🪩 Edinburgh Culture Minute: 9 - 15 July 2025
Jazz & Blues festival begins, Collective’s Calton Hill panorama exhibit, festival discounts for book groups + Twelve Triangles cooks in books
Welcome to the 96th 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:
- 🎬 Ten highlights from the new Edinburgh International Film Festival line-up.
- 🎭 Revamp of Leith Theatre could cost at least £10 million.
- 🎵 Irvine Welsh at Bruntsfield’s Thorne Records later this month.
News:
🎵 Ten days of the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival begin on Friday and run until 20 July. More than 100 concerts are planned at venues across the city. - Here’s a preview from The Skinny.
⮑ The full programme is here.
🎤 Political comedian Matt Forde has announced his live Fringe podcast guests. He’ll interview Sadiq Khan, Kirsty Wark, Ian Murray and Joanna Cherry over four live Edinburgh Festival Fringe Political Party live podcast shows at various Fringe venues. - More details here.
🎭 The current landscape for events seeking corporate sponsorship is ‘a minefield’ according to Tony Lankester, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. - Fergus Morgan, The Stage.
📸 The famous view from Calton Hill has been captured in many panoramas. But none as old as the work of Irish artist Robert Barker (1739–1806) – credited as inventor of the panorama. Today, Collective opens new programme inspired by Barker’s original panorama invented on Calton Hill in 1788. Special events between now and the end of the year will include artist-led walks, artist residencies and a play weekend led by artist Frieda Ford. - Full details are here.
🎞️ After being closed for nearly three years, the Filmhouse is back. Giving their verdict, The Cineskinny podcast team (Peter, Jamie and Anahit) offer their thoughts after visiting on opening weekend. - Tune in here. Some choice quotes:
“The sound is really good” … “it looks lovely” … “it smells nice” … “the seats are bigger” … but, Peter adds: “They’ve got rid of my favourite seat next to the plug” and “RIP the DVD station.” The main things, though: “They’ve done a really good job on the bar” + “it’s so nice to have somewhere central to sit late at night.”
🌿 Creative Sectors returns on 15 July with Making it Matter: The Power of Sustainable Design. Hosted by Creative Edinburgh, the panel discussion will ‘explore how designers are driving innovation while tackling the urgent need for sustainability’. - A few last remaining tickets here.
🎵 The Queen’s Hall has loads of gigs this month for the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival:
- Wednesday 16 July: Julian Lage Trio featuring Jorge Roeder and Joey Baron.
- Thursday 17 July: Curtis Stigers.
- Friday 18 July: Colin Steele: STRAMASH.
- Saturday 19 July: corto.alto.
- Sunday 20 July: A Very Special Evening with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and the Legendary Bobby Rush.
🎸 childhood friends, classical guitarist Morgan Szymanski and artist Tommy Perman present tracks from their second album at The Voodoo Rooms on Sunday evening. - Tickets are on the venue’s website.
🎹 Andrew Wasylyk presents some ‘six-piece explorations’ at Leith FAB Cricket Club on Friday from 7.30pm. - Tickets are here.
🛹 The 900 are the UK’s first and only Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater cover band. Apparently they’ve got ‘the approval of the Birdman himself, as well as Goldfinger’s John Feldmann’. - They’re playing La Belle Angele on Friday 1 August.
🪗 (< that’s an accordion emoji.) Scottish traditional music powerhouse Mànran return to ‘Innis & Gunn at The Mound’ on Friday 18 July for a full headline set following a surprise appearance last year. - Tickets are here.
🔊 La Belle Angele and Sneaky Pete’s will host eight acts for this year’s Made in Scotland Gigs showcase on Friday 15 August. - Full details are here.
👀 If this edition is too long and gets cut off in your inbox, read it online here.
📚 It’s a month until the Edinburgh International Book Festival opens. Some updates:
Event organisers are inviting book groups to enjoy the Book Festival with a range of perks, including:
A 10% discount when purchasing five or more full price tickets to a single adult event or YA event.
The Book Nook: a new dedicated space groups can book to use and discuss their latest read or the event they are attending.
Book Group bookers will also get an on-the-day 10% discount at the Festival Bookshop.
- The Book Festival is also looking to appoint new writers in residence to help ‘bring the joy of the Book Festival to people across Edinburgh, who can’t come in person’. It’s a partnership with Edinburgh Libraries’ Access and Mobile Service and they are open to a wide range of writers, whether you’re a novelist, poet, non-fiction writer, illustrator, comic creator, spoken word artist or playwright, producing work for all ages. - The total fee available is £3,270. - Find out more here. Deadline: Monday 21 July at noon.
