Flowering Of The Human Spirit: Edinburgh Without Its Festivals

Signing off this no-festival beat with a review of where things are at in Edinburgh at this moment in time. Thanks to everyone who has joined me on this little diversion throughout August. This podcast will be available to listen to for another week and then no more... So if you're planning to listen, get on the case. All the best folks! Stay safe out there!

Are the Edinburgh Festivals are taking Edinburgh for granted? Are the people of Edinburgh taking the festivals for granted? How can we solve this?

Silent Disco - the disruptor of streets and the pusher of the limits of the very fabric of society. If that sounds dramatic, tune in to find out what the hell I'm on about. Also featuring bonus content of me being mooned by a hairy monk and why I think the announcement that the 'Winter Festivals' in Edinburgh this year are a sign that the much touted positive changes for the future of festivals are not the right ones. If you're wondering why this episode is out of sequence, is because it repeatedly wouldn't upload, the curse of Silent Disco perhaps?

Thinking about how my own life has been different over this month from other Augusts, the time to be creative and all the random visitors I haven't had.

I'm wondering what's going to be happening with students in the near future and thinking about mental health, the need to invest in it both as a society and as a festival city.

In today's episode I'm looking at what I feel is the fundamental sticking point for festivals going ahead in future - our lives have changed in Edinburgh and so have our attitudes. Are festivals looking beyond the goal of having the global competitive edge over other festivals? And can the citizens of Edinburgh be the ones with the exciting positive vision for a change?

Reflecting on some commentary on Edinburgh's malaises from decades past, as well as a fringe review from 1982. Hope you enjoy.

I explore some ideas to put the flowering of the human spirit back on the agenda and how Edinburgh could lead the world, actually, if we support our grassroots venues and year round cultural activity across the whole of Edinburgh. The article and tweets with illustrations I mention in the episode by Graham Johnson can be found here: https://twitter.com/MrGJohnson/status/1297560820185014273?s=19. Or if you don't fancy twitter, you can go straight the to original article here: https://www.grahammacleodjohnson.com/blog/2018/10/1/we-need-to-cool-down. I highly recommend the tweets for Graham's illustrations though.

Reflecting on memories of travel and experiencing culture in different places, and wondering what the unique flavours of cultural experiences are for Edinburgh's visitors.

I'm thinking about the city's grassroots venues and the important role they play, how precarious and precious they are and how much they contribute to culture. The Forest, Sneaky Pete's, Out of the Blue, the late Studio 24, a special mention for Inspace under Mark Daniels too. The people behind these venues need our support as a city. The fact that they do so much isn't an excuse to forget the unrewarded and unrecognised work and struggles that go into keeping them going. It's time to no longer take them for granted. Summerhall and The Skinny are crowdfunding, and you can support Out of the Blue on their website.