Edinburgh Culture Minute 🪩 5 - 10 February 2026

Welcome to the 117th 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 as always to everyone who contributes!

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

1. 🖼️  Jupiter Artland's 'politically charged and ambitious' spring/summer programme.
2. 🎭 George Heriot’s School to host new tented Fringe venues.
3. 🎭  McCall Smith brings plays to front living rooms for 'Lyceum at Home'.
4. 🎞️ Leith Kino community cinema returning to Leith Depot.
5. 🎸  Stereolab to headline this year's Edinburgh Psych Fest.

🗞️ News:

☠️ Artists staged a 'funeral for AI' last week, complete with a wake, a 'sAIéance', eulogies, a book of remembrance and even a 'no flowers' notice, all overseen by ushers and a celebrant. The 'End of Life Service and Wake' included a procession through the Old Town from the Stills gallery to the Inspace venue. Aiming to 'explore the challenges of Artificial Intelligence,' the event was led by artists Ot Pascoe and Felicity Hammond, whose work can be seen at Stills: Centre for Photography on Cockburn Street until 28 February.

🗳️ Politicians from all parties will set out their plans for supporting our cultural lives ahead of May's Holyrood election. The event, titled 'Scotland’s Cultural Future: Culture Hustings for the Next Parliament' is on 26 February, organised by (deep breath, it's a long list) Culture Counts, Federation of Scottish Theatre, Scottish Contemporary Arts Network, Festivals Edinburgh, Equal Media and Culture Centre and Campaign for the Arts. It's in person (venue TBC) and streaming online. - Find out more details here and submit questions in advance.

🎨 A new programme called Pathways to Careers aims to help recent creative graduates move from study to industry. The three-year pilot aims to offer mentoring, workshops, networking events and hands-on development opportunities. It's led by Creative Edinburgh in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council and local universities and colleges: Edinburgh Napier University, University of Edinburgh, Queen Margaret University and Edinburgh College. - More details here.

📍 Love maps? Causewayside's National Library of Scotland building will open on Friday for Map Fest: "Join us for a day dedicated to all things cartographic. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our map collections, attend talks, and get hands-on with our drop-in activities." - It's free and you can find all the event details here.

🥡 Granton's The Pitt venue hosts a Lunar New Year market on Saturday and Sunday, with 30+ stalls and a focus on food. It's free entry and family & pet-friendly. - Full details are here.

📚 The line-up for next weekend's annual two-day Artists' Bookmarket at Fruitmarket is updated here. There are exhibitions, workshops, talks and artist’s surgeries.

📘 Second-hand bookshop Citadel Books, on Montrose Terrace in Abbeyhill, is closing at the end of March. - Nearby cafe the Tailor shared details of a group visit to Citadel this Saturday from 3pm.

🎭 After selling out its last tour, another Leith Theatre Heritage Tour is planned for Thursday 26 February. It's a chance to see behind the scenes amid the venue's redevelopment project. - £5 tickets and more details are here.

🎧 This month's EFHM Culture Show is jam-packed with news, events and interviews with local poet Zain Rishi and artist Matthew Wilson, who's got a new exhibition of prints and sculptures at Custom House Gallery later this month. It's inspired by industrial copies of medieval frescos he found in the RSA's Collections Department. - Tune in here.

👗 This year's Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show will be held at Ps & Gs Church on 27 March. - Kevin Fullerton has a preview in The List. Also in The List this month:

• 7 theatre shows to see in Scotland this spring: including Jodie Comer at the Lyceum.
• Read this month's edition of The List here, or pick it up for free at one of these venues.

🍿 Meanwhile this month's issue of The Skinny, which is a 2026 film special, includes:

• Scottish film events in February, by Jamie Dunn.
• February's clubbing highlights collated by Myrtle Boot.
• A round-up of Edinburgh-based book events by Anahit Behrooz.

📆 Some festival Edinburgh Festival Fringe dates for your diary: The first batch of Fringe shows is due to be announced next week on Wednesday 11 February. There will be more show announcements on 1 April and 6 May, before the full programme launch on 4 June. - More details here.

🎭 What's on Edinburgh's stages this week?

Here's Thom Dibdin of All Edinburgh Theatre:

It's a cracker of a week this, with a bona fide West End star in town (for those who have tickets), a cracking Student company and the return of the magnificent Manipulate Festival.

Lucky are those who have tickets for Jodie Comer in Prima Facie at the Lyceum (Tue - Sat: returns). It's sold out and no one else will get in.

Tickets are there, but few and far between, for the dozen Manipulate Festival shows (various venues, ends Tue 10). Æ's overview and listing of the live performances is here and the Manipulate website is here.

