Luxury shopping destination shines this festive period
Multrees Walk ends 2025 on a high with the announcement that iconic French fashion house Longchamp will open a new boutique early next year.
This will be the first Longchamp boutique in Scotland and the first outside of London. This addition forms part of several exciting new announcements and developments due to be revealed in the New Year for Multrees Walk.
This news comes shortly after the shopping destination recently welcomed the opening of the luxury watchmaker OMEGA – its first standalone boutique – bringing the brand’s world-renowned craftsmanship and prestige to Edinburgh’s luxury shopping street.
Leigh Aitchison, Multrees Walk Centre Manager,said: “2025 has been a great year for Multrees Walk, with the new OMEGA boutique opening and now the upcoming arrival of Longchamp.
“We’re proud to see Multrees Walk continue to thrive as Scotland’s home of luxury retail and attract an increasingly growing range of brands and customers.
“The festive season is always a highlight of the year for Multrees Walk, with our stylish Christmas decorations and our brands’ beautifully curated window displays, creating a magical atmosphere for shoppers.
“As 2025 draws to a close, we’re looking forward to the year ahead, with more exciting announcements to come in 2026.”
Former office on Festival Square will be converted into 195-bedroom Premier Inn
Whitbread PLC, the owner of the Premier Inn hotel chain, has received confirmation from The City of Edinburgh Council that it has granted planning permission for the conversion of Capital House in the centre of Edinburgh into a 195-bedroom Premier Inn.
Whitbread will invest £21 million in the conversion and rear extension of the 65,350 sq ft vacant office building into a latest format Premier Inn hotel with a ground floor restaurant and bar.
The new Premier Inn is anticipated to generate an additional £8.1 million per year in visitor expenditure through the external spending of more than 56,000 business and leisure guests which are predicted to stay at the hotel every year once it reaches maturity.
Whitbread believes half of this external year-round expenditure is anticipated to be spent supporting city centre businesses based on a comprehensive nationwide study of its customers in 2023.
Jill Anderson, Acquisitions Manager for Scotland at Whitbread, said: “We are fortunate to have an established network of 14 trading Premier Inn hotels in Edinburgh which welcome a million visitors a year and drive £32 million in annual external spending in the city.
“The strong year-round demand we are continuing to experience for our rooms in the city is driving the expansion of Premier Inn across Edinburgh, including at Capital House in the heart of the city centre.
“It is a sensational location for a budget hotel given its proximity to iconic tourist destinations like Edinburgh Castle, a host of theatres and concert venues, the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) and the Exchange District.
“Getting the green light to convert the 1980’s office into a latest format Premier Inn is a huge achievement for the team and we will waste no time in breathing fresh life into the empty building and adding another high-quality location for our customers in Scotland.”
Whitbread acquired Edinburgh Capital House freehold in late 2024 and submitted a planning application to change the use of the 1980s office block to a hotel in May 2025.
In addition to its investment in Capital House, Whitbread is working to expand the presence of Premier Inn at Edinburgh Airport and add a fourth hub by Premier Inn hotel in the city to the east of the city centre.
Premier Inn is the UK’s largest hotel chain with a network of 85,500 hotel bedrooms across the UK & Ireland trading from more than 840 hotel locations. Across both countries, the company believes in the long-term potential for 125,000 Premier Inn bedrooms.
Brighten up the nights with the magical Winter Windows
Winter Windows are back at Edinburgh’s Christmas! An arts competition for Edinburgh schoolchildren of all ages, it is an annual showcase of their creativity and skills.
With the 2025 brief to design a window that captures their vision of winter or the festive season, using any medium and style they wish, Edinburgh children’s 24 winning designs will be on display in West Princes Street Gardens along the top path from Thursday 27th November, each turned into a magical lightbox.
Edinburgh’s Christmas Winter Windows competition is in partnership with Arts & Creative Learning, Lifelong Learning, City of Edinburgh Council.
The judging panel consisted of Unique Assembly directors and City of Edinburgh Council representatives. Each of the 24 winners receives free tickets for a fun day out with their friends and family at Edinburgh’s Christmas – along with having their artwork on display throughout the festive season in one of the capital’s busiest locations!
This December, The Real Mary King’s Close invites visitors to escape into Edinburgh’s past with two interactive underground experiences: the return of its sell-out Victorian Christmas Experience and the once-a-year revival of Underground Unlocked.
The Victorian Christmas Experience, running across all weekends from Saturday 6th to Friday 28th December, brings guests face to face with a member of the Chesney family, among some of the last to live on the Close.
Through expert-storytelling, visitors will discover how Christmas slowly re-emerged in Scotland after centuries of suppression, and how Victorian Edinburgh shaped many traditions we still enjoy today.
Following the guided tour, visitors will gather in a candlelit room to enjoy tea, traditional scones with jam and clotted cream, and a craft activity inspired by authentic Victorian practices.
December will also see the return of the exclusive Underground Unlocked tours, offering two special evenings on Thursday 4th and 11th where visitors can roam freely through the preserved 17th-century streets at their own pace.
Rather than following a guided tour, guests will encounter a number of historical residents including merchants, plague doctors, poets, businesswomen and even those once condemned during the witch trials, each sharing their own vivid story.
For just a few hours, the Close will echo with the bustle of the people who once lived and worked beneath the Royal Mile.
Characters include Mary King herself, the sharp-witted merchant and burgess; Patrick Byrne the leather tanner; Dr John Paulitious, Edinburgh’s first plague doctor; Marie Maitland, the bold poet whose verses were hidden for centuries; and Euphame MacCalzean, determined to reclaim her voice after a wrongful accusation during the witch trials.
With more than a dozen figures appearing across the site, every turn reveals a new fragment of the city’s hidden history and offers a fleeting glimpse into Edinburgh’s past as it might’ve felt centuries ago.
Paul Nixon, General Manager at The Real Mary King’s Closesaid: “December is always packed with events, and we know people have so much to choose from.
“That’s why we’re excited to offer something a bit different – an immersive festive experience that the whole family can enjoy together.
“It’s a fun and interactive way to learn more about Edinburgh’s past, and after the overwhelming response last year, we’re delighted to bring it back.
“We’re also reintroducing our ever-popular Underground Unlocked evenings, which remain one of the most memorable ways to experience the Close. Together, the two events offer something truly unique for anyone looking to do Christmas a little differently this year.”
In 2026, the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA), one of the oldest and most prestigious cultural institutions in Scotland, will be 200 years old. An independent artist-led organisation with links to every part of Scotland and beyond, the Royal Scottish Academy is planning a unique celebration involving hundreds of artists, partners, galleries and institutions.
The full programme is revealed today, with events taking place across Edinburgh and the Lothians in 2026.
Set to be the widest reaching project ever of its type in Scotland, Celebrating Together features over 100 cultural partners coming together to mark the occasion with their own tailored events, exhibitions, performances, talks and collection rehangs across multiple venues.
A series of major exhibitions will also take place at the RSA in Edinburgh, from new solo shows to group exhibitions that showcase the RSA and its Members (Academicians) and New Contemporaries then and now in a series of new and enlightening ways.
Throughout the year, the RSA will also open up its Collections to partners across the network, with 100 artworks on loan to over 30 galleries, museums and cultural venues. Celebrating Together is supported by Museums Galleries Scotland.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Jessica Harrison RSA, Jasperware vase and cover with Pegasus finial and with reliefs of Apollo and the Muses, made at the factory of Josiah Wedgewood, Etruria, Staffordshire, ca.1790, 2015. On display in Origin Stories.
At the RSA in Edinburgh, the year opens with a number of exhibitions which look towards the legacy and impact of the institution. Origin Stories (24 January – 8 March) focuses on art tutors and teachers, and the web of artistic relationships that have evolved over the last two hundred years, tracing lines of influence from the nineteenth century to the present day.
Generation (24 January – 8 March) will trace the connections and routes of sixteen architects who formerly worked at the practice of Richard Murphy RSA, and have since gone on to establish their own practice. The Scottish Society of Artists (SSA) will highlight historical links between the society and the RSA within their 127th Annual Exhibition (11 January – 8 March).
Michael Agnew RSA, Three Scottish Owls for Megan Boyd, c. 2017.
Courtesy of the artist. Showing in A Real kind of Fiction at Linlithgow Burgh Halls.
Linlithgow Burgh Halls celebrates with two solo exhibitions, starting with Species Morphology – A Living Archive (23 January – 17 May).
Coming from a family of landworkers and game keepers, Stuart Mackenzie RSA’s exhibition explores the characteristics of nature and species, embedded in painting, drawing and printmaking. A Real kind of Fiction by Michael Agnew RSA (18 September – 24 January 2027) rounds off the programme.
Combining recent and retrospective work, Agnew captures the ‘Anina Mundi’ reflected in the owl as an archetype, alongside subtle and overt critiques of the contemporary world of ‘fast media.’ The programme will also include Homecoming by Leo du Feu ( 22 May – 13 September).
In February, the Scottish Society for Art History and the Royal Scottish Academy present a two day conference in Edinburgh – Scottish Art and the Academy (5 – 6 February 2026).
The conference aims to celebrate, explore and interrogate the RSA’s history and showcase new research on artists connected to it. It also aims to cast an enquiring eye over the idea of the Academy and its ‘official’ status, looking at those who may have been excluded from it or reacted against it at different times.
Ilana Halperin RSA, From Coral to Marble, 2014. RSA Diploma Collection.
Showing as part of What is Us and what is Earth at Fruitmarket.
Edinburgh’s Fruitmarketwill mount a major solo exhibition by Ilana Halperin RSA, titledWhat is Us and what is Earth (27 February –17 May). Halperin’s artwork explores the relationship between geology and daily life via media, writing, performance, printmaking, sculpture, drawing, and film.
At Dovecot, a show highlighting the work of Dame Elizabeth Blackadder RSA opens in time for Summer (opens 20 June). Blackadder was the first woman elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy (1972) and the Royal Academy of Arts (1976).
The breadth of her work in oil, watercolour, and printmaking techniques has long been celebrated for its new perspectives in contemporary art.
Blackadder collaborated with Dovecot across five decades to create over 30 tapestries and hand-tufted rugs. This exhibition will not only shed light on her illustrious career but also showcase her work in the context of the world-famous Studios.
Arthur Melville RSA, Homeward, 1880. Museums & Galleries Edinburgh.
Showing as part of Jean F. Watson: An Artistic Legacy at the City Art Centre.
Work that is gifted through a bequest (after someone’s death) is important to the story of Scottish art. There are many links to the RSA through these collections at institutions around the country that will be celebrated in 2026.
At the City Art Centre, Jean F. Watson: An Artistic Legacy runs across Spring and Summer (16 May – 4 October). Jean Fletcher Watson (1877-1974) was an Edinburgh resident who had a significant impact on the city’s cultural heritage.
During the 1960s and 1970s she presented a series of financial donations to the City of Edinburgh to develop a collection of Scottish art. Since then, the Jean F. Watson Bequest Fund has enabled the acquisition of more than 1,000 artworks.
Among the artists represented are many with links to the Royal Scottish Academy, including Anne Redpath RSA, Joan Eardley RSA, Leena Nammari RSA, and Alison Watt RSA.
Hill and Adamson, Ramsay and Rutherford from The Fishermen and Women of the Firth of Forth Portfolio, 1843-1847. The work will be displayed in an exhibition on Hill and Adamson at Studies in Photography, Edinburgh.
In May, an exhibition on Hill and Adamson will open at Studies in Photography, who will also host a seminar and book launch to coincide with the exhibition. As Secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy from 1836 to 1869, photographer David Octavius Hill shaped the institution’s identity and legacy. His partnership and work with fellow photographer Robert Adamson was a defining moment in the development of the photographic portrait.
Their work will be celebrated in the new book Hill and Adamson: The Fisherwomen and Men of the Firth of Forth, by Sara Stevenson.
This volume offers a fresh perspective on the pioneering work of David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, whose remarkable collaboration between 1843 and 1847 produced some of the most enduring images in the history of photography.
Their portraits of the fisherfolk of the Firth of Forth capture both the dignity and hardship of 19th-century coastal life.
Wendy McMurdo RSA, Avatar, 2008, City Art Centre, City of Edinburgh Council.
Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait (30 May – 25 October) charts 20 years of ground-breaking work of the pioneering photographer and Academician.
At a time where the digital landscape is changing faster than ever before, McMurdo’s work reflects on childhood, the online world, learning and make-believe in her largest exhibition to date.
Scottish Art Specialists Alice Strang and Chantal de Prez viewing the forthcoming auction. Image by Stewart Attwood.
Auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull also mark their 200th anniversary in 2026, and will host a preview of Scottish Paintings and Sculpture auction (31 May – 4 June).
With some 200 works of Scottish art on display, works by Academicians will be highlighted in the preview.
Dame Barbara Rae RSA, Antarctic Memory, 2024.
Presented in Barbara Rae: Charting South at the RSA.
The RSA in Edinburgh will host two exhibitions of important contemporary Academicians. Joyce W. Cairns: A Personal Odyssey (1 August – 2 September 2026) celebrates an important voice in Scottish art, as the first woman to be elected President of the RSA and an influential education to generations of Scottish artists.
