Diverse Summer Festival Offer
13 Jul 2023
Our Edinburgh-based ethnically diverse artists and creating are hosting performance and events across the city as part of the summer festivals programme. Below you will find a selection of performances and visual arts exhibitions submitted for your diary considerations. Free entry or discounted group bookings are available for the selected events. Let's support our local creatives!
16 July 2023
Edinburgh Festival Carnival taking place on 16 July, a chance for Edinburgh residents to see the Carnival festivities that involve over 800 people from both local and international groups and community organisations.
28 July – 17 September 2023
Christian Noelle Charles: WHAT A FEELING! | ACT I at Edinburgh Printmakers
This unique presentation of screenprints is the first part of an exploration project discussing the topics of racial identity, inequality, care and love through the Black Feminine Lens.
Entry to the exhibition is free for all. No booking required.
2-20 August 2023
The Collie's Shed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Based in a Men's Shed in East Lothian, The Collie's Shed follows four retired miners as they discover how a review into the policing of the '80s mining strikes and a potential Miners' Pardon Bill by the Scottish Government suddenly affects them, their friendships and their relationships. Journey with us through time as we hear how one unforgettable and violent day of striking at Bilston Glen Colliery leaves our characters wrestling with what is right and wrong. Learn who our characters are, who they once were and where they stand on the picket line...
2-27 August 2023
Tickbox 2 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Actress-comedian Lubna Kerr explores her family's journey, sharing the challenges encountered with humour and emotion. Tickbox 2 raises issues about race, perception and identity. Like many migrants they used food to make friends, but when no one had heard of a samosa, how could the barriers be broken down?
Group discounts for groups over 20 audience members.
3-6, 10-13, 17-20, 24-27 August 2023
Weathervanes at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Weathervanes is an immersive-multimedia exhibit and ritual dance theatre experience – a re-thinking of the beautiful and what is holy.
This mesmerising performance-installation by Jian Yi tunes into the collective psyche with audiences to create a dreaming state of mind; an architecture of queer futurity. Produced by Journey to the East Productions in association with Summerhall/Eclipse and Tramway – it features an ensemble of dancers with a live musician, and multimedia/FX created by Cryptic artist Heather Lander.
3-13 August 2023
The Rotting Hart at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe
'The Rotting Hart' is a multilingual queer horror show that explores the history of antigay legislation in Spain through theatre and storytelling.
2-8, 10-13, 15-20, 22-28 August 2023
God Catcher at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
God Catcher reimagines the story of Arachne, the most talented weaver in all of ancient Greece. In the myth, after defeating the goddess Athena in a weaving challenge, Arachne is turned into a spider as punishment. But is that all there is to Arachne's story? The gods can be cruel, and who benefits when a story is told a certain way? Through catchy tunes and heartfelt lyrics, God Catcher explores the legacy of a woman who dared to tell the truth, no matter the cost.
3-13, 15-20, 22-28 August 2023
Walking Home at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
It's just another day in the office when news that a colleague has been sexually assaulted reaches the boardroom. Emotions run high, but deadlines need to be met. Walking Home is a devised performance exploring the politics and tensions within the issue of sexual violence against women and people of marginalised genders. Shedding a light on the community's role in this conversation, it's built on real experiences collected from people of diverse genders, nationalities and walks of life.