edinburgh people's festival     

8 December 2008
'Radical' Burns Supper
'Like you've Never Seen One Before'

Following the huge success of last years Radical Burns Supper, the Edinburgh People’s Festival proudly presents our 2009 Burns supper like you’ve never seen one before.  Celebrating the life and work of Scotland’s own poetic genius and radical and in a entirely different way from the traditional stuffy Burns suppers.  With: JOHN McALLION introducing Robert Burns, the people’s poet, the political radical, the abolitionist, republican, revolutionary, writer, poet and activist. Robert Burns is a writer loved the world over, a supporter of greater political freedoms for people the world over. VLADIMIR McTAVISH, Scotland’s finest political comedian gives his own hilarious take on the bard – where Robert Burns meets Irvine Welsh. Music from DAVID FERRARD, WILLIAM YOUNG and other surprise special guests. Hanover Hotel Café Bar, Rose Street, Edinburgh - Sat 24th January 2009 at 7.30pm. Tickets £10 and £7 [concessions] Price includes traditional haggis dinner [vegetarian haggis option also available] Don’t miss this unique celebration of the people’s poet! Outstanding Burns night guaranteed, outstanding entertainment and outstanding value - so don’t be left out standing in the street.  Space is limited so book your ticket now to avoid disappointment. Tickets can be ordered via Edinburgh People’s Festival, ‘Out of the Blue’ Arts Centre, 29 Dalmeny Street, Edinburgh EH6 8RG

December 2008
EPF 2008 AGM Report
EPF's 'Most Successful Year'

People’s Festival Chairman, Colin Fox, told this year’s AGM that 2008 had been 'without doubt the organisation's most successful year'. Having achieved charitable status, the Edinburgh People’s Festival began the year by celebrating the life and works of Robert Burns. In a tribute to Scotland’s national poet which not only outlined his radical credentials but in a form which was itself a radical departure from the traditional Burns suppers, author Patrick Scott Hogg outlined the anti establishment political credentials of this 'heaven sent ploughman'. Later in the year the People’s Festival joined forces with Edinburgh’s May Day Committee to present the annual march and rally through the city. The speakers from home and abroad reflected the international character of the event: with Ms Aida Avella from Colombia, Ms Pat Arrowsmith from CND and Seamus Milne the campaigning journalist on the Guardian. In August the most ambitious People’s Festival programme yet, presented 30 shows in 10 locations throughout the city.  The centrepiece of the week was the award winning exhibition telling the story of the People’s Festival from 1951 to the present.  The exhibition has subsequently been on display at Edinburgh’s Radical Book Fair and is set for a tour of Fife in the New Year.  The week also featured a groundbreaking arts competition, the inaugural Hamish Henderson Annual lecture, a comedy night, theatre, ceilidh, debate, music (inside Saughton jail), photography exhibition and a Rebus literary tour. Plans for 2009 include another Burns supper marking the 250th anniversary of his birth (details to follow soon) and events throughout the year to mark the 20th anniversary of the great Poll Tax rebellion. Keep checking this website for details. The following officer bearers were elected at the 2008 AGM: Chairman – Colin Fox Vice Chair – Jim Slaven Secretary – Johanna Dind Treasurer – Barry Fowler

November 2008
EPF 2008 AGM
People's Festival Annual General Meeting

The 2008 AGM will take place on Monday 24th of November, from 6.30 to 8.30pm in room GP2 of the Southside Community Centre, 117 Nicholson Street Edinburgh. Agenda: - election of office bearers - financial report - organisation of future events

8 October 2008
Radical Book Fair
'People's Festival Story Centrepiece'

The People's Festival's award winning exhibition - The Story of the Edinburgh People's Festival - will make up the centrepiece of this years Edinburgh Radical Book Fair, at the 'Out of the Blue' Arts Centre, Dalmeny St from 29th October to 2nd November. Download Summary Programme PDF File - 36Kb Download Full Programme PDF File - 1.2 Mb

September 2008
EPF 2008 Highlights
'In Sound & Vision'

The Story Of The People's Festival Opening Night Cabaret Coming Soon Art Competition - Coming Soon The Folk In Saughton Coming Soon Theatre - A Cup Of Jamie T Coming Soon The Hamish Henderson Memorial Lecture - Coming Soon Debate - Coming Soon Comedy Night - Coming Soon Ceilidh - Coming Soon

14 August 2008
Did You Hear The One About The Scotsman, Englishman, Welshman And Irishman Who Appeared In Gorgie?
'Five Top Calibre Stand Ups'

Wilson Dixon / Jason Cook / Mick Sergeant / Kevin Gildea / Teddy Bares Scotland’s only year round seven day a week comedy club and its comedians are proud to support the Edinburgh People’s Festival, the festival for the people and by the people of the City. Download Full Press Release PDF File - 20Kb

12 August 2008
EPF Presents The First
Hamish Henderson Memorial Lecture
'A Working Class Intellectual'

The Edinburgh People’s Festival presents the first annual Hamish Henderson Memorial Lecture tomorrow night [Wed 13th August] at the ‘Out of the Blue’ Arts Centre, Dalmeny Street, Leith. The lecture, delivered by Hamish Henderson’s biographer Mr Timothy Neat, marks the midpoint in this years Edinburgh People’s Festival programme of events. Download Full Press Release PDF File - 22Kb

7 August 2008
‘Vladimir McTavish’ To Headline ‘Diverse’ People's Festival Cabaret Night
'Celebrate The Rich Diversity'

The Scots comedian Paul Sneddon, aka ‘Vladimir McTavish’, will headline the Edinburgh People’s Festival’s opening cabaret night this Saturday [9th Aug] at the Gaff Theatre in Craigmillar. The event aims to celebrate the rich diversity and multicultural talent found throughout Edinburgh. Download Full Press Release PDF File - 20Kb

3 August 2008
Be Cool In the People's T-Shirt
EPF 2008 Logo By Frank Boyle

The EPF 2008 programme is here. Check here for latest changes to programme times. The EPF 2008 T-Shirt costs £10 for any size. Place your order here.

Downloads:

*Edinburgh People's Festival Poster

*Opening Cabaret Night e-flyer

*Hamish Henderson Memorial Lecture e-flyer

*Art Debate e-flyer

24 July 2008
Trevor Griffiths Radio Play
'These Are The Times'

Trevor Griffiths who appeared at The Edinburgh People’s Festival last year, has his newest play - A Life of Thomas Paine - performed on Radio 4 this weekend. Thomas Paine is best known for his seminal work - 'The Rights Of Man' More About The Radio Play

2 July 2008
People's Festival Programme
'Reaches The Parts Others Ignore'

The Edinburgh People’s Festival today published its August 2008 programme of events. In previous years the People’s Festival presented David Sneddon to the Jack Kane Centre in Craigmillar weeks before he went on to win the BBC’s Fame Academy talent show, took Hollywood actress Nancy Cartwright to the city’s Royal Infirmary in ‘Bart Goes

to the Simpson’s’, smuggled TV comedian Mark Thomas and Paddy Hill of the Birmingham Six, INTO Saughton prison and showcased the legendary talents of Oscar nominated playwright Trevor Griffiths at The Stand.

The centrepiece of this years programme is an award winning retrospective exhibition telling the story of the People’s Festival for the very first time, from its birth in the 1950’s, to its rebirth in 2002 and including its development to date.  The exhibition takes place in the ARTSPACE in Craigmillar and runs from Saturday 9th-16th August.

Download Full Press Release
PDF File - 23Kb

People's Festival Programme 2008

Download People's Festival 2008 Programme
PDF File - 165Kb (LoRes)
PDF File - 553Kb (HiRes)

Download People's Festival 2008 Poster
PDF File - 145Kb (LoRes)
PDF File - 203Kb (HiRes)

10 June 2008
Angus Calder (1942-2008)
  "a warm, generous and valued friend"

Angus Calder (1942-2008)

The Edinburgh People's Festival sends its condolences to the family and friends of Angus Calder who died on 5th June.  Angus was a warm, generous and valued friend of the Edinburgh People's Festival and always on hand when we needed his advice and assistance.  He participated in the 2003 People's Festival debate 'WHOSE CULTURE IS IT ANYWAY?' staged at the Wester Hailes Education Centre.

We all remember him in fine form up there on the platform 'flyting' with Paul Gudgeon the Director of the Fringe, Tommy Shepherd of the Stand Comedy Club, Richard Demarco and Sain Fidimore from WHALE.  Angus Calder, like Hamish Henderson before him, was an intellectual 'on the workers side', a poet, historian and author of outstanding talent as well as an everlasting socialist and republican.  He has left us a great deal and we are grateful. Colin Fox Chairman Edinburgh People's Festival

20 May 2008
People’s Festival Launches £1,000 Visual Arts Competition
Richard Demarco To Judge Entries

The Edinburgh People’s Festival [EPF] today announced that its 2008 programme in August will include a visual arts competition with £1,000 in prize money on offer.   Artists across Scotland are invited to submit wall mounted work on the theme ‘People Like Us’.

Entries will be exhibited at the North Edinburgh Arts Centre in August as part of the 2008 People’s Festival. The competition will run in tandem with a retrospective history of the People’s Festival spanning the last half century.

Download Full Press Release
PDF File - 19Kb

Download Art Competition Leaflet
PDF File - 82Kb

Download Art Competition Rules - Updated
PDF File - 18Kb

Download Art Competition Forms
PDF File - 60Kb

23 April 2008
Seumas Milne To Speak
At May Day March

The award winning investigative journalist Seumas Milne will be among the speakers at this years Edinburgh May Day march.

Mr Milne, whose book ‘The Enemy Within’ sensationally exposed MI5 infiltration of the National Union of Mineworkers during the 1845 strike, has accepted an invitation to address the city’s annual labour movement celebration.

Edinburgh May Day organiser Colin Fox believes there will be great interest in what Mr Milne has to say.

“Seumas Milne is an outstanding writer and campaigner for social justice and has been for many years. We are delighted he has agreed to travel from London to participate in our annual May Day celebrations. I am sure such an acclaimed journalist will have much to say about the state of the world today. And I am equally sure there are many people in the Lothians who will want to hear him.”

7 April 2008
International Speakers Head to City for May Day Parade

Organisers of the this years Edinburgh May Day parade, celebrating international solidarity and socialism, today announced the guest speakers for the event which takes place on Saturday 3rd May.

The march this year will be led by Pat Arrowsmith from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Colombian trade union leader Aida Avella.

Download Full Press Release
PDF File - 21Kb

Download May Day 2008 Poster
PDF File - 26Kb

Download May Day 2008 Postcard
PDF File - 38Kb

11 March 2008
Award Winning EPF Exhibition Set to Debut in Craigmillar

The Edinburgh People’s Festival, which last month won two awards worth £8,000 for its exhibition on the 50 year history of the groundbreaking arts project, announced today that the show will take place in the ‘Artspace’, Craigmillar.

People’s Festival Chairman Colin Fox thanked the ‘Artspace’ management committee for agreeing to host the week long exhibition saying:

“I am grateful to the management committee at ‘Artspace’ for making such fantastic facilities available for our exhibition. Craigmillar is in many ways the spiritual home of the Edinburgh People’s Festival.”

Download Full Press Release
PDF File - 23Kb

6 March 2008
EPF Secures Lottery Funding For Historic Exhibition

The Edinburgh People’s Festival [EPF] has secured National Lottery funding for an exhibition on its 50 year history.  The ‘Awards for All’ Fund has agreed to provide £5,000 towards the cost of the show to be held in August this year.

People’s Festival Chairman Colin Fox welcomed the news and expects to announce details of the venue for the exhibition in the next couple of days on the website.  ‘This award from the National Lottery is terrific news for the Edinburgh People’s Festival.  Our organisation has grown in leaps and bounds in recent months and we are delighted that the ‘Awards For All’ fund has recognised the great merit in our proposal.’

Download Full Press Release
PDF File - 24Kb

4 March 2008
Last Spanish Civil war veteran from Scotland dies
MayDay Committee Presentation To Stevie Fullarton
L-R Colin Fox, Stevie Fullarton, Craig MacLean, Ronnie Fullarton (son)

The death of Stevie Fullarton, the last surviving Scot to fight in the Spanish civil war [1936-38] represents the end of an era and breaks an important human link in the struggles of the socialist movement internationally.  Stevie was born in the east end of Glasgow in 1920 and joined the Communist Party as a teenager.  He left Glasgow at the age of seventeen and smuggled himself into Spain via France because he was outraged at the sight of Franco’s fascists threatening the elected Republican government.

