edinburgh festivals summer 2011 magazine

FESTIVALS MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF

EDINBURGH FESTIVALS

SUMMER OF FESTIVALS

IN THIS ISSUE:

Greening the FestivalsSee what we’re doing to help

Stress Free SeasonMake the most of your Festival season

Treasure TroveNational Museum of Scotland showcases a brand new range

Edinburgh kicks into high gear

FESTIVALS MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2011

CONTENTS

FESTIVALS MAGAZINE

CONTACT USWe welcome all comments, questions, submissions

and distribution enquiries. Please write to us at:[email protected]

FESTIVALS EDINBURGH4 East Market St., Edinburgh, UK, EH8 8BG

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Director’s Letter 4Festival Calendar 6Pursuits 10Object of Desire 14Festivals Map 16Mixing it up 18Big-Screen Treats Make Perfect Sense 20A City Transforms 22Revolution in the Air 24Journey of Discovery 26Plain Sailing 28Stepping Out 30Connections that Unite 32Greening the Festivals 34

10 A Matter of TasteExperience Luxury Edinburgh

6 Festival Calendar Something for every season

WWW.EDINBURGHFESTIVALS.CO.UK 3

CONTENTS FESTIVALS MAGAZINE

Objects of desireThe wait is over for natural wonders of the world

Festivals GaloreGet ready for a summer of festivals

14

12-32


FESTIVALS MAGAZINE DIRECTOR’S LETTER

director’s letter

he summer season has arrived, and Edinburgh, the Festival City, is in full cultural bloom. You can feel the excitement sweep the city, from the leafy Georgian

gardens to the underground cellars of the old town. Its astonishing historic and contemporary spaces are transformed by the magic of the world’s largest cultural explosion. Summer in Edinburgh is more than an exciting mixture of arts and culture, music and dance. It is a place of ideas, experiences and most importantly, connections. Connecting you to the amazing riches of our festival programmes is at the heart of what we do, and is what makes us so special. This year, the Edinburgh Festivals Impact Study found that not only do the festivals provide an unprecedented economic benefit to Edinburgh and Scotland, but this effect is only possible because you believe that our festivals give you a unique, high quality, world-class experience, unrivalled anywhere else in the world. The Study also shows that the Edinburgh Festivals make the city’s residents proud, shape and build Scotland’s national identity, increase children’s imaginations and make you, our audience, more adventurous.

Letter from Festivals Edinburgh Director Faith Liddell

TWe believe that there is something wonderful around every corner at the Edinburgh Festivals- from the new Art festival installation that will preside over St Andrews Square at the heart of the city, to the ever popular Piper high on the turrets above the crowds at the city’s iconic Tattoo. Experience the opulent glory of the National Ballet of China at the Festival theatre, or soak up the sounds of summer on the Grassmarket with the Jazz Festival’s ever popular Mardi Gras. From the tranquil confines of Charlotte Square Gardens to the hustle and bustle of the High Street, there is a multiplicity of opportunities and experiences to be had. Enjoy exploring the Festival City – we know that the heady mix of our summer season will delight your senses, expand your mind and create connections between us all.

We hope that this version of our digital magazine will help to inspire you.

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www.edbookfest.co.uk

www.eif.co.uk

www.edintattoo.co.uk

www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk

AUGUSTEdinburgh Art FestivalEdinburgh Art Festival is Scotland’s largest annual festival of visual art, bringing together more than 40 museums, galleries and pop-up spaces across the city and beyond with internationally-renowned names exhibiting alongside the best emerging talent. The Festival is accompanied by a programme of specially-commissioned artwork and a diverse events programme.

4 August–4 September 2011 www.edinburghartfestival.com >>

Edinburgh Festival FringeThe world’s largest arts festival an all-consuming outpouring of creativity is completely open access. Big-name comics, fi rst time actors, established artists and theatre makers, cult cabaret stars, musical and dance spectaculars, intimate revues... if you can think of it, someone is almost certainly putting it on.