Where to go instead? The every intriguing Theatre Paradok turn to Alan Bennett's The History Boys at the Bedlam (Tue - Sat: tickets), with gender-blind but age-appropriate actors.

Whether fans of the sitcom Friends are in for a treat a the Playhouse remains to be seen. FRIENDS! The Musical Parody(Thurs - Sat: tickets) boasts "an entirely original musical score", which may (or may not) be a red flag. But it looks like one to me.

Always a hit, Turan Ali is back at the Storytelling Centre with more Queer Folks Tales (Fri: tickets).

And finally, for those who fancy performing on Edinburgh’s stages, there are a couple of new entries in our Auditions Diary.

Full details on Æ's listings pages all linked here, including three (count ‘em) shows from top student companies starting with an innovative Romeo & Juliet opening on Monday.

🎟️ Big tickets this week:

🎤 Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has announced a concert at the Playhouse on 21 July. - Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am.

🎸 There are a few tickets left to see indie icons Suede who are playing the Usher Hall this evening. - Check for tickets here.

🇮🇪 Kneecap are playing The Liquid Room on 29 April. - Tickets via Assai Records will not last long.

🇯🇲 It's a Bob Marley Birthday Special with the Messenger Sound System crew at Bongo Club on Saturday. - Tickets here.

🔔 There are also a few tickets left for Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells: The Best Of Tubular Bells at the Usher Hall on Tuesday. - Check here.

🎤 Queer Folks’ Tales returns on Friday from 7.30pm at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, hosted by Turan Ali, with poet Jo Gilbert, stand-up Eliott Simpson and poet-writer-singer Mia Suhaimi. - More details here.

🎤 Becca Hunter and Erin O'Callaghan play Cabaret Voltaire on Friday evening.

🔊 The Hot Mess: Queer Dance Party is back at Sneaky Pete's on Friday night from 11am to 3pm. - Tickets here. On Saturday it's EHFM loverboys for valentines, and it's Myrtle with Postal Sundays on, erm, Sunday.

• ⮑ Last night my Sneaky Pete's membership gave me a phone alert about a big night coming up: Mount Kimbie have a DJ set on Sunday 19 April, 6-10pm . - Tickets are flying out the door on RA.
• ⮑ Some other big names on the Sneaky's calendar that somehow still have a few tickets left: The one and only Luke Una is taking you through, move it on etc, on Sunday 5 April. And then it's the mighty Erol Alkan on 9 May.

🎨 At Out of the Blue Drill Hall in Leith this week:

• Sat 7th Feb - Celebrate love with a day of creativity with Leith Jewellery Studios at the Drill Hall in Leith for their special Valentine Workshop.
• Sun 8th Feb - Learn how to thread, understand tension, use and maintain your overlocker sewing machine with Remode Collective at the Drill Hall.
• Mon 9 & Tue 10th Feb - Join animator and artist Eleanor Stewart at the Drill Hall in Leith for a hands-on workshop which guides participants through the complete process of designing, constructing, and finishing their own stop motion plasticine puppet, ready to animate.
• Tue 10th Feb: Do you have an unfinished project in your cupboard? Do you need help to overcome a challenging part? Complete your sewing with expert help from Remode Collective.

| Out of the Blue Arts & Education Trust

LogoStuart Hamilton

🎵 This week at the Queen's Hall:

• Friday 6th: The Music of The Lord of The Rings: A Tribute to Howard Shore,
• Saturday 7th: Edinburgh University Jazz Orchestra presents: The Jazz Ball,
• Monday 9th: New Town Concerts: NOVO Quartet,
• Wednesday 11th: Myra DuBois: Cosmic Empath,
• Friday 13th: For The Love Of Rugby.

🎵 This week at the Usher Hall:

• Friday 6th: RSNO Season 25-26: Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony,
• Sunday 8th: BBC SSO 25-26: Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2,
• Tuesday 10th: Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells - The Best of Tubular Bells I, II & III.

🎤 Chris Ramsey, who you might've seen on Strictly Come Dancing and Taskmaster, is at the Festival Theatre on Sunday. - Tickets here.

🎨 This week at Summerhall: CATALYST: Art as Activism. And the Manipulate Festival, including its free Friday night Manipulate Festival Party from 9am to 11.30pm. - More details here.

