🪩 Edinburgh Culture Minute: 24 - 30 September 2025

Welcome to the 101st weekly Culture Minute: a round-up of Edinburgh’s local creative news, events, jobs and opportunities.
If I’ve missed anything please get in touch. Thanks to everyone who contributes!

I’ve had some good feedback from people saying they went to events thanks to the Culture Minute. I love to hear about what you get up to - it also helps inspire other folks. Please share in the comments section what you’ve been to or seen this week, or got planned for next week. Readers’ tips are the best!

👀 The most-viewed links from last week’s Edinburgh Culture Minute:

1. 🖼️ ‘Women lead the way’: National Galleries of Scotland reveals 2026 shows.
2. 🎤 Elis & John – ‘That Feels Significant: Live!’ at The Queen’s Hall.
3. 📚 Upcoming events at The Portobello Bookshop.

News:

🔑 A favourite weekend for the snoopers and architecture lovers among us: Edinburgh’s Doors Open Day weekend is on Saturday and Sunday. All events are free.
⮑ Find the full Edinburgh programme here and a map here. Some highlights:

• Burns Monument, Calton Hill, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 3pm.
• Observatory House, Calton Hill, Saturday, 10am to 5pm: Including Telescope Tours, which must be booked in advance.
• The Dean Gardens, Sunday from 10am to 5pm: Usually locked to the public with access only to local private residents only. Includes a children’s play area and dogs are also welcome. Access from the gate by the Dean Bridge on Eton Terrace.
• Custom House, Leith, Saturday, 10am to 3pm: Expect a mix of heritage and grassroots creativity from Leith’s creative scene, showing how the building is being reshaped by the local community. - More details here.
• Riddle’s Court, Lawnmarket, Sunday, 11am to 3pm: Once a Renaissance banquet hall for King James VI and later a centre for Patrick Geddes’ pioneering work, Riddle’s Court is a rare chance to step into layers of Edinburgh’s history. The Scottish Historic Buildings Trust team will share the building’s past with visitors throughout the day. - More details here.
• Dar Al-Arqam Mosque, Lauriston Place, Saturday, 12pm to 4pm: Visitors can observe how the church has been converted into a mosque while maintaining the original beauty of the building.
• Corstorphine Hill Tower, Sunday: Guided ascent of tower viewpoint 10am-2pm and 2pm-4pm at the tower.
• Magdalen Chapel, Cowgate, Saturday 10am to 4pm. Originally opened in 1541, it has the only intact pre-Reformation stained glass windows in Scotland.
• Museum of Scottish Fire Heritage - Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Saturday 10.30am to 3.30pm.
• National Galleries of Scotland - Granton Art Centre: Tours throughout Saturday must be booked here.
• Northern Lighthouse Board, George Street: Saturday and Sunday, 10.30am to 3pm. The building at 84 George Street has been our headquarters since 1832. Built in 1786 as part of James Craig’s New Town development, the original façade is almost unchanged. The building is marked by a miniature working lighthouse outside the entrance and it’s here where our network of lights are remotely monitored.
• Tours inside the Queensferry Crossing deck are sold out but there’s a stand-by list. - All the details are here.
• Architect Richard Murphy’s house, 2B Hart Street: Saturday 10am to 6pm.
• The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Saturday 10am to 4pm. Tickets are running low and must be pre-booked here.
• Walking Tour: Scotland’s Printing Heritage: Sunday at 10am to 11am from outside the Assembly Rooms on George Street, for a guided walk lasting approximately 1 hour. Must be pre-booked.

📝 The Edinburgh Women’s Fiction Festival is on in Morningside this weekend, featuring panel talks, workshops, performances and more. - It’s a super line up.
Now in their third year, the festival’s organisers say:

“The Edinburgh Women’s Fiction Festival is a literary festival celebrating writing for, by, and about women. We are an inclusive event and welcome everyone who finds joy in reading women’s fiction - commercial, romance, historical, literary, book club and beyond. Our festival showcases authors of genres that are often overlooked, and our aim is to give readers the opportunity to connect with their favourite writers.”

🧠 There’s a free event next month focused on helping creative people deal with burnout. Organised by Creative Edinburgh, it aims to go ‘beyond the buzzword’ and offer practical solutions. It’s at North Edinburgh Arts Macmillan Hub on Tuesday 7 October from 10am. - Learn more about October’s Creative Circles event here.

⮑ ‘The Future of Scottish Arts Journalism’ is the topic for the next in the Creative Sectors series on Monday 13 October from 5.30pm at CodeBase. (If you’re going, I shall see you there - please say hello!) - Tickets are here.

🎟️ Newly announced events + this week’s big tickets: