Alan Windram: Mac and Bob. A special Independent Booksellers Week event for young children, with the author of the Mac and Bob stories. 12 noon, The Book Bothy, Far From the Madding Crowd, 20 High Street, Linlithgow.
Edinburgh Canal Festival and Raft Race: boat trips, canoe tasters, birds of prey, stalls, food, classic cars, wee boat flotilla, model boats, activities, ponies, Edinburgh Printmakers, water walkers, children’s art and play, music and dance with The Fed Peasants, Little Love and the Friendly Vibes, Rise Kagona, Sylvain Ayite, Mathieu Thomas (Parc en Ciel), Father Jack, Boorach, Lara’s Belly Dancers and Tollcross Galoshins. Visit The Forge Workshops, Scrapstore and Grove 2 Plants and Crafts at the Fountainbride Meanwhile Site. 12 noon (opening ceremony), 3pm (raft race), 4pm (raft race prizes), Lochrin Basin, Edinburgh Quay, Fountainbridge. If you would like to enter the raft race, please email race@edinburghcanalfestival.org.uk.
Wester Hailes Community Connections: a festival celebrating community life, past, present and future. The festival closes today, with a film night at which you can see Our Place in Time poetry video, The Huts (1984) and Let’s Meet at the Underpass, and also attend the opening of local photographer Raymond Keith’s exhibition celebrating Wester Hailes community life. Raymond is a professional photographer who also runs monthly WHALE Snappers sessions – photography sessions for all levels of ability and experience. Refreshments will be served and fun will be had! 6pm onwards, WHALE Arts, 30 Westburn Grove. For more information about this or any other event in the Community Connections Festival, please call Sarah Walker on 0131 458 3267 or email sarah@whalearts.co.uk
Opening Lecture: MC Escher. Micky Piller, Chief Curator at Escher in Het Palais, the monographic museum on the life and work of MC Escher in The Hague, discusses the artist’s life and work to celebrate the opening of the MC Escher exhibition at the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art TWO. 12.45-1.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Tickets cost £5/£4 and may be purchased from the Information Desk in the National Gallery or by calling 0131 624 6560.
Scottish Waterways Trust Wildflower Survey: become a ‘citizen scientist’ and help to discover more about the plants growing on the canalside in Edinburgh. Develop your plant ID skills, make new friends and have fun. 10.30am-1pm, Water of Leith Conservation Trust, 24 Lanark Road. For more information please contact Anna Canning on 07790 885969 or email anna.canning@blueyonder.co.uk
Gasland: a film about fracking. 7-10pm, Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh, 17 West Montgomery Place. The Autonomous Centre is a self-managed social resource centre, open for the use of groups and individuals who are trying to make a better society and improve their lives. Newcomers very welcome!
Lunchtime Concert: Dreghorn Musical Society, Edinburgh. 12.15pm, St Giles’ Cathedral, High Street. Free.
Leith School of Art Summer Exhibition: a showcase of the work of the School’s students at the end of their year-long and part-time courses. The School has introduced several new courses in 2014-15, so the exhibition will take place over all three campuses: 10am-4pm at St James, North Junction Street and Coburg House Studios; also at same times on Sunday 28th June (please note: St James campus will be only be open 1-4pm on Sunday 28th). For full details see the School’s website here.
National Gallery Highlights Tours: an introduction to and tour of the National Gallery’s permanent collection, focusing on key paintings. 2-2.45pm or 3-3.45pm, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free: no booking required.
Phyllida Barlow: set. A major new exhibition of work made especially for the Gallery by one of the international art world’s brightest stars. Barlow is known for her monumental sculptures made from simple materials; physically impressive and materially insistent, her sculptures are inspired by the outside world and by the experience of living and looking. 11am-6pm Monday to Saturday, 12 noon-5pm Sundays, The Fruitmarket Gallery, 45 Market Street. Ends 18th October 2015.
