YORK’S first Mediale festival failed to attract as many visitors as planned - but brought more than £1.3 million into the city - according to a report.

A review of the event, which ran at the end of September and featured 70 events in the city centre, says the team originally hoped for an audience of 100,000 people but actually attracted just over 65,000 visitors who either went to performances or passed by artworks.

The evaluation says £1,330,106 was spent in York “as a direct result of the festival”.

But Charles Hutchinson, arts editor at The Press, said the festival felt like it had been “imposed” on the city and needs to improve when it makes its return in 2020.

He said: “The word ‘Mediale’ was not engaging either: it would have been far better to have called it York Digital Arts Festival. Sticking to what it says on the tin is always a better philosophy: Early Music Festival? A festival of early music. Short Film Festival? A festival of short films. Ideas? Ideas. Bloom? Flowers. Fringe? Comedy and arts. Mediale? Um, is that something to do with Italy.

“There was insufficient impact on the streets and the community.

“There needed to be much more public art on show, more projects involving York, such a wonderful city for artistic exploration, and more participation by York artists and creative people, rather than bringing too many unfamiliar names from outside the city to tell us how to express ourselves artistically.”

A spokesman for the festival said: “Whenever you embrace the cutting edge, there is an implicit risk – some paid off, some didn’t – but the first festival was very much a learning curve and enabled York’s media arts credentials to reach a global audience.”

He said the festival will work with industry and schools in future.

The spokesman added: “Locally, audiences that sought digital engagement were well catered for, and the number of sell-out ticketed events was reassuring – but we acknowledge that sometimes virtual signposting is no replacement for physical signage.

“It has always been the intention that the festival develops and evolves, and the networks and collaborations sown during the first Mediale will continue to bear fruit in future years – with industry, with York’s universities and with grass-roots community groups working with schools, children and care leavers.

“The festival has to combine inspiration and aspiration for digital arts, and pieces created for the 2018 event will continue to be ambassadors for us and for York as they tour the world. The potential for York Mediale is unlimited and we’re already formulating exciting plans for 2020.”