5–29 August www.edfringe.com >>

Edinburgh International Book FestivalUnder canvas in the picturesque setting of Charlotte Square Gardens, hundreds of the world’s best authors gather to discuss ideas, inventions and inspirations. There are Nobel Prize winners, stars of tomorrow (like JK Rowling who appeared as an unknown name) and a library’s worth of authors in between.

13–29 August www.edbookfest.co.uk >>

Edinburgh International FestivalIs it a programme about the Far East or a programme taking place in the Far West? That’s the teaser posed by this year’s line-up of world-class orchestras, dance troupes, theatre ensembles and opera companies presenting work with an Oriental theme. Expect your centre of gravity to shift.

12 August–4 September www.eif.co.uk >>

Royal Edinburgh Military TattooDramatic setting? Check. Spectacular entertainment? Check. A television audience of millions? Check. Playing every night in front of Edinburgh Castle, the Tattoo fi elds fl ag-wavers, motorcyclists, drill teams and massed bands in a breathtaking display. Look out for the lone piper.

5–27 August www.edintattoo.co.uk >>

SEPTEMBER Edinburgh MelaIn a tented village on Leith Links to the north of the city centre, this multicultural gathering celebrates the mix of nationalities and races who live in the Scottish capital. Expect some of the biggest names in Asian music, some of the tastiest food in world cuisine and some of the liveliest family entertainment you’ll fi nd anywhere.

2–4 September www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk >>

JUNEEdinburgh International Film FestivalIs it a programme about the Far East or a programme taking place in the far west? That’s the teaser posed by this year’s line-up of world-class international orchestras, dance troupes, theatre ensembles and opera companies presenting work inspired by the vibrant cultures of the east. Expect your centre of gravity to shift.

15–26 June www.edfi lmfest.org.uk >>

JULYEdinburgh Jazz and Blues FestivalWriggling free of easy categorisation, this lively summer feast of music embraces all corners of the jazz and blues spectrum, from traditional to avant garde, with all manner of infl uences, be it folk, or pop, thrown in. there are events for connoisseurs and jazz novices, featuring world-class players and up-and-coming stars of tomorrow.

22 July–31 July www.edinburghjazzfestival.com >>

FESTIVALS MAGAZINE FESTIVAL CALENDAR

edinburgh’s festivals month by monthWhatever your favourite artform, Edinburgh has a festival for it

www.edbookfest.co.ukwww.edbookfest.co.uk

www.eif.co.uk www.eif.co.uk

www.edintattoo.co.uk www.edintattoo.co.uk

www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk

AUGUSTEdinburgh Art FestivalEdinburgh Art Festival is Scotland’s largest annual festival of visual art, bringing together more than 40 museums, galleries and pop-up spaces across the city and beyond with internationally-renowned names exhibiting alongside the best emerging talent. The Festival is accompanied by a programme of specially-commissioned artwork and a diverse events programme.

4 August–4 September 2011 www.edinburghartfestival.com >>

Edinburgh Festival FringeThe world’s largest arts festival an all-consuming outpouring of creativity is completely open access. Big-name comics, fi rst time actors, established artists and theatre makers, cult cabaret stars, musical and dance spectaculars, intimate revues... if you can think of it, someone is almost certainly putting it on.

5–29 August www.edfringe.com >>

Edinburgh International Book FestivalUnder canvas in the picturesque setting of Charlotte Square Gardens, hundreds of the world’s best authors gather to discuss ideas, inventions and inspirations. There are Nobel Prize winners, stars of tomorrow (like JK Rowling who appeared as an unknown name) and a library’s worth of authors in between.

13–29 August www.edbookfest.co.uk >>

Edinburgh International FestivalIs it a programme about the Far East or a programme taking place in the Far West? That’s the teaser posed by this year’s line-up of world-class orchestras, dance troupes, theatre ensembles and opera companies presenting work with an Oriental theme. Expect your centre of gravity to shift.

12 August–4 September www.eif.co.uk >>

Royal Edinburgh Military TattooDramatic setting? Check. Spectacular entertainment? Check. A television audience of millions? Check. Playing every night in front of Edinburgh Castle, the Tattoo fi elds fl ag-wavers, motorcyclists, drill teams and massed bands in a breathtaking display. Look out for the lone piper.

