Tag: online

Line-Up Announced For Free Fringe Festival Online

Laughing Horse Comedy has launched its 2020 Edinburgh Free Fringe programme, which will take place online next month. The spirit of the Fringe is alive and well in August with a packed programmme of comedy shows, children’s shows, cabaret and spoken word.

Shows are a performed live, and run from August 7th to 30th – with shows available each day apart from Tuesdays. These are available a streamed content for free with donations given like a free Festival show would be in Edinburgh, or held in a ‘Pay What You Want’ ticketed video conference call, set-up to allowing people to get free tickets, or offer a donation to the performers.

The shows are all from performers who have been seen before at the Free Festival, including Dave TV award winning comic Masai Graham with his 101 Jokes shows, a comedy chat show hosted by leading Scottish comic Vladimir McTavish, regular family-friendly Comedy Sportz Improv shows, the return of Peter Michael Marino’s hit kids show ‘Show Up, Kids’, worldwide Festival hit ‘Joke Thieves’, plus Comedy and Cabaret performed live from the USA, a Science Chat show, a new panel show and solo shows including new shows from comedians Meryl O’Rourke, Charmian Hughes (pictured), Singapore’s Sam See, Sasha Ellen and more.

For Fringe fans in Edinburgh there will also be the opportunity to see some of the shows at our venues – with some of the performances planned to be broadcast live on the big screens at our Three Sisters and Pear Tree venues, two of the usual big hubs of Fringe activity in August.

Laughing Horse Comedy, who run free Festival and it’s director Alex Petty think this is a great opportunity to keep the spirit of the Fringe alive in it’s first ever fallow year, support performers and keep some of the fans of the Fringe entertained both at home and in Edinburgh.

This also helps in the early planning for the 2021 Fringe which is already underway, that of course is very likely to see changes for shows of covid-19 is still with us –  especially for free shows that have until now remained predominately unticketed, something that will need to change to a ticketed or Pay What You Want model in the ‘new normal’.

The full line-up is available now on www.freefestival.co.uk

Edinburgh Book Festival to go online

Organisers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival have announced that they will be presenting the 2020 Book Festival online from Saturday 15 to Monday 31 August. 

The programme, made up of over 100 events for adults, families and children, will offer both live and pre-recorded conversations featuring leading writers, poets and participants from around the world.

Events will be free to view, and available through the Book Festival’s own website.

Nick Barley, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said “We are very excited to be presenting live online events for the first time. 

“Thanks to invaluable support from The Scottish Government, Creative Scotland, The City of Edinburgh Council and many of our sponsors and donors, including Baillie Gifford, People’s Postcode Lottery and a number of generous individuals, we are in a position to experiment, to bring the essence of our wonderful festival to our loyal supporters – and new audiences – in a series of ambitious, innovative and exciting online conversations.

“The Edinburgh International Book Festival is a crucial part of the literary year for Scottish and British writers and publishers, and we felt strongly that we needed to showcase the very best writing and ideas despite not being able to come together in Charlotte Square Gardens in Edinburgh this August.”

Full details of the programme and participating authors for the 2020 Edinburgh International Book Festival online, and information on how audiences can access the free events, will be announced at the end of July.

Picture: EIBF

Celebrating Scotland’s Gardens On-line

The Scottish Summer Garden Festival is going ahead as a virtual event following a decision by organisers, Discover Scottish Gardens that restricted travel is no reason for garden lovers to miss out on the glory of the season in full bloom.

The on-line spectacle will run from Saturday, 13 June until Saturday, 15 August and dozens of gardens across the country will be taking part, offering workshops, practical advice and video tours.

More than 400 gardens, nurseries and garden centres make up the Discover Scottish Gardens network and amongst those taking part in the festival will be Gordon Castle in Moray, where, on Saturday, 4 July, owner Zara Gordon-Lennox will be marking the birthday of the restored walled garden which has come back to life following a reimagining by renowned landscape designer Arne Maynard and on 15 and 16 August she’ll be broadcasting from the cutting beds where the flowers sold in the estate shop are grown.

Also on 4 July, Des Cotton, Head Gardener, Glamis Castle, will be running on-line workshops on summer pruning and training espalier apples trees as well as providing a guide to micro-irrigation, taking gardeners through the steps to setting up an irrigation system for their own pots and borders.

Meanwhile at New Hopetoun Gardens near Edinburgh, former Beechgrove presenter Lesley Watson, will be introducing footage of the garden centre’s annual Art in the Garden event, looking back at some of the most notable installations and inspiring gardeners to think of ways that they can work with different materials to add art to their own spaces.

