Multi-arts charity LeithLate’s summer festival will encompass live music, street poetry, performance art, exhibitions, experimental sound, short films, art installations, DJs and more. In short, all of the good stuff.
This year’s theme, Outside the Box, is a nod to trying new things and celebrating the melting pot that is Leith’s unique venues and subversive creative scene.
There’s no better time to step outside and enjoy some creativity, with a smorgasbord of arty offerings on offer over the LeithLate weekend. On Friday at The Biscuit Factory there’ll be an Arty Party, featuring musicians maniatrix and .paperman, drag performers Alicia Tryde and Guy Liner, Femmergy DJ set, and food trucks (this is, after all, very hungry work).
Also that evening there will be a performance from artist Megan Rudden at Mote102, and local record label Errant Media will be doing an in-store performance at the iconic Elvis Shakespeare record and bookshop.
Saturday’s offerings include a guided walk from The School of Pedestrian Culture looking at ideas of studentification and environment in Leith. If you’re in the market for a different kind of educational experience, join the team from Ray Interactive and their 9 foot 909 interactive drum machine. In the evening head to Sett Studios, where there will be a short film screening curated and hosted by The Hen Collective, followed by open studios and experimental sounds from Nicholas Kirk-Canny.
Sunday afternoon kicks off with acoustic music and art at Settlement Projects, with sets from musicians Pippa Kinneen and Elsie MacDonald, presented by SNACK Magazine (who, us?), followed by Police Box Poetry: an afternoon of words and performance, curated and hosted by Jj Fadaka at the Leith Walk Police Box.
Throughout the weekend, people will be able to find Elsewhere Art at various local businesses in a group exhibition featuring nine local artists’ work, along with the Sett Studios presents: Mystery Box exhibition, which showcases art from sixteen studio holders, including an installation of work created over a 5-year period by Alex Weir, aka SMEX.
Closing the weekend’s festivities is a Sunday Mass unlike the one your granny made you go to. It’s a variety evening of music, poetry, comedy, and storytelling at Leith Arches, bringing the community together to celebrate art and creativity with performances by comedian Eleanor Morton, poet Alycia Pirmohamed, Graeme Johncock (from Scotland’s Stories), and more.
LeithLate 2023 will run from 30th June till 2nd July
For more info head to leithlate.co.uk