5–27 August www.edintattoo.co.uk >>

SEPTEMBER Edinburgh MelaIn a tented village on Leith Links to the north of the city centre, this multicultural gathering celebrates the mix of nationalities and races who live in the Scottish capital. Expect some of the biggest names in Asian music, some of the tastiest food in world cuisine and some of the liveliest family entertainment you’ll fi nd anywhere.

2–4 September www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk >>

OCTOBEREdinburgh International Storytelling FestivalA proud upholder of the oral tradition, this festival proves everyone loves a good yarn. There are events for all ages, offering not only the chance to listen to master storytellers, but also to learn their narration skills for yourself.

21–30 October www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk >>

DECEMBEREdinburgh’s HogmanayYou think you’ve been to some big parties, but you haven’t seen anything until you see the crowds thronging Edinburgh city centre to welcome the New Year. In the days on either side, there are family events including a torchlight procession up Calton Hill and the annual loony dook in which foolhardy members of the public jump in the water at South Queensferry.

31 December–2 January www.edinburghshogmanay.com >>

MARCHEdinburgh International Science FestivalEurope’s largest celebration of science and technology is an opportunity to catch up with the latest inventions, innovations and big ideas. With everything from hands-on experiments for children to eye-opening talks for grown-ups, it’s a splendid invention in its own right.

31 March–13 April www.sciencefestival.co.uk >>

MAYBank of Scotland Imaginate FestivalWe can agree that children deserve to see as good theatre as their parents see. At this festival, however, they see theatre that’s even better. Showcasing international and Scottish performances, it presents only the best for toddlers, tots and teens.

(TBC) May www.imaginate.org.uk/FESTIVAL >>


a matter of tasteIf you are heading to the Edinburgh festivals in search of top-class entertainment, you may also want to enjoy some top-class hospitality. If so, you’re in luck. As befi ts a capital city and a key fi nancial centre, Edinburgh knows how to lay on the luxury.

HOTEL MISSONI

PURSUITS FESTIVALS MAGAZINE

Its most famous high-end hotels are bang in the centre on either end of Princes Street. The Balmoral to the east and the Caledonian Hilton to the west, with their

stunning views of Edinburgh Castle, offer old-school opulence plus spas and fi ne dining. They are not short of competitors, whether it’s an ultra-chic newcomer such

as Hotel Missoni, just off the Royal Mile, or a bijou New Town hideaway such as the Howard with its 18 rooms.

By day, you can fl ash the cash in the jewellers and designer clothes shops of George Street, calling in for coffee at the fi ve-storey Harvey Nichols on St Andrew Square. By night, you have the choice of no less than fi ve Michelin-starred restaurants. Will it be 21212, in its Georgian townhouse with four luxury bedrooms; the Plumed Horse, the Kitchin and Martin Wishart, all in Leith to the north of the city centre; or Number One, back where we started at the Balmoral? It’s a delicious conundrum to have.

BALM

ORA

L H

OTE

L

FESTIVALS MAGAZINE PURSUITS

The Festival unites the Scottish Isles with the shores and islands of the Mediterranean in an exchange and discovery of cultures and traditions, tracing the story of travel through the famous voyager Odysseus, whose epic expedition is revealed and explored throughout the ten day festival. Old routes are reconnected in the Year of Scotland’s Islands with ‘Island Nights’ evenings offering up the best of live entertainment. The visiting European tellers will join with the best of Scotland’s artists’ right at the heart of Scotland’s Festival City in 10 days of outstanding performance storytelling. Experience the Odyssey!

an island odyssey

www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk >>

Scottish International Storytelling Festival 21 - 30 October 2011


Travel between Scotland and Old Europe at the 2011 Storytelling Festival.


With so much on offer in Edinburgh over the summer months, it can be easy to forget the Scottish capital is a year-round holiday destination. With that in mind, now is a good time to start planning your trip to the party of all parties, aka Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.

This December, you could be one of the 80,000 people thronging the city-centre streets, enjoying live music, mass dancing and the loudest count-down to the New Year you can imagine.

