Edinburgh will embrace a kaleidoscope of international heritage next month when the city stages the Festival of Migration, an event celebrating the country’s multiplicity of cultures thanks to its history of welcoming migrants.
Organised by Art27 Scotland, it aims to change the narrative and challenge closed minds through championing diversity and affinity and will feature a keynote speech by a UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights plus an extraordinary range of events over three days.
The Festival of Migration marks the end of two years’ work by Art27 and the beginning of the Cultural Rights incorporation process.
“The Festival of Migration is a call to action,” says Helen Trew, co-director of Art27. “Migration has always been a part of our country’s reality and a driver of our nation’s economic, social and cultural wealth.
“At the heart of this festival is a desire to make our world and our city peaceful, to respect the dignity of every person and to celebrate all cultural expression as the glue that binds us together to face an ever-uncertain future.”
Running in Edinburgh over the weekend of June 16 – 18, the event will open with an address by Dr Quan Nguyen, a teaching fellow from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, who asks Are We New Scots?
It will be followed by an animated short film and soundscape, Kraina, – Land of the Edge by Art27 Artists-in-Residence Marta Adamowicz and Robert Motyka along with members of Edinburgh’s Polish community, plus a live performance by singing stars Davno.
The Friday evening also features the Sound of Southside, an immersive sound installation by Elaine Cheng in collaboration with Hong Kong and Chinese communities in Edinburgh.
On the Saturday, and at the festival’s heart, is a World Café TM which brings together members of the migrant communities to discuss what they might need to be able to exercise their right to participate freely in the cultural life of their communities.
The World Café TM is followed by the festival’s keynote speech from Prof Alexandra Xanthaki, the UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights and a leading expert on indigenous rights in international law at Brunel University.
The evening closes with a unique concert, The Southside Symphony, which brings together the musicians Art27 worked with over the last two years in a unique collaboration in which each was asked to respond to the theme of migration. The musicians, traditional and classical players, draw on their musical heritage from Senegal, Ireland, Yemen, Highland Scotland, Hong Kong and the North of England.
On the Sunday two panel conversations consider migration from the perspective of post-Brexit, in particular the Central and Eastern European communities, and Climate Justice with Climate Carbon Scotland.
Also on the Sunday, Palestinian artist-in-residence Ghazi Hussein will present a new short play Fatima’s Promise, created in collaboration with and performed by recent refugees to Edinburgh from Syria, Iraq, and Sudan.
Their passionate appeal for safe routes is presented in Arabic with English surtitles and includes a short talk on the impact of the recent refugee bill on children by Just Right Scotland.
This is followed by the closing concert from the highly-acclaimed, The Other, which features musicians from Scotland alongside those who have experienced displacement from Iran, Chile, and Brazil.
Fatima’s Promise – Main Image
Over the three days, the festival will host a variety of other events including: the first Human Library in Scotland when readers – i.e. the public – can have a frank chat with a human book; a Paper Cutting workshop inspired by Polish folklore and based on templates from Warsaw’s National Museum of Ethnography; Chinese Calligraphy Workshop; a narrative photographic exhibition Family in Migration led by Laleh Sherkat and an international exchange installation Inherited Incantations led by Shatha Altowai communities in Edinburgh and Hadhramaut in Yemen. There will also be a craft fair with Open Mic slots.
Family in Migration -Inherited Incantations
Art27 Scotland is an arts and human rights organisation inspired by Article 27 of the Declaration of Human Rights which states that everyone had the right to participate in the culture of their community.
Its mission is to explore the meaning and implementation of cultural rights through local, national and international perspectives. The group aims to protect and fulfil cultural rights through artist-led, community-driven projects, recognising the complex intercultural nature of the diverse community in Edinburgh’s Southside.
“Scotland’s 2021 census identified that Edinburgh is officially the country’s most diverse city,” says Helen Trew.
“It also declared that this diversity should be encouraged, facilitated and celebrated and acknowledged that taking part in cultural and creative activities is a fundamental and integral part of the well-being of all of us.
“We wholeheartedly agree and are looking forward to welcoming as diverse an audience as possible to this unique weekend of celebration.”
Booking for the Festival of Migration is open now and for more information visit: