Burns and Beyond cancelled due to lack of funding
The festival celebrating Robert Burns, which has become one of Edinburgh’s recognised festivals, has been cancelled this year.
Organisers of Burns&Beyond say it is due to lack of funding, explaining they were left with only guaranteed backing from Edinburgh Council. Previous backers Johnnie Walker and “city centre bosses”, which presumably means Essential Edinburgh, have also, according to The Times, pulled out of backing the event. This festival has been a fabulous platform for all kinds of music and spoken word events celebrating our National Bard over the years – and only last year Michael Pendry’s Heart wowed visitors to St Giles’ Cathedral. Other musicians such as KT Tunstall came to Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms in previous years in January which is historically a quiet month after Christmas and Hogmanay.
An announcement on the Burns & Beyond website says: “Burns&Beyond celebrates the life and legacy of Robert Burns, and this year we are highlighting the very best free and ticketed events taking place in Edinburgh for Burns Night 2025.
“You can enjoy a feast of Burns Night fun across the city, including Museum Lates: Big Burns Ceilidh at the National Museum of Scotland, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Ceilidh Events, delicious Burns Supper events and more…
“You can also find incredible archive content of live performances from Burns&Beyond, along with a handy guide to hold your own Burns Night celebrations.”
A spokesman said: “We are deeply saddened that Burns & Beyond is unable to deliver a programme of live events this year. Since the inaugural event, we have presented some of Scotland’s leading musicians, singer-songwriters and poets to perform at our celebration of the Bard.
“We will continue discussions with funding partners and hope to return to a live events programme next year. There are wonderful Burns suppers, ceilidhs and events taking place throughout the city. We encourage people to embrace these.”
A spokesman for The Scottish Government said: “As set out in our programme for government, we intend to review the way the culture sector is supported, and ensure the £34 million increase for culture in the draft 2025-26 budget delivers for Scotland.”
You can still attend many events – the list is here – and there are some videos to watch from previous editions of the festival including this from Neu!Reekie below.
