What’s on in Edinburgh this August? What isn’t! The Scottish city really gets festive in August 2012, with a jam-packed line-up of events in Edinburgh. There’s a trillion things to see, do and chortle at but the real beauty of the Edinburgh Festival is the amount of free stuff going on. We’ve got the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Free Festival, the Fringe and much more covered, to show you how to keep that beer money strictly for beer.
First, check out our video from local residents on doing the fringe on a budget:
1. The Free Festival
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012 looks set to be the best yet. After growing concern that the fringe was becoming increasingly expensive Laughing Horse Comedy’s Free Festival promoter Alex Petty started putting aside venues where festival-goers could be guaranteed a free chuckle. This year it takes place from the 3-27 August and has over 6,100 performances of nearly over 350 shows. They host a bit of everything including comedy, cabaret, theatre, music gigs, exhibitions and operas.
We suggest…
- Catch one of the two daily shows at the Espionage (4 India Buildings). Here you can witness a spectrum of acts hand-picked from all the Fringe performances. The hour-long show starts at 8:30pm and 11pm, is free and non-ticketed.
- At the Pear Tree Outdoor Stage (38 West Nicholson Street) you’ll find a medley of comedy, music and street theatre from 11am until 10pm.
- There’s lots going on at The Hive (15-17 Niddry Street). With Bob Slayer’s Marmite Gameshow and The Return Of O’Farahan And Keith.
2. Edinburgh International Book Festival
The biggest literary festival in the world, the Edinburgh International Book Festival takes place in the beautiful Georgian Charlotte Square Gardens. Entry is free but you’ll have to pay to hear the Nobel laureates and award-winning authors. As something of an oasis amidst the rest of the festival’s drama, you can plop yourself into a chair and just enjoy being amongst book buffs, writers, poets, politicians and artists from over 45 countries.
We suggest…
- Make for the Highland Park Spiegeltent from 9pm-11pm where a mini-festival called ‘Unbound’ offers authors the chance to explore new literature, music with an alternative approach. Vague? We think so too, after all, they call the event ‘gloriously indefinable’ but it’s free and they will be serving some plonk if all else fails.
3. Mela Festival
Set up by a group of ethnic minorities in Edinburgh, The Edinburgh Mela Festival is a celebration of cultural diversity in Scotland. The Edinburgh Mela Festival 2012 will take place from the 31-2 September at Leith Links with food stalls and a craft market running alongside the main events.
Mela means ‘gathering’ in Sanskrit, and while it isn’t completely free (all day passes are £2, but single events and children under 12 are free), it’s fantastic value for money. The line-up for the Edinburgh Mela 2012 includes theatre, music, film, visual art and Bollywood Dance.
We suggest…
The Edinburgh Mela Fashion Show showcases both local and international talent working with both contemporary urban and traditional Asian wedding wear. It’s held in the Big Top on Sunday 4th September between from 1pm.
4. Edinburgh Art Festival
Until recent years art was somewhat brushed under the rug amongst all the rowdy theatre and comedy of Edinburgh’s festivals. Now a number of galleries have clubbed together to have their slice of the pie in the Edinburgh Art Festival 2012 from 2 August – 2 September.
We suggest…
- The Fruitmarket Gallery (45 Market Street) will be exhibiting work by British artist Martin Creed. His creations made from the stuff of the everyday and the simplicity of ideas such as ‘The lights going on and off’ won him the Turner Prize back in 2001.
- The Stills Gallery (23 Cockburn Street) is Scotland’s number one centre for photography and will be displaying Stephen Sutcliffe Runaway, Success exhibition. New work is shown alongside 8 of his videos. There’s also a selection of rarely seen films by the American filmmaker Gary Conklin. He’s the first of many artists commissioned to both make a new work and to invite points of reference into Stills’ gallery spaces.
Accommodation
August’s festival season is the perfect time to visit the city, although you will notice properties hiking up their prices for this busy period and you need to book well in advance. There are plenty of cheap Edinburgh hotels and hostels close to all the action, especially along the Royal Mile. They’re not just for cash-strapped backpackers, hostels are ideal for the festival season with a sociable atmosphere and central locations. Some even organise fringe pub crawls or competitions for show tickets.
Keep us up-to-date with all your Edinburgh Festival revelries on our Facebook page!
Thanks to Dale Harvey, Tom Brogan and v a n g e l i s for the images off Flickr! Please note, all images were suitable for use at the time of publication according to the Creative Commons License.
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February 22nd, 2010 at 1:11 pm
If anyone is looking for rehearsal space at the festival this year we have a number of halls for hire. Proceeds go towards our charitable work in the city:
Hall Hire Edinburgh