📙 Bestselling author Doug Johnstone will celebrate his 20-year career at Muirhouse Library on Wednesday 11 February. Organisers say: "With bestselling works including anarchic rock and roll road trip story The Ossians, the darkly funny seven-book series The Skelfs, and the whip-smart sci-fi Enceladons Trilogy, Doug Johnstone has long been one of Scotland’s foremost writers. Ahead of the publication of his 20th novel later this year, join Doug Johnstone to celebrate his 20-year career as a writer, including sharing reflections and hilarious stories from the last two decades." - The event is part of Paper Trails, Edinburgh International Book Festival’s multi-year communities project working to tackle literacy inequality and social isolation. - More details are here.

• ⮑ If Wednesday 11th doesn't work for you, you can catch Doug in conversation with Chris Brookmyre at The Portobello Bookshop on Wednesday 25 February.

📆 If you're escaping the city, Emma Simmonds picks out weekend events in The List including the Scotland Vegan Festival in Paisley on Saturday. -

📲 There are even more local listings on Boom Edinburgh.

📌 Edinburgh Culture Minute Community Noticeboard

📌 “Disaster Plan's AUNTIE EMPIRE premieres at Summerhall as part of Manipulate Festival on Sunday 8th and Monday 9th February. Absurd and rambunctious, the show blends bouffon comedy, satire and audience interaction, in a bloody, messy, hilarious and timely lampoon of Britannia and her empire.” - Thanks to Fergus for sharing this.

📌 “Every day until Sunday 8 February: Seconds & Samples sale at Leith Makers. Unique Ceramics, Jewellery, Prints, Textiles and more from 14 local makers. Free entry - Open from 11am to 5.30pm.” - Thanks to Calum from Leith Makers for sharing this.

📌 “Tuesday 10 February - Creative Edinburgh and Edinburgh Futures Institute presents FutureGaze: The Future of Animation. This discussion will focus on the future of animation and the technological advances happening in and around animation as well as the impact on the sector as a whole.” - Thanks to Creative Edinburgh for sharing this. - Register free.

📌 “Thurs 12 Feb @ 6pm: "I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ART, BUT I F*CKING LOVE THAT!" is a FREE 30 minute talk/discussion at Scott Lawrie Gallery for anyone wondering what contemporary art is all about. Ignorance encouraged, plus free drinks at half time! 2 Chuckie Pend (lane behind Filmhouse) EH3 8BG” - Thanks to Scott Lawrie for sharing this. (Great to hear so many Minute readers enjoyed the last event!)

📌 “Saturday 14th February - Scottish Storytelling Centre: Our Martin in the Background: The lives of two strangers are changed forever by a chance meeting at a railway station, but this isn't "Brief Encounter”. A Valentine’s Day treat from Edinburgh actor/writer Mark Kydd, "Our Martin in the Background" is a surprising tale of first, forbidden love.” - Thanks to Mark Kydd for sharing this.

📌 “Mansfield Traquair Trust seeking new trustees. We’re looking for thoughtful, committed individuals who care about heritage and public benefit; strategic thinkers particularly with skills in charity governance, fundraising or marketing and communications who can bring fresh perspectives to the Board.” - Thanks to a Friend of Mansfield Traquair Centre for sharing this.

📌 “"Getting to Know Edinburgh: Second Edition" by George Harris is a new guide book that takes you round the city and environs in ten routes, with maps. Strong on history, art galleries, museums. Not just "the same old stuff" and so up to date it includes the Stolperstein in memory of Jane Haining.” - Thanks to local historian George Harris for sharing this.

📌 “Wed 25 Feb - Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group Trustee Open Evening. EGTG is looking for new Trustees to join our friendly, volunteer-led Board and help shape the future of the theatre company. If you have a passion for performing arts and a willingness to get involved in community arts we want to hear from you!” - Thanks to EGTG Chair for sharing this.

🤝 Below the paywall: Local creative jobs and opportunities.

Find your future here...

🎭 The Traverse Theatre is recruiting a Campaign & Communications Manager. Salary is £35,000-£38,000. Deadline: 27 February. - Apply here.

📝 From Tribe Porty: "Calling all women poets in Edinburgh! As part of our International Women's Day Celebration, we will close the evening with a trans-inclusive poetry session exploring the mind, body, and many shapes of womanhood. Maybe you are a seasoned poet, just beginning, or simply want to share your words - either way, we'd love for you to submit your work!" - Submit your entry here before 13 February.

💰 The Magnetic North theatre company, based at Summerhall, is recruiting for a freelance fundraiser. Fee: £7000 (£350 a day). Deadline: 9 February. - Apply here.

🧬 Edinburgh Science Festival is looking for Front of House Assistants. Pay: £12.60 per hour. Deadline: 15 February. - Apply here.

🛠️ University of Edinburgh Heritage Collections is planning to expand its public handling collections. This involves the creation of facsimiles (copies) of heritage objects. To help produce those, it's seeking artists, designers, prop makers, set designers, illustrators and product designers to get involved. Deadline: 22 February. - More details here.

