Edinburgh Festivals


Welcome the the city of Festival. All around the year Edinburgh witness the over crowed and well enjoyable Festivals. Festivals – The Edinburgh does the best. This fact is made up by a variety of Edinburgh festivals and events including the International Festival, The Fringe, Book Festival, Film Festival, Military Tattoo, Jazz festival etc. In the end of year, the city comes alive during the winter Edinburgh festivals which feature the month-long Edinburgh's Christmas and finish with the world famous Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations. Spring time sees Ceilidh Culture and the Science festival providing the entertainment while the Children's Festival starts the summer with playful enthusiasm. As a home of a most vibrant calendar of Edinburgh festivals and events, one can be assure that there's always something to excite one during a stay in Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Festival is a generic term used to describe the cultural explosion in August each year.

Since the late 1940s Edinburgh has become a hotspot for artistic talent beginning with the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The summer programme has grown with the Edinburgh Book Festival, the largest book festival in the world, the Edinburgh Film Festival, a world renowned showcase of cinematic talent and the Military Tattoo in the magnificent backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. The Jazz festival starting in late July and the Edinburgh Mela in the last days of August bookend a phenomenal six weeks of arts and culture in the city. Hogmanay is the world's most famous celebration of New Year, the Edinburgh Science festival is a springtime journey of discovery in its own right and the Children's Festival starts the summer with playful exuberance.

It's no wonder that Edinburgh has truly become the FESTIVAL CITY.

Edinburgh’s Winter Festival continues to be one of the main factors in attracting record numbers of visitors to the capital during the period.

A survey of 2,870 interviews conducted by Progressive Partnership and SQW on behalf of Edinburgh ’s Winter Festivals found that 80 per cent of people said Edinburgh’s Hogmanay was the main reason they visited the city, with 57 per cent saying they came to Edinburgh specifically for the Winter Festivals.

72 per cent agreed they were more likely to come back to Edinburgh after experiencing the Winter Festivals and 70 per cent thought Edinburgh was a better place to live because of Winter Festivals. Overall, 54 per cent of visitors for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and 27 per cent of visitors for Edinburgh’s Christmas were from outside Scotland."

For Edinburgh, the festivals collectively generate more than £30million and attract more than 500,000 people to the city centre. Research has also shown that 78 per cent of residents agree that the city is a better place to live because of the Winter Festivals. The research suggests that Edinburgh's Christmas has helped transform the city at what was a traditionally quiet time of year, attracting high numbers of UK and overseas visitors to the city and offering residents a world class experience. This was reflected in the high occupancy rates for hotels in Edinburgh and Lothians for December of 64 per cent."

Councillor Steve Cardownie, Festival and Events Champion for the city, said: “ Edinburgh ’s Christmas and Edinburgh ’s Hogmanay have become major events in the city’s festival portfolio and Scotland ’s annual calendar of high profile events."

Source: www.edinburgh-festivals.com

Childrens International Theatre Festival

"The Children's International Theatre Festival has established itself as an indispensable part of the Scottish and international theatre scene" - The Scotsman Over seven days, in five venues across Edinburgh, the Children's International Theatre Festival offers the chance to see award-winning productions from all over the world. The Festival aims to ensure that children of all ages can experience the delights of live theatre. Scribble, from France, specifically aimed at 1-3 year olds, encourages understanding among infants with little gestures, movements and melodies.

Edinburgh Art Festival

The Edinburgh Art Festival is an affiliation of institutions, galleries and artist-led organisations with a shared commitment to celebrating, presenting and communicating art of the highest quality in Edinburgh during the August festivals. The Edinburgh Art Festival brings together the individual strengths of the city’s visual arts organizations to create a critical mass of activity within a festival framework. By bringing together an international season of visual arts for a wide public, the festival achieves a higher visibility for the participating arts organisations and artists, creating a stronger context for their work. This year's festival highlights included 2 major Picasso exhibitions, an Andy Warhol showcase, as well as work from well-known UK artists, Nathan Cole, Alex Hartley and John Stezaker.

Edinburgh Book Festival

The Edinburgh Book Festival is a vibrant meeting place where people of all ages come face to face with some of the greatest writers and thinkers on the planet. The 2007 event has been a fantastic success, with over 700 events to choose from and over 600 authors from 40 countries! Appearances from Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Jeremy Paxman, Pat Barker, Sebastien Faulks, Joanne Harris, Alexander McCall Smith, Ian Rankin, Billy Bragg, Alan Bennett, Iain Banks were only some of the highlights of this year's festival. The 2008 Book Festival is set to be a fantastic event. See your favourite author; take part in a heated debate; stretch your imagination in a creative workshop; attend a book reading with a world-class writer; browse the bookshops; watch a storybook character come to life; learn a new skill in a masterclass and much, much more.

Source: www.edinburgh.org