard Demarco was blessed by his personal experience of the Edinburgh Festival and that is every Festival since 1947.  In this year celebrating them75th anniversary, he will speak about his personal experiences of every Festival, including the very first when attended the world premiere of ‘The Thrie Estaites’ directed by Tyrone Guthrie in the Church of Scotland’s Assembly Hall.

In 1957, he first met his friend Jim Haynes and this friendship resulted in the Traverse Theatre Club opening its doors in James Court in January 1963.

In 1966, The Traverse Gallery was renamed The Richard Demarco Gallery and was located in Edinburgh’s New Town in a four-storey Georgian building in Melville Crescent.

Richard Demarco will speak of his involvement in both the International as well as the Fringe Festival.   For 25 years, from 1967 to 1991, he directed and funded a programme of avant-garde international visual and performing artists which included introducing the genius of Joseph Beuys, Tadeusz Kantor, Paul Neagu, Marina Abramovic, Magdalena Abakanowicz and Buckminster Fuller.

In 1980, together with Robert McDowell, he presented the exhibition celebrating the 10^th anniversary of the exhibition ‘Strategy: Get Arts’ which introduced the likes of not only Joseph Beuys but also Gunther Uecker, Gerhard Richter, Daniel Spoerri, Blinky Palermo and Dieter Roth, Henning Christiansen and Dorothy Ionone to the Edinburgh.

This lecture is an extension of the manifestation of the Edinburgh Festival’s history which he presented at The Signet Library in direct collaboration with the Library in their building which is the architectural expression of the spirit of The Scottish Enlightenment.