Future Culture Edinburgh

Online and in-person, broadcast from Leith Theatre

Doors open 13.30

The coronavirus pandemic shut Edinburgh’s arts and cultural sector down completely overnight. Now we are emerging from successive lockdowns, the sector is beginning to reopen, and we are approaching what can only be a much-reduced Festival offer this August.

At this key moment in the city’s development, can we take this opportunity to collectively reimagine Edinburgh’s cultural ecosystem and its future?

Future Culture Edinburgh is a hybrid event intended to inspire creative thinking and collective action towards a more equitable and inclusive future of culture as we begin the journey to recovery post-pandemic.

Invited speakers and presenters will be joined by a mix of online and in-person participants at the event, held in the Main Auditorium of Leith Theatre and broadcast online via Zoom. Limited in-person participant places will be allocated at random from a self-elected pool of names. Future Culture Edinburgh is hosted by independent creative ex-producer Morvern Cunningham and Vikki Jones, PhD Researcher at Edinburgh College of Art.

The afternoon will take the form of provocations from speakers, workshop activities using the whiteboard tool Miro, and breakouts to establish collective solutions-based approaches to addressing challenges and seizing opportunities for the benefit of Edinburgh’s cultural ecosystem.

Recorded outcomes from the event and workshop activities will contribute to research conducted by The University of Edinburgh into the communication of value and values across the city’s cultural infrastructure. Data will be analysed by the event hosts to determine the actions required across Edinburgh’s cultural ecosystem in the immediate and longer terms.

If you would like to take part in the event in person, please tick the corresponding box on Eventbrite when booking your place. Participants invited to attend the venue will be selected at random and contacted at least one week before the event.

The event will be held in line with all applicable COVID-19 safety protocols and specific details will be sent to all in-person participants in advance.

For those unable to attend, a recording of the event will be made and released online at a later date.

Future Culture Edinburgh is supported by the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI), a major strategic initiative of The University of Edinburgh. EFI offers a new approach to research, education and innovative partnerships; collaborating with industry, government, and communities to build a challenge-led and data-rich portfolio of activity that has demonstrable ethical, social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts.

Additional support is provided by the Centre for Data, Culture and Society at The University of Edinburgh.