Barbara Rae: Charting South (21 November 2026 – 24 January 2027) follows the hugely popular exhibition Barbara Rae: The Northwest Passage (2018).
This new body of work charts the landscapes and locations of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-17).
Dalkeith Palace. Courtesy of Dalkeith Palace and Country Park. Home of PhotoDalkeith 2026.
Celebrations in Midlothian and Glasgow will put photography into focus. Entering its second year, PhotoDalkeith 2026 returns to Dalkeith Palace, Dalkeith Country Park (September – October). Studies in Photography curator Julie Lawson and artist Calum Colvin RSA will co-curate on the theme of photography and the Royal Scottish Academy..
Summerhall Arts will host the RSA Moving Image Programme 2026. Painter and filmmaker Ronald Forbes RSA has curated a programme of moving image work by Academicians and RSA award winners. The programme includes a wide variety of work reflecting artists’ moving image practice in Scotland from the past and present. It includes work from the RSA Collection and work being made today.
As part of the year’s programme, Tonic Arts (NHS Lothian) teams up with Scottish NHS Arts programme partners to bring together a nationally touring exhibition of visual artworks created by Academicians, New Contemporaries, Award Winners and Exhibitors from regional health board and national art-in-health collections. The work will be showcased in care settings, creating uplifting and healing clinical environments for patients, visitors and NHS staff.
Further details of the programme across Edinburgh and the Lothians will be announced soon. This includes an exhibition of paintings by John Bellany HRSA at the John Gray Centre Museum in Haddington, and exhibitions at Edinburgh Printmakers and Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.
In the Royal Scottish Academy building, a series of major exhibitions will also take place – from new solo shows to group exhibitions that aim to showcase the RSA’s vibrant and formative past, the pertinent present and a glimpse of a promising future ahead.
Their flagship Annual Exhibition (9 May – 14 June 2026) will have a special feel and New Contemporaries 2026 (28 March – 22 April 2026) will be a unique opportunity to Celebrate Together with Scotland’s schools of art and architecture.
The RSA’s website will be the main hub for the project, and will feature an interactive map and partners pages, which will enable audiences to discover everything that is happening in Celebrating Together across 2026.
Colin Greenslade, Director of the RSA, says:‘This ambitious anniversary celebration will bring partners and communities together to celebrate the cultural history and present influence and connections of the Royal Scottish Academy across Scotland and beyond.
“The RSA has long supported art and architecture in Scotland and, in its 200th year, is a dynamic institution run by artists, for artists.
“This bicentenary celebration offers a fantastic opportunity to spotlight our unique independent heritage, our connections to (and support of) Scotland’s contemporary artists and architects; and to pave the way for the future prosperity of the visual arts in Scotland.’
Sandy Wood, Head of Collections at the RSA, says: ‘2026 will be a joyful celebration that honours the history of the Royal Scottish Academy and looks forward to a promising future.
“The year-long celebration will help connect and celebrate RSA artists and architects, as well as established and emerging artists who have been part of the RSA family over the last 200 years.
“We’re delighted that so many cultural organisations across Scotland are joining the party and we’re looking forward to celebrating together in 2026. There’s still plenty of time to join in and we welcome contact with organisations and projects who’d like to be part of this special year.’
The Royal Scottish Academy was founded in 1826 to support artists and architects and promote art and architecture in Scotland.
They are an independent, non-governmental charitable institution led by Academicians. Royal Scottish Academicians are prominent artists and architects elected by their peers who govern the RSA on a democratic basis.
The RSA run a year-round programme of exhibitions, artist opportunities and events from their base at The Mound in Edinburgh. The RSA holds an historic collection recognised as being of National Significance to Scotland.
RSA x Art UK
A partnership with Art UK will act as a hub to draw together strands across Scotland and UK-wide and will also feature stories, curations and artist features that highlight RSA connections.
RSA x The Skinny
RSA are teaming up with The Skinny to deliver a series of bespoke advertising and editorial bicentennial showcases across print and digital platforms.
RSA x Jack Arts
Art will come to life across cities in Scotland withreimaginedRSA art works on creative billboards in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Perth.
The full celebrations will kick-off in January 2026. It’s a birthday party not to be missed.
Thanks to everyone who came along the National Gallery yesterday to take part in the Resistance – North Edinburgh panel discussion.
