Five things you need to know today Edinburgh!
St Stephen’s Church – First Fringe tickets on sale now – Tickets on sale today for TEDx event – Last day of the Chinese Warriors – Edinburgh Art Fair
A meeting convened last night in the New Town attracted several hundred people who listened intently to speeches from James Simpson Chairman of the St Stephens Playfair Trust, Rev John Cowie Minister from Stockbridge Parish Church and Stewart Brown from the Mansfield Traquair Centre. St Stephen’s Church is a key building in the city, but latterly has been used as a polling station and as a Fringe venue, and is no longer used as a church. The Church of Scotland decided to sell the building and have now set the second closing date for offers to buy the property as the first sale appears to have fallen through.
The St Stephen’s Playfair Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee set up to buy the building and then maintain it by fundraising, and they want to buy it for the community. They are against “the privatisation of the building, stating that the potential of its great room for music, theatre and other cultural events should be realised and the two lower floors should be used for a combination of community activities and income generation, on the basis of a proper business plan.”
Marco Biagi SNP MSP for Edinburgh City Centre attended the meeting. He told The Edinburgh Reporter:-“It’s a gorgeous building – one of a kind. More than that it’s at the heart of the community. The meeting heard support from everyone from local residents to the parent council at Stockbridge Primary. It would be a terrible shame if the centre was lost to private developers and converted into who-knows-what use. I will be giving the community bid my full support.”
Tannis Dodd of Stockbridge and Inverleith Community Council said:-“Last night’s meeting was well attended with over 300 people including local Councillors, Community Councils and MSPs all showing support for a Community Buyout of this well appreciated and used local Historical Treasure. St Stephen’s Playfair Trust will outline their plans in the near future for their bid to save this beautiful building. If they are successful the intention is to base it on the model of the Mansfield Traquair trust. The building would hopefully be used for community groups, local school groups, music and theatre and office space. The main intention of trying to buy it is to keep the building available as a public building and for the use of the community. At a show of hands at the end the majority was in favour of supporting the project.”
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Yes honestly the first Fringe tickets are on sale now. Trouble is if you buy them you will have to set yourself a reminder on several smart phones to ensure that you don’t forget what you have booked! The Festival Fringe is still six months away but already tickets for several shows are on sale here.
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University of Edinburgh is running a TEDx Event on 21 February 2014 at The Pleasance Theatre and tickets go on sale at 12 noon today. This means that it is organised independently of the organisation TED but has the same ethos.The event starts at 12pm, with registration at 11.30am and concluding at 5pm, followed by a wine reception and afterparty.
The theme of the conference will be THINKING IN ABUNDANCE. This theme encompasses the scarcity and abundance of resources, new definitions of want and need, and fresh perspectives upon problematic issues. THINKING IN ABUNDANCE is about looking again at problems and instead of seeing them as a deficit, using what we do have to make connections, find inspiration, and solve issues.
No latecomers will be admitted.
Ticket details here.
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Today is the last day you can go and have a look at the Chinese Warrior Lanterns in the Old College Quad. We were amazed by them. Each face seems a little different. They have attracted many visitors in daylight hours as well as during the evening over the last week.
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Edinburgh Art Fair is looking for exhibitors for its event which is held later in the year from 14-16 November. More details on their website; if you are a gallery or a dealer then find out more here. You can follow them on Facebook.