The arts charity, Hidden Door has a begun a public appeal for financial help to support the 2024 festival which will be its 10th anniversary.

The festival literally opens the doors of buildings which would otherwise be beyond the reach of the public. Last year the venue was the Royal High School and this year it was the former Scottish Widows Building which are both due for development.

This year 10,000 people attended the festival and now with organisers finding new sites the body is trying to raise £20,000 to move the planning for next year’s festival forward.

Hazel Johnson Festival Director of Hidden Door PHOTO ©2023 The Edinburgh Reporter

Hidden Door’s Festival Director Hazel Johnson said: “Next year is our festival’s 10th anniversary, and we already have our eye on some very exciting potential new venues. We love making Hidden Door, and are so grateful for all the love and support that people have shown us over the years.

“We are now asking for help to keep that going, to open up more spaces and to support more artists to create and exhibit new work, providing paid opportunities for early career artists and performers across Scotland.

“Investing in the arts is more important than ever, and with cultural organisations across the sector having difficult conversations about funding and the spiralling cost of putting on live events, this needs more than words.

“We feel privileged to have opened up so many amazing spaces all over the city for people to explore, supporting thousands of creatives to collaborate as part of a community, developing new work and finding new audiences. Every donation to our fundraiser will take us a step closer to doing this again in 2024.”

Since it began the festival has supported more than 3,000 artists and performers. The charity is run by volunteers who do everything from sweeping the floors to setting up stages and art exhibitions.

All money is used to pay the artists.

The Hidden Door fundraiser can be found at hiddendoorarts.org or helpthenexthiddendoor.raisely.com

Alice Sherlock. “You can’t go round chucking spuds at boats”. Hidden Door 2023. Photo © 2023 Martin P. McAdam www.martinmcadam.com
Daniel. Hidden Door 2023. Photo © 2023 Martin P. McAdam www.martinmcadam.com
Reggie. Hidden Door 2023. Photo © 2023 Martin P. McAdam www.martinmcadam.com
PHOTO Chris Scott