🪩 Edinburgh Culture Minute: 25 June - 1 July 2025
Half-price films for Filmhouse re-opening week + new exhibitions at Fruitmarket, Ingleby and Talbot Rice Gallery
Welcome to the 94th 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!
👀 The most-viewed links from last week’s Edinburgh Culture Minute:
- 🎷 Saxophonist Tommy Smith dismissed by Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
- 🛍️ New ‘IKEA: Magical Patterns’ exhibition at Dovecot Studios.
- 🎨 Florence Peake joins EAF Jupiter Rising one-night-only festival line-up.
News:
🎬 And… action! After a three year wait, the Filmhouse cinema on Lothian Road is due to reopen on Friday. For its first week, all films will be half price (excluding a couple of special events), and there is 25% off all food and drink in the Filmhouse Bar. The cinema team said: “We’re doing this as we want to open our doors to as many people as possible, encouraging you to visit us, see our beautiful cinema, and tell us what you think of our new space, as well as spreading the news with your friends.”
⮑ - Here’s the current programme.
⮑ And here’s a look inside, photographed by Kat Gollock:
- ⮑ Pasquale Iannone of Edinburgh Film Podcast is looking for your memories of your favourite screenings or events at the Filmhouse, as well as your dream future events. - Get in touch here.
📚 Tickets for this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival are now on sale.
🎭 A public survey on the future of the Brunton Theatre closes on Sunday. - More details via Thom Dibdin in All Edinburgh Theatre.
🎨 Three new exhibitions open this week:
Fruitmarket will open the doors on Mike Nelson’s ‘Humpty Dumpty’ show of constructions, sculpture and photography. Nelson has been working inside the the venue’s Warehouse space since May. It opens on Thursday. - David White has a preview in Art Mag.
Ingleby Gallery is showing Aubrey Levinthal’s ‘Mirror Matter’ exhibition of paintings opening from Saturday. - She’s interviewed in the current edition of Apollo magazine.
Also starting on Saturday, Wael Shawky’s films, sculptures and drawings will be on show at the Talbot Rice Gallery from Saturday. - Learn more about the Egyptian artist in this piece in the FT. If you get a paywall, hop over it in this Instagram post shared by the gallery’s Director, Professor Tessa Giblin.
🖼️ Sandy Moffat OBE RSA, curator of the City Art Centre’s current exhibition, ‘John Bellany: A Life in Self-Portraiture’, will be leading a tour around it on Thursday. - More details via Edinburgh Printmakers.
🎸 Nina Persson of The Cardigans is teaming up with songwriter and author James Yorkston for a concert at The Queen’s Hall in September.
- At The Queen’s Hall this week: Thursday: Jacqui Dankworth with Charlie Wood. Friday: The Phoenix Choir. Saturday: Kid Creole & The Coconuts.
🎸 The Brian Jonestown Massacre play the Corn Exchange on Friday
🎤 1990s hit singer Betty Boo is on her first ever tour, stopping at The Voodoo Rooms on Thursday. (Fun fact: She’s half-Scottish.)
📆 For more local events, read Naomi Head’s Good Egg Project newsletter. This week: the Scottish Storytelling Forum, Edinburgh Climate Festival + open calls for writers.
🎭 Nearly 2,000 Minute subscribers voted in yesterday’s newsletter poll on The Cockburn Association’s suggestion that the festivals should be spread throughout the year. - Here’s Brian Ferguson’s report in The Herald and here are the poll results:
- 49% said spread them out.
- 51% said keep them in August.
🎭 What's on Edinburgh's stages this week?
Here is All Edinburgh Theatre’s Thom Dibdin:
It's all about the Garden this week on Edinburgh's stages, with EGTG's take on a "Garden District" classic, an al fresco Shakespeare in the Italian Garden, and play for kids all about the garden itself.
Top gardening tip is at Saughton Park, whence relative newcomers The Forth Act return with a Sixties-set al fresco production of romantic comedy Twelfth Night (Wed-Sat: tickets). Intrigued to see how the unfortunately "cross gartered" Malvolio fits in here.
There is some very good acting in Suddenly Last Summer, which EGTG has at the Assembly Roxy (ends Fri: tickets). Although Ross Hope has made some strange directorial choices in Tennessee Williams' most poetic and symbolic play.
Then there is Grow from the Suitcase Storytelling Company for 2-6 year-olds at the Scottish Storytelling Centre (Sat: tickets). In which the Gardener has agreed to look after their friend’s allotment.
No garden, just the wilds of the Highlands on stage with The Croft at the Festival Theatre (Weds - Sat: tickets). Liza Goddard stars in this thriller, as two women arrive at a former Crofters Hut in the deserted village of Coillie Ghille...
And finally, the funsters of Not So Nice Theatre were out and about at Pride on Saturday, working up a script for A Murder Most Queer at Augustine United Church (Sat: tickets). The results? An hour long comedy murder mystery play…
Æ's various listings pages, all linked here, have more details as well as shows dropping before next week's Culture Minute.
📌 Edinburgh Culture Minute Community Noticeboard
📌 “Established writers resident in Scotland - applications are now open for five £3,000 bursaries for work-in-progress from Literature Alliance Scotland (Scotland's largest network of literature organisations). Full eligibility criteria on the website, deadline is 5pm on Friday 25 July 2025.” - Thanks to Literature Alliance Scotland for sharing this.
📌 “The exhibition by contemporary Scottish sculptor Kenny Hunter, ‘Let’s Forget’ is now open at The Fine Art Society Ltd in the New Town. The show runs until 30 August. The gallery is open Mon-Fri 10am-6pm and on Saturdays 11am-2pm (until 4pm in August).” - Thanks to The Fine Art Society Ltd for sharing this.
📌 “'Where Echoes Rest' is a celebration of 50 years of painting and printmaking by the late Paul Martin, who was for almost two decades a much-loved and inspirational tutor at Leith School of Art. This free exhibition reveals Martin's unswerving belief in the 'gritty sacredness of places and things', and his desire to understand the mysteries of nature. It will be held in the magnificent, historic surroundings of Dalkeith Palace from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th June.” - Thanks to Peter Warburton, Curator of 'Where Echoes Rest', for sharing this.
📌 “Castle Chorus' 10th anniversary concert is this Friday at 19.30 in The Main Hall at Summerhall. We are a non-auditioning community choir singing songs from around the world and throughout the ages. For our anniversary concert, we asked members for their fvourite songs from the last 10 years and will be performing these - so expect old trad classics, some new folky stuff, songs written by choir members and the odd pop gem.” - Thanks to Joe Gair, Chair of Castle Chorus, for sharing this.
📌 “Community theatre group The Forth Act presents Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' in Saughton Park Gardens on 25th - 28th June 2025. Following our well received production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2023 we are returning with this comedy tale of concealed and mistaken identity, love quadrangles, and mischievous pranks. Tickets from £10-£15.00 are on sale now on Eventbrite.” - Thanks to Diane Waugh, Comms Team, The Forth Act, for sharing this.
📌 “Leith School of Art's End of Year Exhibition celebrates the fantastic work produced by this year's Year-long Course students. The exhibition will take place at both our North Junction Street and Albion Road campuses, which means we will be holding not one but two private views. We welcome you to join us for both!
- North Junction Street Opening: Thursday 26 June, 7-9pm.
- Albion Road Opening: Friday 27 June, 7-9pm.
- Exhibition continues at both campuses: Friday 27th – Sunday 29th June, 10am – 4pm.” - Thanks to Leith School of Art for sharing this.