The Festivals
Listed in order of foundation; * = member of the umbrella body Festivals Edinburgh:
- Edinburgh International Festival (founded 1947)* — The original and "official" festival consisting of classical and contemporary theatre, opera, music, dance, visual arts, talks and workshops.
- Edinburgh Fringe (1947)* — now the largest of all the festivals and indeed the largest arts festival in the world. Includes theatre, comedy, music, musicals, dance and children's shows.
- Edinburgh International Film Festival or EIFF (1947)* was traditionally held in August but, from 2008 is being held in late June.
- Edinburgh Military Tattoo (1950)*
- Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival (1978)*
- Edinburgh International Book Festival (1983)*
- Edinburgh International Science Festival (1988)*
- Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival (1990)*
- Scottish International Storytelling Festival (1990)*
- Edinburgh's Hogmanay (1994)*
- Edinburgh Mela (1995)* — celebrating Edinburgh's South Asian communities
- Edinburgh International Internet Festival (1999)
- Edinburgh People's Festival (2002, but claims heritage from earlier festival of same name 1951-1954)
- Edinburgh Interactive Festival (2003)
- Edinburgh Art Festival (2004)*
- Edinburgh Annuale (2004) — contemporary art
- Edinburgh Free Fringe (2006) - A festival of free shows, and part of The Fringe.
- Free Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2004) - Another festival of free shows, also part of The Fringe.
- Festival of Politics (2005)
- Festival of Spirituality and Peace (2005)
- iFest (2007) — the Internet Festival and Conference
- Edinburgh Comedy Festival (2008)* - The comedy programmes from Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance and Underbelly—part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
- West Port Book Festival (2008) - a free book festival based around secondhand bookshops in the West Port area
- Edinburgh Book Fringe
- Islam Festival Edinburgh
- Edinburgh Swing Festival
- Edinburgh Harvest Festival
The following festival also occurs in Edinburgh during August, but is an industry gathering - it does not offer events open to the public:
- Edinburgh International Television Festival (1976)
Read more about this topic: Edinburgh Festival
Famous quotes containing the word festivals:
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“Why wont they let a year die without bringing in a new one on the instant, cant they use birth control on time? I want an interregnum. The stupid years patter on with unrelenting feet, never stopping—rising to little monotonous peaks in our imaginations at festivals like New Year’s and Easter and Christmas—But, goodness, why need they do it?”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)