Full Story
PDF File - 23Kb

Foundation Backs EPF

The Edinburgh People’s Festival has received important financial backing from an influential UK foundation. The Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust based in London aims to ‘advance public education, learning and knowledge in all aspects of the working class movement’. The Trust has awarded the Edinburgh People’s Festival £3,000 towards the cost of an exhibition to be staged later this year.

Download Full Press Release
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AL Kennedy Wins Top Prize

Edinburgh People’s Festival Chairman Colin Fox today sent his warmest congratulations to Scots author AL Kennedy on winning the 2008 Costa’s Book of the Year Award.

Alison Kennedy performed at last years Edinburgh People’s Festival (EPF). Speaking today from New York she expressed her thanks to the EPF both for their kind message and their past support and wished the organisation continued success.

Download Full Press Release
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Alternative Burns Supper

On January 25th 2008, an evening of music,comedy, traditional food, discussion and socialising.

'Celebrate the Radical' with Bruce Morton, acclaimed comic, storyteller and social commentator and Patrick Scott Hogg, a leading authority on the writing and life of Burns.

For tickets, £7 (£4 unwaged) contact:
Kevin on 0774 714 8764

Download Full Press Release
PDF File - 17Kb

Download Poster with details
PDF File - 44Kb


Charitable Status Secured

The Edinburgh People’s Festival has reached yet another important milestone by becoming Scotland’s newest registered charity.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator [OSCR] this week acknowledged that the People’s Festival meets the criteria laid down in sections 7 and 8 of the Charity and Trustees Investment [Scotland] Act 2005. It has further confirmed that the purposes of the People’s Festival - ‘the advancement of education, the arts, science, heritage and culture’ - mean it can now be entered onto the Scottish Charity Register.

Edinburgh People’s Festival spokesman Colin Fox believes their achievement will put the arts group on even stronger foundations.

Download Full Press Release
PDF File - 32Kb

Russian Revolution
Booklet Launch

The Edinburgh People’s Festival has published a booklet to mark the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The booklet entitled ‘What the Russian Revolution means to me?’ will be launched at Word Power Books on Wednesday night [12th Dec 2007 at 7pm].

People’s Festival spokesman Colin Fox believes the publication marks another stage in the progress of the project which began in 2002 to promote a ‘for the people, by the people’ approach to the arts in the city. The idea for the book, he told us, arose out of an event the People’s Festival held in October with the Oscar nominated playwright Trevor Griffiths.

Download Full Press Release
PDF File - 32Kb

The launch will take place on at 7pm on Wednesday 12th of December, at Word Power Books, 43-45 West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh.

Come and join us for this festive last EPF event of the year!

October 2007
Edinburgh Peoples Festival Incorporated

The Edinburgh Peoples Festival was incorporated on the 18th October 2007. The EPF was inspired by the original aims of the Edinburgh Festival, namely, a celebration of the arts 'for the people, by the people'. We want to include all the people. We want to celebrate the work of the original Edinburgh People's Festival 1951- 54 and acknowledge the contribution made by Councillor Jack Kane and the lately departed Hamish Henderson.

The vast majority of the population of Edinburgh don't engage with the present Edinburgh Festival. That's why we relaunched the Edinburgh People's Festival in 2002. That, and respect for Hamish Henderson, who died earlier in 2002.

September 2007
Russian Revolution 90th Anniversary Celebrated

The People’s Festival is presenting an evening to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution at the Stand Comedy Club.

The Oscar nominated playwright, Trevor Griffiths – he co-wrote the film 'Reds' with Warren Beatty - will take part in a Q & A session on the significance of the revolution and the making of the film 'Reds'.

There will also be an evening of comedy and music. Stand up comedian, Vladimir McTavish -aka Paul Sneddon - will be leading the comedy. Alistair Hulett's new band 'The Malkies' will be making their debut appearance and providing the music.