Easter Bunny Treasure Hunt: with crafts too! For ages 5-8 years. 2-3pm, Blackhall Library, 56 Hillhouse Road.
Craft Afternoon: 3pm today and every Friday, McDonald Road Library, 2 McDonald Road. Free: no booking required.
Zoo Arts Extra: Spring Art Walk and Gallery Visit. An art and wildlife walk along the cycle path and Water of Leith from Muirhouse to the Gallery of Modern Art, drawing, foraging and picnicking along the way. For ages 9+ or under-9s accompanied by a responsible adult. 1.15pm (depart from North Edinburgh Arts, Pennywell Court), arriving back by 5pm. For more information and to book, call North Edinburgh Arts on 0131 315 2151 or email admin@northedinburgharts.co.uk. Zoo Arts Extra is a project based in Muirhouse to bring together people of all ages to enjoy, explore and produce visual art locally and across the city.
Edinburgh University Music Society Spring Concert: Stravinsky Firebird Suite, Borodin Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor and Bartok Concerto for Orchestra. Conductor: Russell Cowieson. 7.30pm, Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place. Tickets cost £10/£5 (concessions)/£3 (members) and can be purchased online here or on the door, subject to availability. Door open 7pm and early arrival is advised.
Kathleen Jamie, Costa Poetry Book Award 2012 winner, in conversation with Jenni Fagan, University of Edinburgh Writer in Residence:Â 6-7pm, Looking Glass Books, 36 Simpson’s Loan, Quartermile. Free.
Sophie Ploeg: The Lace Trail. The Dutch artist, art historian and BP Travel Award winner explores the lavish world of early 17th century Dutch and English portraiture. These portraits and the development of lace and ruffs as a fashion accessory have inspired Sophie to create a series of new paintings which are currently on display within the BP Portrait Award 2015 exhibition. In this talk Sophie will discuss early 17th century portraiture, the development of 17th century lace, and how she was inspired to create the costumes for her paintings. She will also share studio images of the works in progress and explain her working method. 12.45-1.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free and unticketed.
Book and a Brew: borrow some books or take out library membership on the last Friday of the month, and you’ll be invited to join the staff for tea, coffee and cake. 10am-12 noon, South Neighbourhood Office and Library, 40 Captain’s Road.
Gorgie Youth Choir Spring Concert: director Norda Barber. 7pm, Gorgie Dalry Church, 190 Gorgie Road. £3/£1.50. – includes refreshments.
Lee Paterson: 8.30pm, The Skylark, 243 Portobello High Street. Free admission.
Gallery Social: BP Portrait Award. A relaxed and informal guided tour with refreshments for anyone affected by dementia and their relatives, friends and supporters. 10.30am-12 noon, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street. To book please call the Information Desk on 0131 624 6560. Supported by the Friends of NGS.
Electrikal: Newham Generals + Blackwax. Grime scene veterans Newham Generals are amongst the most respected and critically acclaimed underground acts in the UK today, having consistently forged new styles and concepts throughout a career spanning three decades. Blackwax’s ‘dark rugged productions…are informed by the UK’s rich heritage in underground electronic music as well as noticeable influences from further afield’. 11pm-3am, The Bongo Club, 66 Cowgate. Early booking is advised: tickets cost £10 in advance (£12 on the door, subject to availability) and can be booked online here. The Bongo Club is a nightclub, live venue and all-round artistic hub owned by local arts charity Out of the Blue.
Neu! Reekie! This time featuring Holy Esque (‘Glasgow’s most exciting and inventive new band’ NME), Edinburgh-based writer, poet, filmmaker and artist Sandra Alland, BAFTA-nominated animator Claire Lamond, singer-songwriter Bill Ryder Jones, and poet, editor and singer Kevin Cadwallender. 7-10.30pm, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall. Tickets cost £9/£7 and can be booked online here or by calling the Box Office on 0131 560 1581.
Edinburgh Palette Presents Breathe: paintings by Henry Fraser. Preview tonight 6-9pm, then 10am-7pm Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm Saturdays and Sundays, Gallery 1, St Margaret’s House, 151 London Road. Ends 12th April 2015.
Edinburgh Palette Presents Kilns and Cranes: part of a series of large and smaller-scale paintings related to the tanker/frigate image by SSA member Jacqui Higgs. Jacqui’s work captures the changing lights, depths and colours of the North Sea, which lash onto her everyday walks in Edinburgh and beyond. Preview tonight 6-9pm with live music from LouRay2, then 11am-5pm daily, Gallery 2, St Margaret’s House, 151 London Road. Ends 12th April 2015.
Edinburgh Palette Presents Bruce Eckhart: past and present works. Remarkable for their luminous forms and flares of brilliant colour, at first glance Erkhart’s paintings embody abstract expressionism – but the artist reveals, often through his chosen titles, that each imaginative composition contains concrete shapes and figures which he summons from a varied range of sources. Preview tonight 6-9pm, then 10.15am-6pm daily, Gallery 3, St Margaret’s House, 151 London Road. Ends 12th April 2015.
Gerda Stevenson: actress, director, singer and songwriter Gerda Stevenson was nominated for Scots Singer of the Year in the 2014 MG Alba Trad Music Awards and has also been nominated as one of the Saltire Society’s Outstanding Women of Scotland. She has recently released a highly acclaimed debut album Night Touches Day. Gerda will be accompanied by outstanding traditional musicians in an entertaining night of song, music and banter. 7.30-9.30pm, West Street Arts Centre, 4 West St, Penicuik. Tickets cost £10 (£8 for Penicuik Community Arts Association members) and can be purchased online here or from the Gift Shop at 4 West St.
Julia McNairn White: Scottish Seascapes. Following on from Julia McNairn White’s sell-out exhibition last year, The Sutton Gallery presents a new suite of work by the Edinburgh-based artist, featuring oil paintings and pastels depicting the dramatic coastline in and around North Berwick, East Lothian. Open preview tonight 6-8pm, then 11am-5pm Tuesday to Saturday (closed Sunday and Monday), The Sutton Gallery, 18a Dundas Street. Ends 25th April 2015.
Guid Crack: Glamourie.  Enchantment can take many forms: wrap yourself in the cloak of a story this evening and leave time itself waiting outside, with storyteller Beverley Bryant. Edinburgh’s monthly storytelling night, upstairs at the Waverley Bar. 7.30pm, Waverley Bar, St Mary’s Street.  No booking required; free – suggested donation £3 per person. Accompanied young adults welcome.
Trad Talk: Nae Plans. Taking their cue from the spontaneity of the trad music session, two of Scotland’s finest folk musicians Hamish Napier (piano, flute, whistle, vocals) and Adam Sutherland (fiddle) sit down on stage without knowing what they will play. The results will thrill, astound and move you. ‘Marvellously organic and intensely alive’ (Sue Wilson, Scotsman). 8pm, Netherbow Theatre, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street. Tickets cost £10/£8 and can be purchased by calling the Box Office on 0131 556 9579.  Attendees of Trad Talk may be entitled to a discount – ask at the Box Office.