🎬 Applications are now open for the BFI Edinburgh Production Management Course in April. Billed as 'an intensive, hands-on opportunity for aspiring film professionals 16 to 19 from across the UK.' It's free and applications close at 5pm on Sunday 22 February. - Apply here.

👍 STILL OPEN ↴

🔭 Collective Gallery on Calton Hill is hiring a new Community Programme Producer for a two-year fixed term contract. They're looking for someone with experience of 'working with community groups, and an interest in creative learning, heritage and/or visual art'. Salary: £28,000 pro rata (four days a week). Deadline: 22 February. - Apply here.
⮑ The gallery is also recruiting for new trustees to join its Board. Deadline: 9 February. - More details here.

📣 Culture & Business Scotland on Rose Street is hiring a new Marketing Manager. Salary: £39,000. Deadline: 11 February. - Apply here.

🎨 Outer Spaces, one of Scotland's leading artist development organisations., is looking for a Communications Assistant. Based at Calton Road. Salary: £29,700. Deadline: 11 February. - Apply here.

🔊 The Pitt in Granton has a newly created role for a permanent Visitor Experience Manager. Salary: £35,000. Deadline 12 February. - Apply here.

🗣️ Cutting Edge Theatre seeks a Speech and Language Therapist to join its dynamic drama groups for learning disabled children (aged 8+), young people, and adults. Pay: £40/hr. Deadline: 13 February. - Application details via Creative Scotland.

🎭 The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society needs a Media and Marketing Artist Advisor (fixed term). Pay: £14.15 per hour. Deadline: 16 February. - Apply here.

🎭 Capital Theatres is looking for a Box Office Supervisor (Data Lead) to work across its three venues: Festival Theatre, King’s Theatre and Studio Theatre. Salary: £28,500 – £30,500. Deadline: 17 February. - Apply here.

🎬 Applications are open for the Through the Lens adult filmmaking programme, run by Screen Education Edinburgh. The brief: 'Work alongside like-minded people from your local community to create your own short film while learning hands-on skills in camera, sound, writing, directing, producing and editing. You’ll also get access to industry masterclasses, social events, and support for your next steps in film. The course is completely FREE and open to anyone aged 18+ (with no upper age limit!) living in South-East or South-West Edinburgh.' Deadline: 16 February. Apply here and hear from past learners in this video.

🎵 The new National Centre for Music has three new roles:

• Community Engagement Officer. Salary: £30,000. Deadline: 18 February. - Apply here.
• Research Consultant. Fee: £12,000 across 15 months. Deadline: 20 February. - Apply here.
• Hidden Histories Research Consultant. Fee: £16,000 across 15 months. Deadline: 20 February. - Apply here.

🤸‍♂️ All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre (based at Out of The Blue Drill Hall) is hiring an Admin Officer. It's part-time at 0.8 FTE, equivalent to 4 days/30 hours per week, and the salary is £21,279.60 (£25,700 full time equivalent). Deadline: 24 February. - Apply here.

🎨 Fruitmarket has two new open roles:

• Finance & Administration Manager. Salary: £40,000. Deadline: 2 March. - Apply here.
• Communications Assistant. - Salary: £28,000. Deadline: 23 February. - Apply here.

🎸 Applications for the Wide Days 2026 Talent Development Programme and Showcase Festival are open now. Deadline: 27 February. - More details here.

🎬 Applications are open for two experienced filmmaker-practitioners to take up artist residencies with the NHS Lothian Charity: Tonic Arts project over an 18 month period starting May/ June. - Find out more here and see how the last filmmakers got on here. Deadline: 27 February.

🖼️ Leith Framing Studio needs a part-time Picture Framer/Mount Cutter, supporting its high-volume bespoke framing work for artists, galleries and the public. Pay: £12.75 per hour (probationary), increasing to £13.75 per hour. Deadline: 28 February. - Apply here.

🎤 The Gilded Balloon has three open roles:

• Box Office Manager. Salary: £28,500 - £30,950 FTE (35 hour) pro rata. - Apply here.
• General Manager (Maternity cover). Salary: £32,000 - £34,00 FTE (35 hour) pro rata. - Apply here.
• Finance Manager. Salary: £32,000 - £34,000 pro rata. - Apply here.

🛠️ Edinburgh Open Workshop has workshop space to rent and studio space for makers. - Find out more about its resident bays and see some examples here.

👍 Thanks to everyone who contributed to the 117th edition of The Edinburgh Culture Minute. Thank you for reading and subscribing. Please share this email to help it reach more people who want to have a good time!