Edinburgh’s festivals and community groups have been featured in the third annual Festival City Stories project with BuildHollywood.
The annual collaboration aims to highlight the often-unseen, year-round, community-focused work of the major Edinburgh festivals, and features stories told through art that is displayed through public, outdoor art installations,
As part of the latest celebration, new artwork has been unveiled from local artist Mark Kirkham, also known as the Edinburgh Sketcher.
Attending events and workshops from across the festivals’ work with local communities, organisations, charities and schools, Mark captured their projects through a series of sketches, which were transformed into postcards for the participants to share their own stories and experiences.
These sketches and postcard responses have now been presented as part of an “artwork takeover” across BuildHollywood Scotland’s hoardings on Dundee Street and Wishaw Terrace from 23 February to 8 March this year.
The artwork takeover was unveiled at an event last night at Edinburgh Printmakers which also featured stories and performances from people involved in year-round partnerships between some of the festivals and local community groups, schools and organisations.
Featured projects included:
The Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival’s Latin Dance Inclusive – a community-based project that introduces young people with disabilities alongside their parents, carers and families, to the joy of dance.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Paper Trails – a multi-year communities project working to tackle literacy inequality and social isolation, in partnership with Edinburgh Libraries and Streetreads.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival’s In Conversation – a programme offering audiences the opportunity to engage directly with filmmakers and creative talent through in-conversation events and post-screening Q&As.
The city’s famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s project Generation Fringe, which works with young people from high schools around the capital to explore career pathways to the arts, introducing them to parts of the industry they might not have known existed.
Belinda McElhinney, chair of Festivals Edinburgh, said: “Residents are the lifeblood of our festivals and so it’s great to have this opportunity to highlight the year-round partnerships between the festivals and their local communities, with thanks especially to BuildHollywood Scotland for their support and to the Edinburgh Sketcher who beautifully presents the many festival community projects in his unique creative style.”
Charlotte Black, general manager at BuildHollywood Scotland, said: “It’s been a real pleasure to once again champion the many incredible stories behind our city’s leading festivals and their collaborations with our vibrant, creative communities, organisations and schools.
“Through the magic of the Edinburgh Sketcher and handwritten postcards from participants, these stories have been brought to life beautifully.
“Together, they form a series of rich visuals we’re proud to platform across our posters and billboard sites throughout the city.”
Mark Kirkham, the Edinburgh Sketcher, said: “I am so pleased to work with Festivals Edinburgh and BuildHollywood Scotland to create these sketches that showcase the great community work that many of Edinburgh’s festivals are doing as part of the Festival City Stories project.
“Seeing the work going on behind the scenes in my community and meeting the many people who are coming together to help others and to make lives easier for locals and visitors to the city has been a very positive and hopeful experience.
“I hope these sketches capture some of the energy of these happy occasions and lead to more people taking an interest and finding out more about the events the Edinburgh festivals are running within the city throughout the year.”
