Ahead of all the bigger festivals across the city which take place later in the summer, Leith has its own unique offering which takes place in the evenings of 21 – 22 June 2014.
LeithLate returns for its fourth year with an expanded programme, time-frame, duration and route, making this LeithLate even longer and later than ever before! Expanding from the previous Thursday evening slot to a weekend event over two days, LeithLate14 promises to be a veritable smorgasbord of art, music, film and spoken word with something for everybody to enjoy.
The evening of Saturday 21 June is when LeithLate14 opens across its 25 venues from 5pm – 10pm with the additional excitement of a bespoke LeithLate14 vintage red London bus transporting participants around the expanded route. The LeithLate circuit now includes Great Junction Street and Shore venues stretching down to latest afterparty venue, the Thomas Morton Hall on Ferry Road where Glaswegian rockers Holy Mountain headline on the Saturday night, alongside performances by SAY award-nominated Adam Stafford and RAMMED dj’s. LeithLate14 continues on Sunday 22nd June from 12pm – 5pm with plenty of live events taking place, including live outdoor mural painting by The Too Much Fun Club at Brass Monkey Leith and a special LeithLate Bruncheon at The Out of the Blue Drill Hall with performances by William Douglas and King Creosote.
Primarily a visual art event, LeithLate14 has a wide variety of art on display this year, taking in almost all disciplines including painting, video, sculpture, illustration, photography, collage, printmaking, performance, textiles and jewellery. A number of events have been curated at LeithLate14 too, including a showcase of Ugandan contemporary art festival KLA ART via photography installations of work by Immy Mali and Moses Serubiri in two of Great Junction Street’s African businesses (Super 5* and African Flavour Lounge), along with a mixture of old and new work by internationally exhibiting Berlin-based Edinburgh artist Andrew Gilbert who is producing paintings and sculpture as part of his installation in the Settlement Projects charity shop.
New arts venues participating in LeithLate this year include Collective on Calton Hill (‘gateway to Leith’), Embassy Gallery, the newly reopened and renovated Gayfield Creative Spaces, Vision Mechanics (who also run Puppet Lab) and Coburg House Art Studios. New participating businesses include Joseph Pearce with a MishMish live music showcase, Junkadelic and the (in)famous Gallery of Bad Art, Area C Coffeehouse, Bainbridge Vaults (part of Bainbridge Recording Studios) and Sofi’s Bar.
New collaborators include: Neu! Reekie! with their spoken word, music, animation and film fusion, Kalopsia Collective, a contemporary textile collective, CinemaAttic, the platform for Spanish, Iberian and Latin-American cinema in Scotland, Scottish skateboard company and creative project curators Harvest Skate Co and Faction North Productions who are producing an Edinburgh version of their Commonwealth Games film project From Scotland With Love for LeithLate14.
Developments this year include sponsorship from Leith’s only brewery Pilot Beer who are creating a bespoke LeithLate14 beer that will be available at the afterparty and other Leith venues throughout the event, and the announcement of a new public art project in association with Leith Walkers (www.leithwalkers.com).
With the support of The City of Edinburgh Council, the organisers are producing a large-scale outdoor exhibition of Leith Walker portraits to be displayed on advertising boards and in the windows of local businesses along Leith Walk throughout June, and John from Leith Walkers will operate a mobile photo booth during LeithLate, capturing portraits of attendees.
The full list of participating venues and events at LeithLate14 is as follows:
- Collective(outdoor space): Conversation of Monuments project by Laura Yuile (till 8pm on Sat).
- Edinburgh Printmakers: Scottish Print Network: Carol Rhodes & Louise Hopkins exhibition & Matt Wilson exhibition plus printmaking demonstrations (Sat) and studio tours (Sun).
- Embassy Gallery: ribofunk exhibition featuring Kari Altmann, Laura Yuile, Naomia Davies, Thomas Aithchison, Katie Cercone, Joey Holder and IlonaSagar.
- Gayfield Creative Spaces: Broughton Design District exhibition, Kalopsia textiles exhibition & Natasha Russell installation.
- Joseph Pearce: MishMish live music showcase.
- Windsor Buffet: Live music from Roberta Pia & Olivia Salazar(Sat) and Graeme Mearns (Sun).
- Settlement Projects: Andrew Gilbert paintings and installation.
- Brass Monkey Leith: Neu! Reekie! world animation showcase with live performance from poets and musicians (Sat) & Too Much Fun Club live outdoor mural painting (Sun).
- Elvis Shakespeare: Live music (both days) including Calum Carlyle, Little Pebble, Collar Up, A.H. Doune, St Kilda Mailboat, Banjo Lounge 4 and Blueflint.
- Rhubaba Gallery and Studios: The Rhubaba Choir & PET sing 4 songs, I Wanna Be Your Dog | West End Girls | Sloop John B | When My Dog Died at 6pm & 8pm on Sat.
- The Out of the Blue Drill Hall: Exposed 14 Stevenson College photography exhibition & ping pong (from 7.30pm on Sat), LeithLate Bruncheon live music event curated by William Douglas plus King Creosote (Sun – suggested donation £3).
- Victoria Bar: Omar Zingaro Bhatia exhibition and Albaroma live music (Sat).
- Boda Bar: Night Lights exhibition and The Flint original live music showcase (both days).
- Woodland Creatures: Ingrida Danieliute exhibition and CinemaAttic short film screening (Sun).
- Junkadelic: The Gallery of Bad Art and busking (Sat).
- Area C Coffeehouse: Dj’s and live music (both days) including The Victor Pope Experience.
- SilverHub Studios: Open studio event and exhibition.
- Sofi’s Bar: FiST exhibition & The Last Battle (Sat).
- Vision Mechanics: Open studio event & exhibition.
- Bainbridge Vaults &The Art Cave: Stacks group exhibition curated by Jamie Johnson of Harvest Skate Co. and From Edinburgh With Love film screening.
- Super 5* & African Flavour Lounge: KLA ART Showcase: Immy Mali & Moses Serubiri exhibition installations.
- Coburg House Art Studios: Art by the Water 2014 exhibition.
- LeithLate14 vintage red London double-decker bus on constant rotation around LeithLate14 route (Sat only) with live music onboard (donation fare).
- Leith Walkers outdoor exhibition (various sites along Leith Walk throughout June) & LeithLate14 mobile photo booth (both days).
- Thomas Morton Hall: LeithLate14 Afterparty (9pm – 1am, Sat only) with Holy Mountain, Adam Stafford and others tbc plus Backstage Booths theatrical photo booth. Tickets priced at £6 (advance) from www.wegottickets.com/event/275906, £7 on door.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.