What can the performing arts do about Climate Change? Is it the role of artists to address major global issues? And if so, how? A range of experienced speakers will discuss this highly topical and emotive issue.

Presented by the BiDiNG TiME project.

The event invites those who have experienced the overnight Hotel Medea trilogy to share their memories, as part of an exploration of how the memory of a performance becomes a performative event in its own right.

If you have some creative ideas you would like to share with BAC, then come on down to Summerhall and join us for a cuppa. A chance to meet the BAC Producing team and to hear more about BAC’s new artistic model ‘Cook Up – Tuck In – Take Out’ and share your ideas with us too.

Under the stewardship of esteemed series editor, Molly Peacock, The Best Canadian Poetry in English takes the pulse of Canada’s poetry on an annual basis.

Is the ekphrastic poem in some way an art heist? Is it a reproduction or a conversation with the work of art? What gap lies between the poem and the art?

Canadian poet Myna Wallin’s collection, A Thousand Profane Pieces, is full of eroticism and free expressions of sexuality. But do there seem to be fewer poets interested in writing about sex these days? Is it considered passé? Declassé? Why are more poets writing about loons than sexual politics?

Five established Canadian poets take to the stage to read their work. Though they come from different
perspectives and poetic stances, each performer delivers a high standard of poetic achievement,
and together, these voices represent a cross-section of current Canadian artistic concerns.

How does place compel our creativity and shape our poetic imagination? Whether at home or abroad, whether on a pastoral retreat or in an off-hour at a busy city job, how does the writer’s location seep into the written work? Why does travel, a new environment, stimulate and inspire new work for some writers?

International Director Irina Bogdanova in conversation with Richard Demarco and Zara Coombes.

Music and politics. Music and ethics. Music and logic. Music and knowledge.
Music and Philosophy have been linked throughout the history of Western thought from the ancient Greeks onwards. This talk, given by Dr Edward Campbell, a lecturer in the Music Department at the University of Aberdeen and a renowned academic, speaker and published writer will explore a number of the key historical encounters between music and philosophy as well as looking to how the two continue to be implicated in ever new ways by musicians and philosophers.

Rose Bruford College invites you to meet their principal Michael Earley for the opportunity to find out more about and discuss their range of programmes which include Undergraduate Courses such as BA (Hons) Acting, Costume Production, Theatre Studies, Theatre Design and Postgraduate courses in Ensemble Theatre and Theatre and Performing Arts amongst many others.

Summerhall, one of Edinburgh’s newest multi-arts festival venues, brings outstanding arts practitioners from around the world together to share their expert opinions on the future of the arts in Edinburgh. Incorporated in this discussion is the pilot version of Selfish Banquet, a performative discussion meal hosted by Zecora Ura and commissioned by LIFT, where preparing, serving and sharing food stimulates the palate whilst provoking debate.

Last year Summerhall’s Director Rupert Thomson wrote a far-fetched manifesto called ‘The Theatre of the Impossible’, which has since been presented at Battersea Arts Centre, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and with the National Theatre of Scotland. For this event he will be in conversation with a selection of contemporary theatre practitioners about making the impossible real: What does that even mean? And why would we want to do it if we could? General questions about the meaning of life are also likely to be touched on: come and share your impossible experiences.

The Viewpoints represent not only a physical technique but also a philosophical, spiritual, and aesthetic approach to actor and ensemble training. It provides a vocabulary for heightening awareness and impulse regarding space, movement and gesture. Water bottles and movement attire, please.