🪩 Edinburgh Culture Minute: 14-20 Feb 2024

Welcome to the 33rd edition of the Culture Minute, a weekly round-up of Edinburgh’s local creative news, events, jobs and opportunities. It’s for paying subscribers only, so thank you for supporting this. Thanks to everyone who contributed! It really is a community effort and I just curate most of it. 

🆕  News & happenings this week

🎧  This month’s episode of the EHFM Culture Show is here. “Katie and Katie bring you brand-new culture headlines and arts call-outs, a big discussion about Yorgos Lanthimos’ film adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s Poor Things, and interview Edinburgh-based writer Deborah Chu about spending time in Gray’s archive for Gutter Magazine, all before hearing an extract from Present and Accounted For, the short story that she wrote there.” - Tune in on Mixcloud or Soundcloud.

💃  This year’s Balkanarama Spring Fling event is on 9 March at La Belle Angele. Described as a ‘HOT BALKAN INSTRUMENTAL ORGY’, it’s always a sellout. Organisers say: “The weather is getting warmer and we are getting excited about longer days - the time has come for us to get together for another incredible night of superb Balkan music, rakija, and glitter!! Expect virtuoso live gypsy, balkan, klezmer tunes, belly dancers, Balkan Beats DJs, shots of freshly smuggled home-made Balkan plum brandy, costume boudoirs, and an army of performers of all sorts! Expect also electric atmosphere and a total mayhem on the dance floor!” - You get the idea. Tickets details are here.

🎪  The first Fringe shows of 2024 have been announced. Venue operator Assembly has released details and tickets for 15 shows today. They include the National Theatre of Scotland’s Dear Billy, A Love Letter to the Big Yin, a solo-show performed by Gary McNair celebrating Scottish actor Billy Connolly. More details here via Margaret Hall in Playbill, and tickets are here. 
  ⮑  Other dates for your diary: The Fringe itself will begin sharing show details on 22 Feb and the Edinburgh International Book Festival will release its programme on 4 June. 

🌯  The Skinny is launching a new food magazine called gnaw and editors are open to pitches. Details of how to get in touch are here.

🧬  The programme for this year’s Edinburgh Science Festival was released this morning. Running between 30 March and 14 April, it features more than 150 events, workshops, shows and talks for all ages. The programme is here (PDF) and the searchable events page is here. Dr Simon Gage, the festival’s director, said: 

“This year we explore the theme Shaping the Future, showcasing some of the cutting-edge science and technology that can help us create a future that is sustainable, accessible for all and exciting. We reveal how Artificial Intelligence could make our lives easier. Dinosaurs, robots, space exploration and tech will also feature – we've got a bit of everything! Across many of your favourite Edinburgh venues we dig into what the future holds through workshops, shows, exhibitions, films, trails and talks.” 

🎬  The relaunched Edinburgh International Film Festival will give a new £50,000 award to a single filmmaker. The new features competition is sponsored by The Sean Connery Foundation, with winners revealed during the festival in August. There’s also a £15,000 prize in a new short film competition. - Submission details are here. - There are more details here from Mona Tabbara who has the exclusive in Screen Daily. EIFF festival director Paul Ridd said: 

“We want to get across to the filmmaking world and audiences that we are both local and international, we are all about the city of Edinburgh, celebrating the talent locally, but also the international profile of the festival, raising its game going into the future. This is a year we get to set out our stall and then grow.” 

📚  Organisers of the Edinburgh Women’s Fiction Festival have announced their 2024 festival will be on 27-28 September in Morningside.

🎭  Last week I shared updates about Leith Theatre. Thanks to Marion Donohoe, Secretary of Leitheatre, for getting in touch to correct me on the drama group: “In the article 'Edinburgh Culture Minute 7-14 Feb 2024' the name of the amateur drama group is 'Leitheatre ', all one word. We have no affiliation to the building 'Leith Theatre'. Thanks for the mention, we do appreciate the publicity!”
  ⮑  Happy to be corrected. Find out more about the group’s upcoming February shows here, the separate Leith Theatre refurbishment works here and next week’s history tour here. 

🎺  The Tinderbox Orchestra has announced its latest live performance will be at Central Hall (Tollcross junction) on 30 March. Tickets go on sale tomorrow. 

🎨  A new studio space for artists has opened in Craigmillar. Find out more about Nook Studios here. 

🍿  There’s a pop-up cinema at Whale Arts in Wester Hailes this week. - More details.

📚  The next spoken word night at Argonaut Books on Leith Walk is on Tuesday 19 February.

🖼️  Opening this weekend at the RSA on the Mound: Then and Now: 100 Years of Visual Arts Scotland will showcase 242 artists and over 300 artworks, with art ranging from ceramics, paintings, mixed media, photography, sculpture, and a variety of contemporary art forms. - More details here. Amanda Airey, VAS Co-President, said:

“Despite years of growth, our organisation’s core values have remained the same. Everything we do is influenced by inclusivity and the idea that artists should and can help one another. VAS is a volunteer-led charity, with the core council consisting of artists themselves, helping promote and provide opportunities for our members. I hope we continue to enable artists to support artists for another 100 years.” 