Edinburgh International Film Festival continues today! For details of all films and other events see the programme here or pick up a paper copy at EIFF venues and many other locations throughout the city. Tickets are available in person from the Filmhouse, Lothian Road, Cineworld, Fountain Park, Odeon, Lothian Road and the Festival Theatre, by calling 0131 623 8030 or online here. Today’s highlights include Edinburgh Schools Film Competition (Primary) – shorts by young people from the city’s schools, selected by the EIFF Youth Jury, You’re Ugly Too, ‘a bittersweet and gently humorous drama’ focusing on the relationship between newly orphaned 11 year old Stacey and her recently-paroled uncle Will, and Black Box Live: ‘Tyburnia’ with Dead Rat Orchestra, ‘an immersive cine-concert combining the artistry of film with the craft of music’. James Holcombe’s analogue film images tell the story of the Tyburn gallows; they will be accompanied by a live performance of ballads and musical laments.
Skylark Surf Week: Release the Kraken! A night of carousing, maritime folk music and rum. 9pm, The Skylark, 241-243 Portobello High Street.
Ragged University: IT and Biscuits. If you’d like to learn something on your computer, get to grips with basic computer skills, find free (legal) software or have other computer questions, come along to this free IT workshop for tutorials and person to person guidance on all aspects of computers and software. Relax in a social setting: tea and biscuits provided! You will need a laptop (or you can borrow one if you need to) and an active membership of Edinburgh City Libraries. 1-4pm, George Washington Browne Room, Central Library, George IV Bridge.
Edinburgh Printmakers: Photography in Print – a Gallery Discussion. This event complements the new Edinburgh Printmakers Members’ exhibition, Photography in Print, which is part of the ACTINIC Festival. Participating artists and professionals in the fields of printmaking and photography will discuss their work, the conflux of these media and their personal experience of these practices, giving a unique insight into the conceptual and technical aspects of their artistic practice and study. An open dialogue will be encouraged between the panel and visitors, with an opportunity to ask questions and allow a creative free-flow of information and debate. 3-4pm, Edinburgh Printmakers, Union Street. Free: no booking required. The discussion will be followed by a preview of the exhibition from 4pm to 6pm. The exhibition will then be open 10am-6pm, Tuesday to Saturday, until 25 July 2015.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians: The Chapter House Ensemble. Shane Brogan (accordion) and Joern Pfaff (piano) play an eclectic repertoire of Argentine tango, classical, ethnic, jazz and popular music. 7.30pm (prompt), Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road. The Edinburgh Society of Musicians has been promoting practical music-making in Edinburgh since 1887. Admission is free and non-members are welcomed.
The Chippendale International School of Furniture Edinburgh Exhibition: come and see the work of this year’s graduates from the acclaimed East Lothian School; many pieces will be for sale. 10am-4pm, Gayfield Creative Spaces, Gayfield Square. Also at same times on Sunday 28th June, and 10am-6pm on Monday 29 June, Tuesday 30 June and Wednesday 1 July, with a private view 6-8pm on Monday 29. For further information please contact Charlie Laidlaw on 07890 396518 or email info@chippendale.co.uk
St John’s Summer Quiz Night: bring your own team or join one on the night, and test your mettle against Quizmaster and Associate Rector Stephen Holmes. Wine and nibbles provided; prize for the winners. 7.30pm, St John’s Church, Princes Street. £8/£6; all proceeds will go to St John’s Development Fund.
East Neuk Festival: your second chance to get out of the city this weekend is a friendly festival of one-off events in a picturesque corner of Fife. Classical music, from Bach to Britten, and a ‘festival within a festival’, Littoral, a weekend of literary events celebrating our connections with nature, landscape and seascape and featuring Helen Macdonald, Tom Pow, Sir John Lister-Kaye, talks, a photography workshop and a tree walk with Jim Crumley. Littoral begins at 11.30am today and ends on Sunday evening; the music festival begins today at 7.30pm and continues through the week, concluding with the Festival Finale in Cambo Gardens on Sunday 5th July. For information and to book tickets, see the Festival’s website here or pick up a brochure from various Edinburgh venues.
