The Edinburgh International Festival has been criticised by campaigners after showcasing a "lack of diversity" in their most recent virtual programme.
This year, the festival was forced to move online for their August events due to coronavirus restrictions, with over 500 cast and crew members virtually taking part.
However, organisers have now apologised after a petition highlighted that over '90 per cent of the performers were white'.
The petition has now gained over 300 signatures, and states that the actions of the festival has highlighted a "shocking lack of representation for artists of colour", reports the Daily Mail.
In a series of tweets posted about the EIF, it was also shown that out of the 120 acts featured in the programme, only five men of colour were featured compared to 74 white men.
The campaign was also quick to highlight the lack of female or disabled artists, adding:
"At a moment in time when COVID-19 has seen those most marginalised people losing their lives at a higher rate than anyone else, and as the arts crumbles under the weight of a global pandemic, this year's EIF could have provided those most silenced voices with a platform to be heard.
"In light of BLM it seems shocking this has not happened."
Since the original tweets were posted about the lack of diversity, the festival has stated that they "need to do better" and "will review what we currently measure in terms of diversity metrics".
However, despite the apology from organisers, campaigners have pushed for the festival to be defunded if they fail to make any further changes.
Discussing the apology from EIF, they stated:
"This isn't good enough.
"EIF not reaching out to marginalised communities, or outside of their existing associations is bad practice, and will not ensure a more representative festival is created.
"Keeping the conversation within the organisation resulted in a pale, stale and male festival in 2020 - there needs to be a change.'"
