🪩 Edinburgh Culture Minute: 10 - 17 September 2025
Self Esteem at the Usher Hall, Art Walk Porty Festival, IberoDocs film festival, loads of new creative jobs + an actual fiddler on the roof of the Festival Theatre
Welcome to the 99th weekly Culture Minute: a round-up of Edinburgh’s local creative industries news, events, jobs and opportunities.
If I’ve missed anything please get in touch. Thanks to everyone who contributes!
👀 The most-viewed links from the last Edinburgh Culture Minute:
- 🎨 Jupiter Artland to remain open all year for the first time.
- 🎤 Local comedian Connor Burns donates £6,500 to Edinburgh Food Project.
- 🔊 Headliners announced for Days Music & Arts Festival at The Pitt.
News:
🎭 This year’s Art Walk Porty Festival ends this weekend and features dozens of coastal-themed events across a range of venues; with art in local event spaces, local shops, local houses and even in local people’s gardens. There are themed walks, photography workshops, acrobatics, a beach labyrinth creation event on Friday and film screenings in a caravan. - There’s so much more in the full programme here.
🎬 IberoDocs, the documentary film festival celebrating the cultures of Latin America, Spain and Portugal, returns this week at the Filmhouse. With nine film premieres and 15 artists in attendance, this year’s programme of features and shorts are connected by the themes of searching and the sea. - The festival starts today and runs until 28 September. Find the full programme here.
🍿 For a look at all of this week’s screenings and film-related events around town, check out the latest edition of Cinetopia.
🖼️ This year’s Edinburgh Art Fair is at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange from 19-21 September, 11am-6pm. There are loads of live events due to happen during the fair. - It’s previewed by Susan Mansfield in The Scotsman.
🎭 The first ever UK tour of Back to the Future the Musical has been announced for the Christmas 2026 slot at the Edinburgh Playhouse. - Thom Dibdin has the details in All Edinburgh Theatre.
🎻 In a clever piece of marketing, there was a fiddler on the roof of the Festival Theatre yesterday to promote Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, which runs until Saturday. Raphael Pappo (The Fiddler) was filmed by Niall MacTaggart. Thanks to Capital Theatres for sharing the video:
👀 If this edition is too long and gets cut off in your inbox, read it online here.
🎭 What's on Edinburgh's stages this week?
Here’s Thom Dibdin of All Edinburgh Theatre:
A couple of major Autumn Season openings dominate attention this week: the Traverse has its first A Play, a Pie and a Pint lunchtime show; and the Festival Theatre has its first big touring musical.
First out of the lunchtime traps is Wallace (ends Sat: Tickets), a "sparky, original and historically aware" rap musical, according to our reviewer. Not, as some have said, the Scottish Hamilton - but it isn't trying to be, and is all the better for it.
The Festival Theatre has the highly-regarded Regent's Park Open Air Theatre's production of Fiddler on the Roof (ends Sat: Tickets). It's kept the "sold-out" signs busy on its tour so far, but the Festival has opened its upper circle, to there is still good availability.
The canny eye will be turned to the Scottish Storytelling Centre, where two smaller touring shows have a World and a Scottish premiere this week.
Beastie from Flagstone Theatre (Thurs: tickets) sees solo performer Fraser Sivewright dig out the human stories behind some of Scotland's murkiest monster tales in Izzy Gray's script with original music from Shooglenifty's Quee MacArthur.
Ben Rivers' The Invaders' Fear of Memories (Sat/Sun: Tickets ) is based on the life and diaries of Yosef Nachmani - a Russian Jew who migrated from Tsarist Russia to Ottoman Palestine in 1907.
Sadly (for the ticketless), this week's top tip at the Traverse - the return of the Cauld Blast Orchestra (Sat: Tickets), formed as the band for Communicado's Jock Tamson's Bairns - is returns only. Queue early!
Dropping on Tuesday, before next week's Culture Minute, the Traverse's lunchtime show is Our Brother (Tickets), and the Festival has The Talented Mr Ripley (Tickets).
