🪩 Edinburgh Culture Minute: 22 - 27 May 2025
Children's Festival weekend, Leith Jazz and Blues Festival line-up, Kae Tempest gig, Lau play Queen’s Hall Gaza fundraiser + Zara Gladman's financial guide to the Fringe
There’s no Edinburgh Minute today, sorry folks. Normal service resumes tomorrow. Instead, here’s this week’s new edition of the Culture Minute: a round-up of Edinburgh’s local creative news, events, jobs and opportunities.
If I’ve missed anything please get in touch.
👀 The most-viewed links from last week’s Edinburgh Culture Minute:
- 📚 Book Festival announces first names (on sale now).
- 🎷 Leith Jazz & Blues Festival venues announced.
- 🎭 This year’s Summerhall Arts festival programme.
News:
🎉 Venues across town are hosting events for this year’s Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, ‘a feast of theatre and dance from around the world’, starting on Saturday. - Claire Sawers picks out some highlights in The List.
⮑ It starts with the free family day at the National Museum of Scotland on Saturday.
🎶 Jenny Jamison, Chief Executive of the new National Centre for Music on Calton Hill, has been announced as next week’s Creative Mornings speaker. - More details and free tickets are here.
⮑ “With 15+ years shaping Scotland’s music scene, from running Scottish Ensemble to bold cross-artform work across Europe, Jenny now finds herself in what she calls the role of a lifetime. In this talk, she’ll share the behind-the-scenes story of bringing an iconic landmark back to life, what ‘revival’ means to her, and how purpose can spark real transformation.”
🎷 The line-up for this year’s Leith Jazz and Blues Festival has been announced. It’s a whopper, with organisers saying it’s ‘bigger, bolder and bluesier than ever’. It runs from Friday 6 June to Sunday 8 June. - You can find the line-up at this website and on this Instagram post.
🎸 Celebrating 45 years of ‘Too Much Pressure’ The Selecter play La Belle Angele on Saturday. - Tickets.
🎸 ‘Oh sit down’ indie icons JAMES play the Corn Exchange on Thursday: Tickets.
⮑ The venue has announced Kae Tempest will perform on 12 November. - Tickets.
🎤 This week at The Queen’s Hall: the Yale Concert Band on Saturday. Then a week on Friday (30 May) there’s an impressive line-up raising money for the Medical Aid for Palestinians charity. Performing are: LAU - Fergus McCreadie - Cahalen Morrison - Karine Polwart/Dave Milligan - Lizabett Russo/Graeme Stephen. - Tickets here.
📆 For more local creative events, check out Naomi Head’s Good Egg Project newsletter. This week: the open mic reboot at Typewronger Books on Sunday and The Chicken Coop Writing Group on Tuesday at Lost in Leith.
🎭 What's on Edinburgh's stages this week?
With thanks - as always - to All Edinburgh Theatre’s Thom Dibdin for sharing this:
This week is all about the Edinburgh International Children's Festival, which opens on Saturday with its now traditional Family Day of free theatre-related fun at the Museum of Scotland (programme).
The festival continues all next week with a dozen top pieces of theatre for young people at theatres around town and is well worth looking out. Æ's listing is here.
Otherwise, the main event is local company Threepenny Theatricals, at the Church Hill with an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's short story Lord Arthur Savile's Crime (Thurs-Sat: tickets), about a man who believes he is destined to become a murderer.
Dance fans have a double treat at the Festival Theatre this week. Tonight, for one performance only, Ballet Black have their double bill Shadows (Wed: tickets). Then Canadian company Ballet BC have a piece by Crystal Pite and a new work by Johan Inger (Fri/Sat: tickets).
Lastly, Moulin Rouge! The Musical continues at the Playhouse (ends Sat 14 June: tickets). The odd £15 ticket remains, and best availability is early in the week.
Æ's various listings pages, all linked here have more details.
💰 Glasgow-based comedy writer and performer has shared her financial guide to the Fringe from the perspective of a performer. - Get a candid look at festival costs in this clip.
📌 Edinburgh Culture Minute Community Noticeboard
📌 “8 Edinburgh artists explore the challenges of earning a living as a creative as part of The Arienas Collective 'For Love or Money?' Exhibition in the Scot-ART Gallery 1, St Margaret's House, London Road from Saturday, 24 May - Saturday, 31 May. The exhibition is free to attend and is open daily from 10am - 5pm. Alongside an exhibition of original artworks, there will be a series of free talks, tasters, demonstrations and drop-ins throughout the week.” - Thanks to Lynn Powell, Founder of The Arienas Collective, for sharing this.
📌 “This Friday night it's Quines Cast Live in the Traverse Bar with your hosts Hannah Lavery and Caitlin Skinner + special guests. Expect a night of music, performance and conversation as we explore the role of art in the feminist movement and ask Art? What is it good for? Don't miss it! Grab your tickets now via the Traverse website. Friday 23 May 8pm | Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.” - Thanks to Stellar Quines for sharing this.
📌 “Edinburgh Literary Salon - May’s Multi Genre Salon - It’s the time of year for our annual dip into genre fiction, and a visit from our good friends at CYMERA Festival, Luna Press and Lyndsay Croal. Online and in person at The Outhouse, Broughton Lane, 18.30 Tuesday 27th May 2025 Tickets are Free follow the link to Eventbrite from our website. May the Fourth be with you!” - Thanks to the one and only ABS of the Edinburgh Literary Salon Steering Group for sharing this.