In doing so, you will be sharing in a distinctly Scottish celebration. For that we have the Presbyterian church to thank. This Calvinist branch of Protestantism

associated Christmas festivities with Catholicism, which meant Scotland treated 25 December as a normal working day until as recently as 1958. Unsurprisingly, that made people eager to make the most of the New Year holiday, an occasion that could last for several days.

Since 1992, Edinburgh has capitalised on this association with a winter festival of torchlight processions, fireworks and events. Start planning now to get the widest choice of accommodation and best deals.

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, 30 December – 2 January

prepare to party

www.edinburghshogmanay.org >>

FESTIVALS MAGAZINE PURSUITS

http://www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk/planning-for-edinburgh-festivals-2011/ ___http://www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk/planning-for-edinburgh-festivals-2011/ ___



With so much happening, it is exciting to go where the mood takes you and discover the unexpected. At the same time, we all like to have a bit of structure in our lives. If you are in the city for a limited stay, you will want to make the most of every hour.

With that in mind, the Edinburgh Festivals have teamed up with travel operators around the world to offer package deals that make light work of your holiday.

Visitors from Australia, New Zealand, North America, Germany and the rest of the UK have the choice of several packages run by leading tour operators. Typically, they involve a three-night stay in good quality accommodation, with full Scottish breakfast, tickets to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, a city tour and, thanks to the special Edinburgh Festivals Passport, tickets to three festival events, hand picked by those in the know- the festivals themselves.

stress-free booking

For full details of prices, dates and packages go to click here >>

hand picked by those in

the know.


For the past three years, Edinburgh residents have been without half of one of their favourite attractions, but from July 29, the National Museum of Scotland will be fully back in action, all spruced up after a £46.4m redevelopment.

There are 16 new galleries in the Victorian building on Chambers Street, giving visitors access to thousands of additional artefacts from a vast collection. Here are some of the highlights:

• TheNaturalWorld:exploringtheoriginsoftheplanetfromancientmeteorites and evolution to dinosaurs. Animal specimens include a panda, a great white shark and a formidable life-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex.

• WorldCultures:lookingatcustoms,traditionsandthewaysdifferentpeoples celebrate the stages of life and death. There are displays of musical instruments, costumes, statues and artworks.

• Discoveries:presentingtalesofremarkableScottishadventurers,explorersand inventors from Alexander Fleming and John Logie Baird to John Muir. Look out too for Frances Teresa Stuart, the original face of Britannia.

to keep you in the festivals spirit, the national museum has a daily programme of free lunchtime music as part of the Edinburgh festival fringe and a performance of the legendary music of Rajasthan as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. The museum will also act as a venue for the Edinburgh Art Festival, with an exhibition of A Passion For Glass, showing highlights from the collection of Dan Klein and Alan J Poole; and No Show on 5 & 6 August, a special screening of work by Dutch artist Melvin Moti.

objects of desire www.nms.ac.uk >>

The wait is over.

www.nms.ac.uk >>

FESTIVALS MAGAZINE EDINBURGH MAP

festival map

Cultural QuarterThe high-art end of town serves up classical concerts at the Usher Hall, arthouse cinema at the Filmhouse and the Cameo, quality Fringe theatre at the Traverse and International Festival drama at the Royal Lyceum and King’s.

Southside SensationsThere are Fringe shows galore around the University campus in Bristo Square, where Assembly, the Gilded balloon, Udderbelly’s Pasture and the Pleasance offer nonstop comedy and theatre. Still more venues are just a stone’s throw away.

Georgian SplendourIn the cool and elegant New Town, we fi nd the Edinburgh International Book Festival and Fringe venues such as the New Town Theatre, Hill Street Theatre and the Stand Comedy Club.

Royal IcingThe top of the Royal Mile is where you’ll fi nd the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, just up from the Hub, home of the Edinburgh International Festival and a venue for the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival. A little further down the hill is the High Street, where the Fringe crowds gather in awesome numbers.

Sights For Store EyesThere isn’t a more spectacular retail centre than Princes Street, with shops on one side and Edinburgh Castle on the other. Take a break from shopping at the National Galleries on the Mound.