See Æ's various listings pages, all linked here for more details.
🎸 Gig tickets this week:
🎤 The big gig of the week is undoubtedly Self Esteem. Rebecca Lucy Taylor brings the ‘Complicated Woman Tour’ to the Usher Hall on Tuesday 16 September. A lot of listings sites say it’s sold out, but just now I’m seeing some upper circle tickets on the official Usher Hall site, so snap ‘em up fast because it will sell out.
🔊 Another big ticket is FLY Festival at the Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens on Saturday. - Final tickets are here.
🏴 Multi award-winning Scottish folk band RURA play The Liquid Room on Friday. - Tickets are here.
⮑ In a cruel twist of schedule-clashing, Valtos are also playing on Friday night at La Belle Angele. - Tickets are here.
🎶 On Monday at The Queen's Hall: Season 5 of the AMPLIFI gig series showcasing the sounds of modern Scotland, curated by Arusa Qureshi and Halina Rifai of We Are Here Scotland. Performing: Bell Lungs, Kevin Leomo and Lucian Fletcher. - Tickets.
🎤 Nina Persson of The Cardigans is joined by James Yorkston at The Queen’s Hall on Tuesday. - Tickets here.
Sir Tony Robinson will discuss his new book, From Blackadder to Alfred the Great, at the Assemby Rooms on Tuesday. - Tickets.
🎸 The Movielife frontman Vinnie Caruana is supporting/upstaging Armor For Sleep on Tuesday 16 September at La Belle Angele. Also playing are former Drive-Thru Records act Hellogoodbye. - Tickets are here.
🎸 Edinburgh dance-mongers The Cartoon Boyfriends and The Letting Go play Leith Depot on Thursday night. - Tickets are here.
🇮🇪 Irish act And So I Watch You From Afar play La Belle Angele on Thursday. - Tickets.
🎸 Just announced: Raging Speedhorn frontman Frank Regan’s other band Viking Skull are playing Bannermans on 7 December. - Tickets are here.
🎟️ Just announced: Tickets for The Last Dinner Party at the Corn Exchange on 17 November go on sale tomorrow at 10am. - Find them here.
🎤 If you want to be on stage and don’t know where to start, open mic events are for you. - Naomi Head lists the reasons to go for it, and the places to do it, in the latest edition of The Good Egg Project.
📌 Edinburgh Culture Minute Community Noticeboard
📌 “13-14 September: Art Walk Porty coastal arts festival continues this weekend with its seaside entertainment inspired programme SHOWGROUND celebrating 10 years of the festival. Expect to see puppetry, dance, theatre alongside their regular Art House exhibitions (80 artists take part across 45 venues)” - Thanks to the organisers for sharing this.
📌 “Thursday 11 September 2025: Join us for a launch party for 'Take Me to the River' selected writing about wild swimming by Jackie Kemp and Vicky Allan at The Pitt, Granton, from 5.30pm to 9pm. Food trucks, bar, Soul Water Sauna. Free but ticketed on Eventbrite.” - Thanks to Jackie Kemp and Vicky Allan for sharing this.
📌 “Sunday 14 September 2025 - Join Jubilo at Blackhall St Columba's Church for an Open Rehearsal as we begin our 2025-2026 season led by Paul Gudgin where the programme includes the Mozart Vespers and Britten's St Nicolas. There is no cost to come to the open rehearsals and music will be provided.” - Thanks to the organisers for sharing this.
📌 “Wednesday 17 September 2025. Cinetopia: DOC is back at the Filmhouse with MISTRESS DISPELLER by Hong Kong filmmaker Elizabeth Lo. A Chinese woman hires someone to secretly end her husband's extramarital relationship. Screening + director Q&A (recorded). With descriptive subtitles.” - Thanks to the organisers for sharing this.
📌 “This exhibition 'On the same page' celebrates the page and the book by the Edinburgh artist collective ‘bound : unbound’.” - Thanks to Ian Farmer, Gallery owner, for sharing this.