LeithLate returns on 15-18 June 2017 with an exciting programme of events, including visual art, theatre, poetry and live music. In addition to the festival programme, there will also be additional events including a Mural Tour and a new public poetry trail through Leith. The festival will take place in a variety of unexpected venues, including social enterprise curry house Punjabi Junction and Leith Launderette.
The visual arts organisation based in Leith, which also funds several public art projects, including the Mural Project and the Shutter Project is responsible for all the events packed into one weekend. It originated as a one-night event that allowed local artists to showcase their art in a nighttime exhibition. The success of this event allowed LeithLate to grow into an annual festival, celebrating grassroots art spaces and giving artists a platform.
The 2017 festival features different styles of visual art, each exploring different themes and issues. Glasgow School of Art graduate and LeithLate award winner Clara Halstrup will be exhibiting her visual art at Trinity House’s underground vaults. At Sikh-Scot venue Punjabi Junction, visual arts curator Holly Yeoman has organised an event that includes Stephanie Mann and an opening performance by David Sherry, themed around the changing face of Leith. The audience can participate in the in the exhibition by donating food and other items for Edinburgh North East Food Bank.
LeithLate is also host to an ambitious new dance project entitled In the Ink Dark from choreographer Luke Pell in the main auditorium of Leith Theatre. Other dance projects include Creative Electric’s Is this the real life? Is this just broccoli? at Leith Launderette.
LeithLate’s newest event, the Public Poetry Trail, will take place on the final day of the festival, 18 June 2017, and will take Edinburgh poet Christine de Luca’s contemporary poem about Leith as its inspiration. As de Luca recites the poem to her audience, they will walk from the Shore to the Kirkgate, aided by visual clues in an atmospheric tour.
LeithLate17 will take place from June 15-18 2017 and is supported by the City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh City of Literature and Settlement Projects.