It was great to see so many old friends and colleagues and a pleasure to meet new ones too. Participants were not only from North Edinburgh, ‘outsiders’ were also welcomed: we had Leithers, we had folk from Gorgie, Stockbridge and a wee crowd from Wester Hailes too.
But there’s got to be a special mention for one particular online viewer – he was watching from Sydney, Australia (or maybe it was just a bloke called Sidney?)!
Wherever and however you were watching, though, I hope you enjoyed the discussion as much as we did. As you know we went slightly over our allotted time (at one point I thought we might have to apply for a late license!) and we appreciate the organisers at the National Gallery allowing us some leeway.
Even so, I know there was a lot more to share so apologies if you didn’t get the opportunity to ask your question – if it’s any consolation I know I didn’t get to ask half of mine!
Our hope before the event was that it would be informative, interesting and enjoyable and a celebration of vibrant communities, and I think we got there.
I’d like to think we could do it all again one day before too much longer, before we all get just too old and our memories and recollections of events, experiences and the characters who have helped to shape North Edinburgh’s proud history dim and fade.
And if there’s just one message to remember, it’s this: NEVER GIVE UP!
The celebration continued at the National Portrait Gallery in Queen Street, where the Solidarity Wins: Creative Resistance in North Edinburgh exhibition was launched after an excellent lunch provided by North Edinburgh’s very own Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts.
The exhibition was created by a local collaboration of North Edinburgh Arts’ Art for Grown Up in partnership with Royston Wardieburn Community Centre’s Arts & Culture Group and features art works, music, archive films and research material.
The exhibition will be on display in the Portrait Gallery’s Contemporary Space until – do visit if you can.
And to end the day on a high note, there was music from the Resistance Choir – a new song, no less!
SOLIDARITY WINS: A SONG FOR GREATER PILTON may not become the Christmas Number 1, but it definitely struck the right note with Portrait Gallery punters yesterday!
All together now:
We all come from somewhere and now we’re all here …
Two men have been jailed following a serious assault and robbery in Edinburgh’s Old Town.
Andrew Stobbs, 40, was sentenced to three years and five months and Jon Wood, 46, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison on Monday, 24 November 2025 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
A 79-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man sustained serious injuries as a result of attack and robbery, which happened on Saturday, 30 November, 2024 in High School Wynd.
Stobbs and Wood, who were wearing face coverings grabbed the woman’s bag and dragged her to the ground, causing serious injuries. The man attempted to intervene which saw him being punched.
Detective Constable Michael Campbell said: “This was a violent, needless and deeply distressing attack on the couple. I hope this sentence brings some measure of comfort to them.
“Violence of this nature will never be tolerated. We remain committed to protecting the public, supporting victims and bringing offenders to justice.”
The City Art Centre presents the new exhibition by Michael Fullerton (b.1971), whose work spans painting, printmaking, and sculpture, from Saturday 22 November 2025 to Sunday 1 March 2026.
Known for his focus on portraiture, Fullerton engages with complex figures, exposes socio-political power dynamics, and brings to light hidden or forgotten histories. His practice brings attention to overlooked individuals, often connecting disparate ideas and images to form new meanings.
For this exhibition, Fullerton presents a new series of paintings created following his time living and working at the Hilltop Hotel in Carlisle. At the time, the hotel was used as accommodation for people seeking asylum in the UK.
While employed there, first as a general assistant and later in the kitchen, Fullerton developed close relationships with members of the community who hailed from various countries. The resulting portraits reflect these encounters, giving visibility to people and stories often absent from public view.
Alongside these new works, the exhibition includes a selection of prints spanning more than 20 years of Fullerton’s career. Working primarily with silkscreen on newsprint, he has used printmaking as both an extension and counterpoint to his painting, exploring the medium’s capacity for mass-production.
To accompany the exhibition, Fullerton has produced a new commissioned screenprint. His reinterpretation of John Thomson’s ‘Abbotsford, The Home of Sir Walter Scott’ (1828) considers the continuing influence of Romanticism and the legacies of Thomson and Scott in shaping ideas of Scottish national identity.
Culture and Communities Convener Margaret Graham said: “Edinburgh’s cultural institutions are central to our city’s identity, and exhibitions like this remind us of the importance of art in helping us understand the world around us.
“I’m delighted that the City Art Centre continues to champion artists who contribute to Scotland’s vibrant and inclusive culture, and Michael Fullerton’s work speaks directly to this by exploring themes of identity and socio-political power dynamics, and the way we tell and preserve our stories.