📌 TODAY: “Local Cinema is delighted to announce that Laura Carreira, director of On Falling (2024), will be present for a post-screening discussion of her film at the Norton Park Centre on 22nd May, alongside members of The Worker's Observatory who will be talking about their campaign for worker's rights in the Capital. The film is screening across community hubs and libraries in Edinburgh during May 2025 and tells the story of Aurora, a Portuguese migrant working as a warehouse picker. Tickets available via the link.” - Thanks to Morvern Cunningham, Local Cinema Coordinator, for sharing this.
🤝 This week’s local creative jobs and opportunities board includes some big new festival roles…
🎭 Assembly Festival is hiring a new Head of Programming. Salary: £40-45k. Deadline: 8 June. - Apply here.
🎤 Gilded Balloon seeks a new Marketing Manager. Salary: £30k-32k. Deadline: 29 May. - Apply here. (There are LOADS of other festival jobs on that link too).
📚 There are three new open roles with the Edinburgh International Book Festival at this link.
🛍️ The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is hiring for fixed term roles including: Retail Assistant, Media Assistant and Street Events Assistant Manager. - All the details are here.
🎨 Edinburgh Printmakers is hiring a Sales, Gallery & Archive Assistant. Salary: £24,570. Deadline: 2 June. - Apply here.
📌 “The Usher Hall is recruiting for a full time Ticketing Services Supervisor. Applications are open until 30th of May. Details on the Edinburgh Council Jobs Page.” - Thanks to a subscriber for sharing this.
💃 Stagecoach Performing Arts Edinburgh is hiring a Dance Teacher for 6-18yr olds. Deadline: 25 May. - Apply here.
🖼️ Talbot Rice Gallery seeks a full time Gallery Assistant. Salary: £23,414 - £25,448 a year, pro rata. Deadline: 3 June. - Apply here.
👍 STILL OPEN ↴
🎵 Creative Edinburgh has an open call for early stage musicians to play the Creative Edinburgh stage at Hidden Door festival next month. - More details here.
🎻 The Heritage Collections at the University of Edinburgh will host a twelve-month internship in historic musical instrument conservation. Deadline: 23 May. - Find out more here.
🎶 Creative Scotland is looking for a Creative Learning Officer (Maternity cover) for its Youth Music Initiative Formula Fund. Salary: £34,330. Deadline: 26 May. - Apply here.
🎉 Edinburgh Art Festival is hiring a Festival Coordinator, responsible for managing a team of Programme Assistants, working closely with the Festival Manager to oversee staffing, creating a welcoming environment in EAF spaces, and ensuring events and exhibitions run smoothly. Pay: £14.70/hour. Deadline: 27 May. - Apply here.
🟨 The Edinburgh International Festival seeks a Content Creator (full time, temporary). Pay: £29,000 to £32,000. Deadline: 30 May. - Apply here.
✍️ The List is hiring a Part-Time Editorial Assistant to support its arts and culture magazine during the festival season. They say: “Ideal for a final-year journalism student seeking hands-on experience in publishing.” Pay: £12.50 per hour. Deadline: 30 May. Apply here.
🎼 Edinburgh Youth Orchestra is seeking a General Manager to take over the day-to-day running of the charity and its delivery of orchestral and ensemble opportunities for young musicians in Scotland. Deadline: 30 May. - Apply here.
🩰 Dance Base is looking for a new Artistic Director to lead ‘PRIME’, its resident dance performance company for dancers over 60, in their creative and technical development. - Salary: (see job description at this link). Deadline: 30 May. - Apply here.
🎨 Leith School of Art is recruiting a Short Courses Administrator for its Short Courses, Weekend Workshops and LSA Schools Programme. Three days per week (Wednesday – Friday, 9am – 5pm). Salary: £14,400 pro-rata, £24,000 per annum. Deadline: 2 June. - Apply here.
🏥 The NHS Lothian Charity is offering a two-year contract to a Participation Officer for its Tonic Arts programme, delivering cross-arts participatory activity in healthcare environments. Deadline: 9 June. - Apply here.
🔊 Live music promoter Regular Music (behind the Castle Concerts series at Edinburgh Castle) is looking for a full-time Marketing Manager to join the team in its Edinburgh office. Salary: £30-34k DOE. Deadline: 12 June. - Apply here.
🎨 Artist callout: First call for Leith Artists: Painting with Pals. June 14th 2025 at Quality Yard - Leith’s Unofficial Street Art Festival. Part of the Leith Festival 2025. - Find out more and apply here.
🎨 Submissions are now open to anyone for Visual Arts Scotland's December 2025 Exhibition in the Upper Galleries of the RSA building. You can submit up to six works in any size for consideration. Deadline 31 July. - More details.
🖌️ Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop is now accepting applications for the Darling Newhaven Residency. Now in its third year, this international residency is conceived as a three-month period dedicated to research and development, with the aim of supporting the creation of new work, expanding the selected artists’ international networks, and fostering meaningful opportunities for cultural exchange. - Get involved here.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the 89th edition of The Edinburgh Culture Minute.
The usual Edinburgh Minute will return tomorrow.
Thank you for reading and subscribing!