Kick-starting the summer festivals, the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival prides

itself on its wide ranging jazz programme.

There is room in the ten-day line-up for jazz of all hues: traditional Dixieland, 20s and 30s and Latin right through to the most modern cutting-edge, as well as rhythm and blues. It refl ects the way jazz has always embraced and reconfi gured every infl uence it has stumbled across.

What is interesting about so many oftoday’s musicians is they are updatingthe styles of the past. Courtney Pine’s latest project, Europa, for example, draws on Gregorian chants, African sounds and Mediterranean rhythms. Other musicians, such as the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble from Chicago and the splendidly named

Trombone Shorty from New Orleans, are rediscovering the joys of the brass band, albeit with a contemporary edge. If Dixieland is your thing, you won’t want to miss London outfi t Dom James and the Dixie Ticklers.

All this is refl ected in this year’s line-up which, naturally, also throws a fl avour of Scotland into the mix. It is common for musicians in Scotland to work in jazz, folk and even classical, and the different styles rub off, creating a distinctive sound. Check your preconceptions at the door and be ready to expect the unexpected.

MIXING IT UP FESTIVALS MAGAZINE


mixing it up

Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival 22-31 July

www.edinburghjazzfestival.com >>


For 65 years, the Edinburgh International Film Festival has been championing the art of the motion picture, initially specialising in documentaries and gradually broadening out into the comprehensive offering it is today. 2011 saw the Film Festival try something new, using places and spaces around the city for the 10-day, 100-movie programme centred around the theme of ‘All that Heaven Allows’. The festival also premiered its new Film Festival Hub, Festivahouse@Teviot, a special home for debates, discussions and movie-related events. Key films in the 2011 programme included the world premiere of David Hare’s political thriller Page Eight, starring Rachel Weisz, Michael Gambon and Ralph Fiennes, and the UK premiere of David Mackenzie’s sci-fi thriller Perfect Sense, starring Scottish favourites Ewan McGregor and Ewan Bremner.

The Film Festival closed with an exclusive premiere of Disney family favourite The Lion King in 3-D at Edinburgh’s glorious Festival Theatre. As cinephiles wait eagerly for the announcement of the 2012 programme and theme, there is no doubt that the world’s longest running film festival is the ultimate celebration of the art of filmmaking.

For key dates and updates, visit the Edinburgh International Film Festival website at

Big-screen treats make perfect senseFilm critic David Hare calls it “Britain’s most interesting and influential film festival”.

www.edfilmfest.org.uk >>

FESTIVALS MAGAZINE BIG-SCREEN TREATS MAKE PERFECT SENSE

www.edfi lmfest.org.uk >>


Edinburgh Festival Fringe5–29 August

www.edfringe.com >>


EDINBIRGH FRINGE FESTIVAL FESTIVALS MAGAZINE

a city transformsIf you land in Edinburgh in the middle of August, you could be forgiven for thinking the city is always a riot of creative energy. Sure, it’s a lively place year round, but only in the summer, when the Edinburgh Festival Fringe worms its way into every available space, does culture become all pervasive.

To achieve this transformation requires a staggering amount of energy, enterprise and equipment. For example, to turn the biggest space in the former St George’s West church into a Fringe venue will cost in the region of £20,000. Not far away, on George Street, the New Town Theatre – a Masonic lodge for the rest of the year – has to install 4km of cable.

Up on the Royal Mile, where you can see free street theatre all day, they need 52 sq m of canvas for the market stalls and over 30m of plastic cable ties. Fringe companies will stick over 40,000 posters on the allocated pillars and people will drink 6,048 litres of water.

The resourcefulness doesn’t stop there. This year you can see a performance on a vintage open top bus, the first Fringe show to feature an iPad and a play in Bannatyne’s Health Club for which audiences are advised to “wear loose clothing”.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe isn’t just the world’s largest Arts festival, it is also a phenomenon that transforms not only the city, but the hearts and minds of everyone who attends. Prepare to be enthralled!

With 800 authors in 750 events over two and a half weeks, it is a hotbed of prescient ideas. It means that when director Nick Barley decided tobuild his 2011 programme around the theme of revolution – such a hot topic this year – he realised the writers had got there already.

