Kim McAleese, Director of the Edinburgh Arts Festival (EAF), talks to us about the extensive and thoughtful program for this year. She gives readers an overview of what we can expect, and what she’s most excited for people to see. Whether you’re interested in classical portraiture, experimental performance or provocative archival material, there’s something for you at EAF.
This year, EAF celebrates persistence. Could you tell me a bit more about what you mean by that?
For me, what felt very important were the conditions under which we’ve been living for the past twenty years. With this artistic program, I wanted to bring out people who were talking about survival and how to resist the difficult conditions of today. Despite challenging circumstances, artists are still making beautiful, compelling, evocative work which really gives you hope.
You are connecting to unseen histories in much of the work. To what extent do organisations such as EAF have a responsibility to make these histories seen?
Our festival is built around artists who have something to say. We’re trying to platform and engage in that conversation, both locally and globally. Más Arte Más Acción (MAMA) are very focused on the climate emergency, which we can see very acutely in the Global South. Similarly, the Falastin Film Festival and Haven for Artists (a Beirut-based feminist organisation) are dealing with very real global crises that are unfolding before our eyes. I want the festival to be a place where we can talk about that.
How does Edinburgh lend itself to this festival?
As a festival in the city, we have a civic responsibility to the communities of people here. We’re not just focused on the city centre – we have a big presence in Leith and out to the west at Jupiter Artland. We also do a lot of work in Westerheals with our Community Wellbeing Collective. Some artists, such as Karol Radziszewski, are working with queerness in the context of other countries, such as Poland. We’re trying to connect this with queerness in Edinburgh, and do so by working with the Lavender Menace Queer Book Archive and Rosie’s Disobedient Press.
Do you feel like you are able to display an even mix of disciplines?
The incredible thing about EAF is that we have 55 exhibitions and events in a three week period, so there’s a huge amount of variety. You can go to the National Galleries and see a feminist art show (Women in Revolt) but equally, you can walk down Dundas Street and visit The Scottish Gallery where they’re presenting beautiful bronzework by Koji Hatakeyama. You can go to Jupiter Artland and be in this wonderful sculpture park on the edges of the city, or you can get really stuck into the political, queer program within the festival. There’s a lot to choose from!
What projects are you most excited for, personally?
I’m really excited for the one-off performances. Prem Sahib is presenting an amazing performance on August 16th, over various floors underneath the castle. He’s taken excerpts from Suella Braverman’s speeches that are really vitriolic and he’s going to have three singers remix them. It means they’re able to spit back out these horrible, xenophobic words to change and reverse their meaning.
It’s the 20th year of EAF – are you doing anything to honour the history of the festival as a whole?
The festival wouldn’t exist without the institutions we work with in the city; the museums, the galleries, the artist-led spaces. It’s really important to acknowledge that. We’re talking about those collaborative relationships and how we’re still working together and supporting one another.
It’s also the tenth year of Platform, which is an annual group exhibition that provides a space for emerging artists to get involved with the programme. Could you tell us more about that?
Platform is important because when you leave art school there are very few opportunities, and this is a way for us to give a proper artist fee and real support to a group of four early career artists. They get an exhibition within the festival context, receive mentoring, and can access specific training if they want to.
Is everything generally accessible?
As well as partnering with the Deaf Festival, we have visually impaired tours and workshops for young people. We try to make things affordable so the majority of our program is free to attend. The festival is intersectional and acknowledges that lots of people have different barriers to accessing the arts, whether it be because of gender, sexuality, race, or socio-economic background. We try to present something that invites communities of people who wouldn’t otherwise necessarily access art.
The Edinburgh Arts Festival will run from 9th till 25th August at various venues across the city
Featured Photo Credit: Charlotte Cullen