🗞️ This year’s Edinburgh Festival Guide by The List is out now. It features an interview with cover star Jordan Gray, Irvine Welsh, James Graham on his latest play with Brian Cox, cabaret act La Clique at The Spiegeltent, Sikisa on comedy and festival recommendations. Find a free copy in town or read it online here.
📆 For more local events this week, see Naomi Head’s Good Egg Project newsletter. This week: Hearth Fire Sessions at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Toppings’ first session of its new Black Fiction reading group + The Edinburgh Bookshop welcomes Twelve Triangles founders Emily Cuddeford and Rachel Morgan to celebrate recipes from their first cookbook, Kitchen Table: Simple Things Made Well.
🎭 What's on Edinburgh's stages this week?
Here is All Edinburgh Theatre’s Thom Dibdin:
Not a lot, to be honest. An alfresco Shakespeare tonight, the boys from Strictly on Saturday and an EdinBards scratch night on Monday. But read on, as Æ is on the hunt for volunteer reviewers.
First up, with the weather looking good for them, the Three Inch Fools have their alfresco A Midsummer Night's Dream at Lauriston Castle tonight (Wed: tickets). Kick off is at 7pm, but the lawns are open for picnickers from 6pm. Don't forget something to sit on.
Then on Saturday those Strictly Come Dancing boys Anton and Giovanni are Together Again at the Festival Theatre (Sat mat only: tickets). It's selling well, and if you can't make it then they will be at the Alhambra Dunfermline the night before (Fri: tickets).
And on Monday, the EdinBards are holding a scratch night, Summer is Icumen In at Augustine United Church (Mon: tickets). It’s a fundraiser to develop a performance of Amber Lipman's Nottingham the Musical.
With the dearth of Edinburgh Theatre this week, All Edinburgh Theatre has been spreading its wings to Pitlochry Festival Theatre with a trio of Out of Town reviews of some frankly amazing work. Well worth a few days holiday up there. Click through for Rebecca Mahar’s reviews: The Great Gatsby (★★★★★ Sensational), Grease (★★★★☆ Raucous) and This Is A Gift (★★★★★ Luminous).
That's it. We are girding our loins for the Fringe now, at Æ. Preparing our full listing of all Made in Edinburgh productions (124 theatre, 34 Musicals & Opera, 31 Kids, a clutch of spoken word and cabaret so far), to publish next week.
We are also on the lookout for volunteers to help review. We aim to cover all Made in Edinburgh shows, so it is not a case of choosing from the whole programme, but sharing from the MiE listings. Reviewers need opinions, clarity, empathy and the ability appreciate what is good but not necessarily to their taste. Email us at alledinburghtheatre@gmail.com to find out more.
The listings, such as they are but which will include the MiE lists, are all linked here.
📌 Edinburgh Culture Minute Community Noticeboard
📌 “I am running weekly poetry sessions by St Bernard's Well, Water of Leith, Stockbridge during the summer months. I will bring a poem to share, we will pay some attention to the river – its song, its residents, its journey – and then I’ll offer a prompt to write a poem. All welcome.” - Thanks to Lynn Davidson for sharing this. The event is on Friday mornings from 9am – 10am until, and including, August 8.
📌 “Wednesday 16 July: Creative Edinburgh and The Melting Pot have come together again to showcase the work of artists in Edinburgh. Join us to hear more about our collaboration, meet the artists and view their work and the stories behind them. There's a huge variety of work from photography to tapestry and paintings and more - all will be on display in The Melting Pot for the next year. Drinks and nibbles included.” - Thanks to Joe for sharing this.
📌 “27th Dunedin International Folk Dance Festival: Thursday 17- Sunday 20 July, Edinburgh (and Stirling) - featuring folk music & dance groups ‘Les Pierrots de la Vallée’ – from Normandy, France, ‘Csata Táncegyüttes’ – from Isaszeg, near Budapest, Hungary, plus the two Edinburgh based organisers - Dunedin Dancers and ‘New Scotland’. The Festival opens with a ticketed evening Gala Opening Performance & Ceilidh at Mary Erskine School (Thurs 17 July); free performance outside The Scottish Parliament (Fri 18 July), free performance at St Andrew’s Square (Sat 19 July), and Stirling Castle (20 July) entrance fee applies. More information (including wet weather venues) at: www.dunedindancers.org.uk or e: enquiries@dunedindancers.org.uk or tel: 0795 191 8366” - Thanks to the organisers for sharing this.