“Literary festivals help us understand what’s going on in the world,” he says. “Nobody could deny 2011 has been an extraordinary year of tumultuous change. So revolution is the theme of our festival, not just in terms of North African and Arab protest movements but revolutionary changes in ideas, such as the way the internet is changing how we govern ourselves.”

You might think the publishing industry would take a while to catch up with such major cultural movements, but Barley says the reverse is true. “There are Egyptian, Libyan, American, Chinese, Indian writers who have all been foreseeing this revolution,” he says. “Literature and non-fi ction have a lot to say about the events that are happening as if they came out of nowhere but actually came out of things that have been bubbling away for years.”

revolution in the air

Edinburgh International Book Festival13–29 August

www.edbookfest.co.uk >>

If you want to hear tomorrow’s news today, you need to be at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

We all like to stick to what we know, but the Edinburgh International Festival makes it more fun to branch out. This year, artistic director Jonathan Mills has based his programme on the theme of the Far East. His line-up includes companies from Asia that look towards the west as well as western artists who are interested in oriental ideas. It is an approach that encourages audiences to be adventurous. You might start off with your favouriteartform, but the programme will quickly pull you in less familiar directions. If you are a theatre buff, for example, you might start off with Mokwha Repertory Company’s version of the Tempest

which fi lters Shakespeare’s play through the lens of Korean folklore or the mesmerising stories from One Thousand and One Nights brought to you from the pulsating heart of today’s Arabic speaking world. From there, it is a short step to the opera programme and the Revenge of Prince Zi Dan, an interpretation of Hamlet performed in the style of Peking Opera. In turn, that could take you to the exotic Babylonian setting of Rossini’s opera Semiramide, which is here transported to a contemporary war-torn Middle Eastern country. Before you know it, you’ll be delving into the music programme to discover Ravi Shankar’s serene evening ragas, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the fabulous Philadelphia Orchestra’s interpretations of Messiaen, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Ravel. For the cultural explorer, there are many more such journeys just waiting to be discovered.

journeys of discovery

Edinburgh International Festival12 August – 4 September

www.eif.co.uk >>

Photo: Annemie Augustijns

Edinburgh International Festival12 August – 4 September

www.eif.co.uk >>

Photo: Chris Lee

plain sailing


here is no venue in the scottish capital higher above sea level than the esplanade of edinburgh castle. However, that, hasn’t stopped

brigadier david allfrey taking the sea as the theme of the 2011 royal edinburgh military tattoo. He reckons britain’s history as a seafaring nation makes it an ideal way to link the spectacular line-up of marching bands from the Royal Marines, naval bands and dancers celebrating the sea alongside traditional favourites. “The theme celebrates Scotland’s considerable coastline and pedigree with the sea, not only the Navy but also deep-sea fi shermen and marine bands from abroad,” says the producer. “It’s going to be distinctly jaunty and nautical.”

For the 220,000 who make the event a sell-out every year, the Tattoo has no equivalent. The setting is breathtaking, the pageantry formidable and the lone piper soul-stirring. “When you consider what goes into putting between 800 and 900 members of the cast onto a place that is absolutely unique, there is nobody who can duplicate that,” says Allfrey. “You don’t get that scale of spectacle, sound or atmosphere for anything less than the opening of one of the major international events and yet we put it on every night. There will be moments of calm, moments of high drama and moments of soaring emotion.”

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo - 5–27 August www.edintattoo.co.uk >>

TATTOO FESTIVALS MAGAZINE

T


FESTIVALS MAGAZINE EDINBURGH ART FESTIVAL

Leading from the Scotsman Hotel on North Bridge to Waverley Station on Market Street, Work 1059 opened to the public at the end of June. The Scotsman Steps were built in 1899 as part of the ‘Scotsman Building’ for the Scotsman newspaper. The Steps are contained in an octagonal stone tower and form a pedestrian link between Edinburgh’s old and new towns. The Steps were somewhat dilapidated, and have been refurbished by Edinburgh City Council and Edinburgh World Heritage with support from the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund. Creed’s sculpture is a key addition to the refurbishment. Immediately opposite the foot of the steps is Edinburgh’s internationally-renowned Fruitmarket Gallery and just down the road is the City Art Centre, which, this summer, will host a major exhibition of new work by David Mach. Showing world-class art by internationally-renowned artists and the best emerging talent in more than 40 museums, galleries and pop-up locations across the city and beyond, Edinburgh Art Festival is Scotland’s leading annual festival of visual art. This year will also see, for the very fi rst time, an artist-designed pavilion in St Andrew Square Gardens.