“By drawing attention to people and experiences that are often overlooked, his work encourages us to reflect on belonging and the shared humanity that connects us all.”
Curator Stuart Fallon said: “Michael is an artist who asks important questions in new ways, inviting his audiences to deeply consider, or reconsider, the subjects of his works.
“Alongside, the display of his print archive brings together an extraordinary body of work created over 25 years. Together they showcase the practice of one of the most significant Scottish artists of his generation.”
NORTH Edinburgh community activists are taking their message to town this afternoon with two events taking place at art galleries in the city centre.
The events have been built around artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen’s RESISTANCE photo exhibition, which runs at the Modern 2 gallery on Belford Road until 4th January.
First up, community stalwarts Anna Hutchison and Willie Black will reflect on campaigns past and present in a panel discussion in the National Gallery at 12.45.
With so many years of campaigning experience Anna and Willie have a host of stories to share and, having known the pair for the best part of thirty years, I’ll be there to try to keep the event running to time!
The free event is sold out, but you can still register to watch online.
Later in the afternoon, two North Edinburgh groups have been working together on an ambitious project that encapsulates North Edinburgh’s spirit of resistance.
The result of the collaboration is the Solidarity Wins: Creative Resistance in North Edinburgh exhibition, which opens at The Portrait Gallery on Queen Street from 2pm today (details below).
It promises to be very good and it’s free – don’t miss it!
PICTURE: Craig McLean, Outside Drylaw Police station, community campaign GRASP protesting against Police harassment and violence, 2001
The Resistance exhibition chronicles 100 years of protest across Britain from 1903–2003. Using the exhibition as a starting point, activists Willie Black and Anna Hutchison alongside chair Dave Pickering, editor of the North Edinburgh News and Information Worker at Granton Information Centre, discuss North Edinburgh community activism, campaigns and actions, and their relationship and solidarity with local, national and international protests and change.
All tickets for the live event have been snapped up, but you can watch the discussion online in a streamed version of the live event.
Ticketholders will be sent a joining link before the event to either watch live or view the recording later.
SOLIDARITY WINS: CREATIVE RESISTANCE in NORTH EDINBURGH
Solidarity Wins: Creative Resistance in North Edinburgh Exhibition Launch
2pm – 4pm
National Galleries of Scotland, The Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street, EH2 1J
Celebration with food, song and creative activities in the Contemporary Space of the Portrait Gallery. Art works, archive films and research material gathered by Art for Grown Ups and Royston Wardieburn Arts & Culture Group.
Join us for an afternoon of creativity, community and conversation celebrating North Edinburgh’s spirit of resistance.
As part of the Resistance exhibition, the National Galleries of Scotland’s Community Development programme has been working with North Edinburgh groups to create responsive work inspired by the area’s long history of community resistance.
Workshops have included song writing, poetry, photo-montage and exploring photographer Craig MacLean’s back catalogue of North Edinburgh activism, all of which will result in an riso-graph exhibition at the Portrait gallery in November.
As well as this North Edinburgh Arts worked with Local Cinema to programme films as part of their ‘Local Resistance’ programme.
Each screening event included a creative element, one of which included the Resistance choir performing their collaboratively penned song ‘Solidarity Wins: A Song for Greater Pilton‘, along with some well known songs on power of solidarity and friendship.
Thanks to song writing facilitator and choir leader Penny Stone and Tinderbox Jed Milroy and artists Sam Rutherford, Jj Fadaka and Megan Rudden, and all those involved so far!
The programme is a partnership with North Edinburgh Arts Art 4 Grown Ups and Royston Wardieburn Community Centre’s Arts and Culture Group.
IMAGE (above): Collaborative piece by Art 4 Grown Ups members, framed by Muirhouse anti-racism campaign image, 1991.
If anyone is free 2 – 4pm today, it’s the launch of ‘Solidarity Wins: Creative Resistance in North Edinburgh‘ exhibition at the Portrait Gallery, which has been a collaboration between North Edinburgh Arts’ Art 4 Grown Ups project and Royston Wardieburn Community Centre’s Arts and Culture Group (writes HOLLY YEOMAN).
Together they have reflected and responded to North Edinburgh activism and campaigns over the years. There is a community lunch catered by Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts and we will be singing our anthem ‘Solidarity Wins: A Song for Greater Pilton‘ at around 3pm-ish(!)
The exhibition will run till April, and we welcome community groups who might want to visit. If interested please email hyeoman@nationalgalleries.org
