Edinburgh 900 – programme and financial awards announced

August 1, 2024 4:22 pm

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The official programme for Edinburgh 900 has been announced – the celebration of the establishment of the capital as a royal burgh – and with it the £200,000 for groups who have applied to the council has been distributed.

Each group was asked to make an application for up to £5,000 for community fund allocations or up to £15,000 for civic funding applications. The funds will be used by the successful recipients to stage events celebrate the 900th anniversary in a variety of ways.

The Lord Provost congratulated recipients and expressed his appreciation to those who took the time to apply to take part in the Edinburgh 900 programme.

The Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, Robert Aldridge said: “We are celebrating nine centuries of history, traditions and stories and we have a real opportunity to shine a light on Edinburgh’s local communities. These two funds represent a great opportunity to showcase these stories to our city and the wider world.

“We had an overwhelming response in terms of applications, which shows how 900 years is resonating with so many in the city.

“We sincerely thank everyone who took the time to submit a funding request. There were so many excellent applications, that we’re disappointed that we are unable to fund each one of them.

“It is imperative that our communities play a central role in these celebrations, from discovering stories of local heritage to events programmes alongside our partners across the city, I’m really excited to see the programme come to life.”

As part of the Edinburgh 900 budget, £100,000 was allocated to a community fund and a further £100,000 to a civic fund.

The community strand will feature local events run by community groups in the city over 2024-25 promoting local heritage and initiatives, designed to engage with new local audiences and to showcase the diversity of Edinburgh.

The civic strand is an opportunity for the cultural and heritage organisations to exhibit Edinburgh and its past.

Edinburgh 900 represents almost a millennium of shared history, and the full programme will examine how Edinburgh came to be over the centuries, from commerce to conflict and from faith to finance. For more information visit the official Edinburgh 900 website, hosted by Forever Edinburgh.

One of the events which has already begun is 900 Voices at St Giles’ Cathedral. Read more here.

ALL Photos below Greg Macvean

Successful Community Fund applications:

Citadel Arts Group Leith Customs: £5,000.00
Ukraine t Margaret’s Saturday School & St Cuthbert’s Parish Church 900 Artworks
Exhibition for the 900th Anniversary: £3,000.00
The Living Memory Association Our Working City: £4,860.00
Art and Spirituality CIC “International South West Community Project”: £3,466.00
THE MELTING POT Innovation: Past and Present: £4,750.00
Passion4Fusion Black History Month Gala: £5,000.00
Abbeyhill Colony of Artists Colony of Artists 20th Anniversary Celebrations: £5,000.00
Leith walk polisbox Outside the (polis)box: £5,000.00
Newhaven Coastal Rowing Club Seafaring Spirit: Celebrating Newhaven’s Coastal Community: £2,396.00
PenPal Productions Tales of the City: £4,116.00
Portobello Toddler Hut Storytelling – The UK’s oldest playgroup: £4,685.00
Project Esperanza A City of Diversity: Past, Present, and Future: £5,000.00
The Edinburgh Remakery Ltd Celebrating 900 Year through Art & Stories: £5,000.00
Just Festival: £5,000.00
Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust Magical Woodland Walk: £4,990.00
Active Inquiry 900 years of Leith – a play: £5,000.00
WHALE Arts WHALE Members’ Art-History Trips: £1,875.00
Scottish Historic Buildings Trust Open House: Leith Custom House Festival: £4,953.00
Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive Reading Queer Edinburgh with Lavender Menace Archive: £5,000.00
Gracemount Mansion Development Trust Our Gracemount Community Heritage 900: £5,000.00
Greatway Foundation SCOTAFRICAN Stories: £5,000.00
The Edinburgh Tool Library Edinburgh Tool Library turns 10: Celebrating a Decade of
Community and Creativity: £4,812.50

Successful Civic Fund applications:

TRACS for The Scottish International Storytelling Festival EDINBURGH: Our Storied Town: £10,000
Multi-Cultural Family Base Heritage, community and wellbeing: £12,380
Edinburgh Leisure Edinburgh Leisure Celebrating Edinburgh 900: ‘Your Health Is for Life’: £7,000
Edinburgh Printmakers Castle Mills: Then & Now | 900 Stories in Print: £14,736
Push the Boat Out (Arts SCIO) Disrupting the Narrative at Push the Boat Out, Edinburgh’s International Poetry Festival: £14,627
F-Bomb Theatre Monumental: £14,987.2
African Connections CIC / Edinburgh Multicultural Festival: £14,883.75

EDINBURGH 900

It was King David I who introduced a new set up for local government by creating royal burghs in Scotland in 1124 in an effort to reform Scotland’s economic and political structures. Edinburgh was one of the first along with Berwick, Dunfermline, Roxburgh and Stirling.

There is no surviving founding Edinburgh charter, an 1127 Dunfermline Abbey royal charter refers to ‘my burgh of Edinburgh’. In 1128, Canongate Burgh was created for Holyrood Abbey.

The applications were to be announced at the beginning of July but this was delayed due to the election and holidays. Each event must focus on the heritage or history of Edinburgh and must prioritise Edinburgh residents.

Events were held earlier in the year when certain groups were invited to meet The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh to talk about their proposals in the City Chambers.

To provide some structure to the events programme, the council has drawn up ten themes agreed with programme partners including Historic Environment Scotland, Incorporations of Trade of Edinburgh, Museum on the Mound, Royal Company of Merchants of the City of Edinburgh, St Giles’ Cathedral and Edinburgh Local Heritage Network.