stepping outEdinburgh Art Festival and The Fruitmarket Gallery presents a new addition to the capital’s sculptural landscape. Turner-Prize winning Scottish artist Martin Creed has paved each step of the spiral staircase of the Scotsman Steps, one of Edinburgh’s most iconic landmarks, in a different colour of sandblasted marble, sourced from across the world.

Edinburgh Art Festival4 August–4 September 2011

www.edinburghartfestival.com >>


EDINBURGH ART FESTIVAL FESTIVALS MAGAZINE

FESTIVALS MAGAZINE MELA FESTIVAL

connections that unite

Edinburgh Mela2–4 September

www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk >>

World music, theatre and film performances, speeches, and visual arts exhibitions take centre stage. The event is reminiscent of Asian community festivals, and indeed named for one as well, “mela” means “gathering” in Sanskrit.

Edinburgh’s chic international community celebrates diversity with music and style during one of Europe’s largest and most important multicultural events.


“The Edinburgh Mela is a platform for integration and togetherness of the ethnic business community of Edinburgh – and also a great event for the local people to experience the culture of the ethnic community.”

Mrs Unis, founder of Mrs Unis Spicy Foods.

“As a member of a DJ/production collective, I have always enjoyed performing at the Mela. With our Scottish roots fused with our Urban/Asian music, it’s a great opportunity for us to play our style of music to such a variety of appreciating people.”

Bobby Singh, GTownDesi, Scotland’s pioneers of the urban Asian sound.

“We have been attending the Mela for the past four years and my daughter loves the many and varied children’s activities on offer. It is one of the most colourful, friendliest and safest family days out in Edinburgh and really sets the tone for summer.”

David Meltcalf, regular Mela goer who attends with his wife and daughter.

MELA FESTIVAL FESTIVALS MAGAZINE

FESTIVALS MAGAZINE GREENING THE FESTIVALS

greening the festivalsWith over four million attendances each year, we also have a unique opportunity to help residents and visitors to Edinburgh make their Festival visits sustainable.

So we’re determined to become world leaders in running Green Festivals: we want to make sure that we manage our environmental impacts responsibly, that we engage our audiences with how they

can help to care for the environment during their visit, and that we can

showcase to the world the best in a sustainable

approach to culture.

2011 sees the second year of our pioneering Green Venue Initiative. We’re working with over 30 Edinburgh venues to improve their environmental performance: monitoring and lowering their carbon emissions, reducing their waste, and engaging their employees, artists and audiences with sustainability issues.

We’re also collaborating with other organisations to develop innovative ways for festivals and audiences to reduce their carbon footprint. Julie’s Bicycle, the industry leader in sustainability, are on board sharing their experience and tools with us, and we’re also partnering with researchers at Edinburgh University to develop new insights into artist and audience impacts.

This year, thanks to support from the Scottish Government and Creative

Scotland, we’ll be working hard across all of these areas, making

sure that everyone – from venues to festival organisers, from

artists to audiences – is working together to make

the Edinburgh Festivals the greenest and most inspiring in the world.

For more information, see the changes coming soon to our website, where you can also fi nd tools to help you make your own visit to Edinburgh greener.

Working across twelve Festivals and hundreds of venues across the

city, the Edinburgh Festivals have great potential to help make Edinburgh a low carbon city.


GREENING THE FESTIVALS FESTIVALS MAGAZINE

www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk

www.nexus24.co.uk

SUMMER 2011THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OFEDINBURGH FESTIVALS

D E S I G N E D B Y

edinburgh festivals summer 2011 magazine

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