Discover Scotland’s Gardens already runs the successful Scottish Snowdrop, Rhododendron & Bluebell and Tree Festivals across the gardening year.

Catherine Erskine, DSG chair, says: “This was to be our first Summer Garden Festival, celebrating the exuberance of Scotland’s gardens in full bloom.

“We want people to enjoy the wonders of Scottish gardens from the comfort of their own homes. The festival is about anything and everything that happens in gardens, not just the practical or aesthetic elements, and this way all that is fully accessible.”

The Festival will include cottages and castles, head gardeners, plant experts, world-renowned gardens and hidden Scottish gems. It will be a chance to step into the world of these amazing spaces and the people who cultivate them, while gaining advice and inspiration.  

There will be inspiration on how to get creative in the garden with children and there will be something for everyone even if they don’t have a garden of their own.

A full list of events is available from discoverscottishgardens.org/summergardenfestival/

 

Licketyspit’s Big Porridge & Play is going online

WE may all be at home, but, in our imaginations, we can go anywhere, be anyone, do anything. All we need to play is each other!

Scotland’s pioneering inter-generational imaginary play specialists,   Licketyspit, have received funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to adapt their popular family project, Big Porridge & Play Glasgow, to tackle social isolation and support families across Scotland during the Coronavirus lockdown.

The charity will bring groups of families together via Zoom to play games, sing songs and go on imaginary adventures – all from their own living rooms!

In trial sessions, families have made Flying Butterfly Cake, talked to Polar Bears, flown through a Tornado and climbed a Hot Chocolate Volcano with the Licketyspit actor-pedagogues!

Feedback has been hugely positive: “We enjoyed seeing others and being creative with everyone and we would love it to happen again.” (Boatemma, Ruchill); “It’s so nice to see everyone after so many days.” (Piyanshu, 8, the Gorbals).

Big Porridge & Play has been created with and for children in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Glasgow and supports families to tap into their imaginations for hours of joy, excitement, creative learning and connection.

As one mother, from Ruchill, reflected last year: “Their imagination has come on so much and they feel comfortable playing without any objects/toys now.”

Families across Scotland with children aged 3-12 will be able to join Porridge & Play open sessions – imaginary Play Sessions for the whole family online every Saturday morning at 10am from Saturday 30 May. 

TO JOIN email cfn@licketyspit.com or text 07413 800 342

There will be a dedicated CFN Facebook Group and lots of ideas for things to do at home in between sessions. “It’s fun, relaxing, good for bonding with your child and reducing stress.” (Dad, Whiteinch)

Licketyspit is one of a number of organisations working together to highlight the urgent need to address ‘digital inequality’ during lockdown, through the No One Left Behind Digital Scotland Campaign and with colleagues on the Ethnic Minority National Resilience Network. They will work with BEMIS Scotland to ensure that digital access isn’t a barrier to participating in Big Porridge & Play.  

Artistic director and CEO of Licketyspit, Virginia Radcliffe, said: “Being with children gives adults a reason to play, but we all need what children need, especially to help us cope with the current crisis – play helps us relax and access our limitless imaginations.

“The Coronavirus lockdown is a confusing and anxious time for many children as they find themselves separated from their daily routine and friendships.

“Playing with adults who take play as seriously as they do empowers children, and with parental engagement shown to be the biggest single factor in a child’s capacity to learn, playing together in Big Porridge & Play online is a wonderful way to support children to flourish during lockdown.

“It’s very important for us that children continue to have agency and autonomy in these sessions, to invent and delight in their own and others’ rich imaginations. We can make each other laugh, and we can sing!

“We’re delighted that this wonderful family play project can still happen online and will be working with third sector colleagues to ensure digital inequality isn’t a barrier to families in the greatest need participating.”

The National Lottery Community Fund, Scotland director, Neil Ritch, said: “In these uncertain times, our priority is to ensure that National Lottery money continues to flow to charities, voluntary sector organisations and grassroots groups.

“I would like to congratulate Licketyspit on their award, theirs is an important project and will support people now and in the future when they can physically come back together to make great things happen in their community.”

To take part in these free sessions, join the Licketyspit Children & Families Network (CFN) – an inclusive community of families who embrace children’s rights and imaginary play, at www.licketyspit.com/families/network and email or text Children & Families Network producer, Ruby Zajac, on cfn@licketyspit.com / 07413 800 342.