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During a couple of enthralling days in Edinburgh a number of people emphasised the point that the City's global reach has long rested on two pillars – financial services and cultural excellence. The former is clearly suffering so it’s all the more important that the cultural sector shines.

From the challenging, but brilliant productions by the Traverse, to the traditional spectacle of the Tattoo,  and from the gentility of the Book Festival to the streetwise Fringe, Edinburgh is buzzing – and the combination is a joyful spa for the senses.

Apart from spotting productions, performers and talents which may be of benefit to our various programmes going forward, we’re here for some important discussions with the Festival team, the Scottish Arts Council, the City and other agencies.

The Edinburgh Festival is actually made up of ten separate festivals (with the International Festival and the Fringe probably the best known). They are brought together under an umbrella grouping of  ‘Festivals Edinburgh’ by the energetic and charismatic Faith Liddell. Faith and her colleagues have thought hard about the opportunities that London 2012 and the Cultural Olympiad offers. They've already conceived a number of new strands of work that draw inspiration from the 2012 Games (and of course, Glasgow's 2014 Commonwealth Games). They've also noted that in the summer of 2012, Edinburgh's global cultural celebration will peak during the two-week gap between the close of the Olympic Games and the opening of the Paralympic Games.

The International Festival's relatively new, and intellectually dynamic, director, Jonathan Mills, has nourished this debate with his previous experience leading the Melbourne Festival during both the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. If the inspiration and welcome from Jonathan, Faith and our Creative Programmer in Scotland, Leonie Bell, is a bell-weather, there must be a great opportunity for Edinburgh and London to collaborate in a way that serves all on the journey to the summer of 2012. It's been an exciting visit and although there's much more to do, we look forward to forging productive relationships with Edinburgh and a number of other leading UK festivals over the next few years.