🌈  This is the final weekend to check out The Recent at the Talbot Rice Gallery. Here’s a review from local arts writer Genevieve Fay: 

🎭 What's on Edinburgh's stages this week? Here’s Thom Dibdin of All Edinburgh Theatre:

There's a full card of productions on this half term week, with nearly all of Edinburgh's major stages in use at some point or other and a quite eclectic mix of productions to choose from.

Starting with the home-grown shows, for the students, the EUTC have Things I Know to be True at the Bedlam (Wed - Sat: tickets) and the EU Footlights take on Guys and Dolls at the Pleasance (Tue - Sat: tickets). A young Brunton company take on 13! the Musical at the Loretto school (Thurs - Sat: tickets). For the professional companies, the Lyceum opens David Grieg's new play Two Sisters (run ends March 2: tickets).

The biggest show in town, however, has to be the touring production of Wizard of Oz the Musical, at the Playhouse (Tue - Sat: tickets). You'll need to be quick to get decent seats, as an astonishing 21,000 have already been sold for this week's eight performances.

Elsewhere, the Travers has Vigil (Thurs - Sat: tickets) in which one human attempts to perform 26,000 other species in the space of an hour; while dance fans have a real treat at the Festival Theatre with On Before from Carlos Acosta (Fri/Sat: tickets).

As always, the full listings and the preview is on the website. You can check it out here.

📌  Culture Minute news from the Community Noticeboard
  ⮑  Share yours using the form here.

📌  “Lavender Menace (Scotland's first LGBT+ bookshop when they opened on Broughton St in 1982) is back and running events for LGBT+ History Month featuring local writers. Reimagining the Archive with Mae Diansangu and Shane Strachan is on Sat 17th Feb, and K Patrick in Conversation with Éadaoín Lynch is on Weds 21st Feb (will also be recorded). There are also community events for informal queer books discussion throughout the month.” - Thanks to subscriber Sophie (general fan of books and community) for sharing this. - Full listings here.

📌  “IberoDocs film festival runs from 21 February - 2 March 2024, with a carefully selected programme of documentaries from Spain, Portugal, and Latin America alongside workshops, musical events and filmmaker Q&As. This year’s programme is on the theme of ‘Reconnecting’ and features places undergoing major transformation and people who embody the spirit of community, they celebrate women with unwavering resilience, and artists who have shared their souls despite adversity.”

📌  “Cinetopia: DOC, a monthly documentary film club, presents the Scottish premiere The Castle / El Castillo by Argentinian director Martín Benchimol at The Cameo, 21 Feb at 7pm in collaboration with #IberoDocs2024 film festival.” - Thanks to Emma Jamieson for sharing these. 

📌  “Duncan Bàn MacIntyre's 300th anniversary is in March. Various events and bits of news coming up but #1 is a crowdfunder for a stone in Makars Court.” - Thanks to Mary Ann Kennedy, Director of Watercolour Music, for sharing this.

📌  “Community cinema heroes Screen Porty are bringing two fun films to the Wash House in Portobello on Saturday 24 February. The family matinee at 3pm is The Princess Bride and the evening film is Lars and the Real Girl at 6.30pm. All tickets £6 (except under 16s for the matinee – £1); payment by cash or card.”  - Wendy, Screen Porty volunteer.

📌  “The Traverse Theatre recently started to sell tickets for the production of 90 Days, telling the story of how Edinburgh's first women’s rugby players galvanised the Scottish rugby community to become the unlikely saviours of the 1994 Women’s Rugby World Cup after its sudden cancellation by the powerful rugby elite.”

📌  “Rock the Boat open mic is back at Summerhall on Thursday 7th March 7-9pm! It's free to attend and we still have slots for anyone who'd like to come along and read a poem. Any questions contact rocktheboat@pushtheboatout.org!” - Catherine Wilson Garry, co-host. Sign up form.

📌  “Sign ups are open for the next Chicken Coop Writing Group on February 27 from 6-8 pm at Lost in Leith Bar & Fermentaria. This month the session will explore writing in tandem and playing with how we tell stories. The Chicken Coop is pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of £3. If you have any questions or need more information contact Naomi Head at naomihead.com or on Instagram @naomieah_” - Naomi Head, facilitator, The Good Egg Project.

📌  “Thinking about starting a podcast? Join us at the positively lovely The Marketing Meetup Edinburgh to discover how to build thriving communities with value and purpose-driven podcasts. A fireside chat hosted by Lachlan Mackenzie (True North Digital) with Heather Pownall (Heather's Media Hub) and Rebecca Macintyre-Smith (Primate). Tuesday 13th February, 6-8pm at Off to Work, Melville Street.” - Thanks to TMM volunteer Emma for sharing this.

📌  “Join Grant Stott and friends for an evening of vivid colours, vibrant music and dynamic dancing as we celebrate our community while raising vital funds for your local hospice. As well as live entertainment, there will be opportunities to take part in exciting fundraising activities with some incredible prizes up for grabs! - Friday 1 March, 7-Midnight at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa.” - More details here.

📌  “We have £1000 for an artist to work on us on a commission for the Sea Rising Festival on 22nd June 2024, there are two main criteria: 1) Ideally the artist will live in or have strong connections with Portobello, Edinburgh. 2) They should be passionate about community climate action and motivated to help people in Porty live in a lower carbon way. More details are available in the News section of our website (and on Instagram).” - Porty Community Energy.

🤝  Networking, jobs and funding opportunities: 

Here are the new opportunities, followed by the ‘still open’ list: