Author: Matthew Norris

Summerhall Arts, the independently governed and financed charity, was set up in 2023 to help support and develop the arts in Scotland. Following the news that the Summerhall building was being sold, Summerhall Arts announced that it was looking to take on the lease with an ambition to ensure the consistent provision of a year-round arts programme in the former Vet School. It can now be confirmed that Summerhall Arts will take on the additional responsibility of delivering a world class programme of new writing, performance and visual arts during the Edinburgh Fringe  

The following statement is from Debbie Christie, Summerhall Arts Board Member. 

“We are delighted to announce that Summerhall Arts will be delivering a Fringe festival programme at Summerhall for 2025 and beyond.  

Summerhall Arts are committed to building on the incredible work  that has been curated and delivered by the team so far and will utilise the talent and skills of the programmers and leadership team that have been doing such an exemplary job at working with and supporting the artists over the last few years. Led by Sam Gough who returned to Edinburgh in 2023 to establish and develop Summerhall Arts, who has resigned from Summerhall Management to dedicate his entire time to the charity, with programmers Tom Forster and Samantha Chapman, Summerhall Arts are excited about the future and being responsible for the arts provision in this iconic venue.” 

Sam Gough said: “I am delighted that we are able to announce the first part of what is coming next. We have planned a diverse programme of work throughout the entire year which will go a long way to support and develop the sector year-round. But the first announcement is that we are going to deliver a fringe programme – which is a thrilling opportunity to push boundaries and provide a platform for both emerging and established artists. Summerhall Arts vision is simple: to celebrate art that speaks to the moment and invites new perspectives, all while fostering strong relationships with artists and audiences alike.  

With our ongoing efforts to secure multi-year funding, we are optimistic this will strengthen our ability to support all of the artists of the future, keeping Scotland at the very forefront of the sector.“  

Performance Programmer Tom Forster said: “Our 2025 fringe performance programme will continue to be exactly what we know and love, challenging contemporary work that says something about the world and does it in an interesting way, because that is what the sector shapes us to be. There is no secret sauce; I just simply can’t wait to work with colleagues, both old and new, and we at Summerhall Arts welcome applications for this years’ fringe now.”   

Visual Arts Programmer Samantha Chapman said: 

 “With a breath of fresh air, the next steps for Summerhall Arts are bold and innovative as we create a powerful force to protect and promote the arts in Scotland, offering opportunities to practicing visual artists and inspiring experiences to audiences. I look forward to welcoming you in and showing you something you have never seen before and to creating a space where unexpected, transformative art thrives—and where Scotland’s dynamic visual arts scene continues to grow and flourish. “  

Summerhall Arts envisions becoming Edinburgh’s leading arts organisation, one that champions creativity, encourages cultural exchange, and offers a vibrant, inclusive programme of multidisciplinary arts that deepens Scotland’s cultural fabric. 

Summerhall Arts, an independently registered charity launched in October 2023 to support, develop and enrich the artistic community and cultural fabric of Edinburgh, are in the closing stages of signing a lease in order to take over the consistent arts provision within Summerhall during and beyond its current transition

Summerhall Arts underpins the six different artistic disciplines that make up Summerhall’s creative programme: Live Performance and Professional Development, Visual Arts, Cinema, Local Live Music and Interdisciplinary and Community Engagement.

In order to preserve year-round programmed events within the renowned and beloved building, Summerhall Arts need public financial support to help cover the core operational and key start up costs of this work. 

Summerhall Arts have outlined their proposed programme for their artistic output over the next three years, within the sectors of performance, visual art, cinema, local live music, and interdisciplinary and community engagement. To deliver this vital programme, as well as take on the annual programme of events that are already a part of Summerhall, they need financial support from the public who have been so vocal in their support and love of what Summerhall has done until now. 

With the closing date for offers on the building having passed, Summerhall Arts are confident that a collaboration with the eventual new owners will favour a future with the arts at the centre. Combined with a lease from the current owners covering theatre spaces and galleries, which is close to being signed – arts and events at Summerhall will be preserved, if enough capital can be raised. 

Summerhall Arts are calling on the public – who have already shown great interest and support in seeking the preservation of the arts within this historic building – to donate whatever they are able to the fundraising campaign no matter how small or large an amount that is. 

Imogen Stirling, independent creative artist said: “Summerhall is a venue that exists for its artists. It wants to platform new voices and elevate those already speaking boldly. It’s a venue that seeks to nurture, empower and support, a venue that actively wants to make artists feel valued. This is our opportunity to show Summerhall how much we value them in return. We must rally together to preserve the future of this brilliant venue and keep Scotland’s creative scene thriving, by supporting Summerhall Arts.” 

Sam Chapman, Head of Visual Arts and Cinema said: ‘’At a time when arts and culture in Scotland are drowning under the weight of an economic crisis and as Summerhall faces its greatest existential threat, it is crucial that we find a way to preserve the renowned visual arts programme. 

Your support will allow us to deliver a year round programme of exhibitions and commissions offering support to, and a platform for, both local and national creatives working in the visual arts. Donating To Summerhall Arts will ensure that we are able to continue to facilitate the development and exhibition of non-commercial artwork, to degrade barriers that exist for people to engage with artistic practices and exhibitions, to make art accessible to people of all backgrounds, abilities and economic circumstance and to sustain the national creative community.” 

Summerhall Arts cannot rely on public funding in this current climate, and are humbled by the support given already. To be able to successfully implement this plan to nurture and develop the arts in Scotland, and to offer community events and outreach, Summerhall Arts needs the public’s support. 

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In an increasingly unstable arts funding climate, Summerhall Arts are committed to making space and providing support for early career Scottish artists. In addition to maintaining the incredible programme of live performance year round, and particularly in the festival season. 

Summerhall Arts will support live performance by commissioning and developing local new writing and offering dedicated writing opportunities for interdisciplinary work; and collaborating with local and international theatre companies to programme work that addresses contemporary social issues, including the climate crisis. In 2022, there were 22 Scottish companies represented in the Summerhall festival programme, down to 12 in 2023 and only 6 in 2024 – showing an urgent and vital need for more support for early and mid-career Scottish theatremakers. 

Summerhall Arts will look to rebalance this with artist residencies; week-long Lab Week programmes; space for up to 80 weeks of development or rehearsals across the year; Summerhall Drop Ins; and further events in their ‘Summerhall Surgeries’ scratch event series. A mentorship programme will pair emerging artists with experienced professionals; offering workshops and masterclasses led by industry experts, as well as networking events with industry, peers and venue figures; and, vitally, listening to artists to ensure meaningful responses to their needs.

Within their new Visual Arts strategy, Summerhall Arts would offer opportunities for independent visual artists to exhibit work in a gallery context, curating thematically around contemporary social, cultural, and political issues. This space does not exist for non-commercial artists in another form, and offers a vital opportunity to local and emerging artists to thrive.

Access to exhibitions and associated events will be free of charge, ensuring community access to culture at the heart of the building. 

Sam Chapman added: ‘’The next cycle of the visual art programme proposed here consists of three carefully curated seasons of exhibitions, comprising twelve solo shows and two commissions, between the months of March 2025 and February 2026, across fourteen exhibition spaces within Summerhall. Working with artists from diverse backgrounds, at varying stages of their careers, we offer the space and support that is crucial to the artistic community of Edinburgh and Scotland whilst providing free access to contemporary art to local, national and international audiences.”

Following the success of Edinburgh International Film Festival using the building this summer, Summerhall Arts want to expand cinema programming with independent cinema releases, repertory cinema classics, documentaries, and foreign language films. 

Within live music Summerhall Arts wishes to foster a supportive and inclusive environment for musicians, offering rehearsal space, technical support, and opportunities for professional development to be able to maintain a consistent programme of live music within Summerhall. 

Summerhall Arts wants to ensure the continuance of a cultural touchstone in Edinburgh, fostering even more opportunities for the experimentation, collaboration and cultural cross-pollination that has evolved within Summerhall over the past 13 years. 

It is too vibrant and too important a space in Edinburgh to allow it to stop or change. Summerhall Arts asks for your help in order to get under way and looking forward to what’s next for the building. 

You can easily donate through Summerhall Art’s website.

We’re partnering with Unlimited to offer an award of £20,000 for any artform.

Who can apply?

This award is open to:

• professional disabled artists, or disabled artists leading the creation of work within disabled-led companies 
• based in Scotland
• aged 18 plus
• not in full-time education 

Criteria

These criteria will be used by our selection panel to assess your application. We’re looking to invest in work that will have a life beyond the initial commission. We expect all the work we fund to reach multiple audiences, as part of our wider work to challenge and change the world.

• High quality
• Disabled-led
• Innovative and ambitious
• Touring or exhibition potential to reach diverse venues and audiences
• Artist and/or company has a track record of creating work and reaching audiences

Summerhall Arts Criteria

• Primarily visual arts, though we will consider applications from artists working in any medium.
• Applications encouraged from artists working with physical or sculptural forms.

What will you get with this partnership?

• Free use of studio space for a week.
• Three check-ins with Summerhall team offering producing support for gallery sharing.
• Exhibition space for the final output.

Summerhall Arts is deeply committed to combating underrepresentation in the arts, and it is an honour to be working with Unlimited in offering this commission opportunity. It is vital there is a cultural and political shift with regards to opportunities offered to disabled individuals and it is imperative that our work contributes to this in any way it can.

Samantha Chapman, Visual Arts and Cinema Curator, Summerhall Arts

This award is made possible with the support of The National Lottery through Creative Scotland.

Click here for more information on how to apply.

Summerhall Arts, an independently registered charity launched in October 2023 to support, develop and enrich the artistic community and cultural fabric of Edinburgh, close to signing a new lease to secure the future of consistent arts provision within Summerhall.

In order to preserve the year round programme of events, Summerhall Arts is launching a fundraising campaign to help cover the core running costs of Summerhall’s artistic output.

‘Summerhall was put on the market by the current owners in May. Since then, we have been working flat out to find a way to safeguard the consistent artistic delivery and the year-round programme of events at Summerhall, not just through the sales process, but into the future. Whilst the Fringe and other events for this year are safe, we have been conscious that a longer-term future for the management of the building and the delivery of the arts has been less certain.’ – Sam Gough Chief Executive, Summerhall Arts

Summerhall Arts, the independent registered charity, was set up in October 2023 in order to deliver an ambitious programme of professional development and artist support for the sector, and work with Summerhall Management to deliver an annual Visual Arts programme within the building.

Since May, Summerhall Arts has been working closely with the current owners, building managers and the selling agent to provide a clear solution during this transition period with the opportunity to negotiate a longer-term future with any new owner, once they have been identified, for the consistent delivery of the arts and events for many years to come within Summerhall.

Summerhall Arts are delighted to be able to say that they are in the final stages of agreeing terms on an initial three-year lease that will mean they are able to take over the delivery of the entire year-round artistic and events programme at Summerhall from Summerhall Management.

Taking on this wider and bigger remit means that not only will Summerhall Arts deliver its planned ambitious and important programme for the improvement of the sector, but will now also take on the responsibility for delivering the annual Fringe Festival programme and the year round cultural, private and public events and meetings which are so vital for Edinburgh and its artistic community.

Summerhall Arts will also take on the employment of the programming and operational team that has made Summerhall such an important resource to the city of Edinburgh and to Scotland.

This plan has been welcomed across the sector, and has the support from the local community, politicians, government, councils and the creative sector nationally and internationally, many of whom have spoken out about securing the artistic future of Summerhall beyond its sale.

To ensure this ongoing provision, Summerhall Arts is launching a fundraising campaign which will help the charity cover the core costs of running the annual programme.

‘Summerhall, and all that happens within it, is a vital part of the cultural landscape in the city and it is imperative that it remains. We are humbled by the support shown from the community and we have been waiting for the right moment to ask for your help – now for the first time we have a way to channel that love and support and directly help Summerhall preserve its future.

Summerhall Arts now has to secure the means to enable this transition, safeguard the output and the staff, by fundraising to cover the additional core costs associated with delivering the annual programme of arts and culture.

We will need public support to secure this future. Please help us by donating what you can to enable the year-round provision of arts, culture and community activity to continue.

Negotiating a lease for the ability to be able to continue was the first huge challenge, this is the next. We believe that the Fringe at Summerhall in 2024 will not be the last – please help us ensure it isn’t!’ Sam Gough, Chief Executive, Summerhall Arts

You can easily donate through our website www.summerhallarts.co.uk or through QR codes when you visit Summerhall.

‘We have always understood the importance of Summerhall for the culture sector and the city. This arrangement will allow Summerhall Arts the opportunity to keep the legacy alive and give them the time needed to secure a much longer future with any prospective new owners. We are supportive of their ambition to secure the future of Summerhall’s ongoing arts provision and will do what we can to facilitate their position.’ Stephen Kay, Cuthbert White, on behalf of the owners.

‘Summerhall Arts are determined to find the best way to secure the future for Summerhall. Our hope is that that this interim 3-year plan will ensure that we can continue and cherish all that is great about Summerhall.

We know this is ambitious and we can’t achieve it without public support. Summerhall is a much-loved venue which brings international acclaim to Scotland during the Festival but also provides a welcoming, safe, open and well-used venue for the wider public and arts community throughout the year. We will need as much support as we can get to make this happen and we will be announcing more ways people can help us make this happen as we go forward.’ – Debbie Christie – Board Member, Summerhall Arts

Are you an artist looking for peer-to-peer feedback on a new idea? Do you have an unfinished piece you’re keen to showcase in a Fringe environment? Do you want to introduce your work to industry professionals? Or are you simply looking for new networks and collaborators? Then Summerhall Surgeries is for you. 

Summerhall Arts is delighted to announce the return of Summerhall Surgeries. Running throughout the Fringe, Summerhall Surgeries will offer 8 artists/collectives the paid opportunity to showcase excerpts of unfinished work to an audience of peers and industry figures. Summerhall Surgeries will provide a safe, collaborative and creative playground to try out new ideas to local and international audiences, gaining industry and peer-to-peer feedback.

Summerhall Surgeries is a celebration of the spontaneity and playfulness of the Fringe atmosphere – where new collaborations are formed in ticket queues, between performances and in post-show conversations in the courtyard. At these scratch events, artists, industry figures, groundbreaking performance and innovative unfinished ideas are brought together to create a vibrant space for networks and partnerships to form.

Summerhall Surgeries will take place on:

• Monday 5^th August: 16:45 – 17:45
• Saturday 24^th August: 10:00-11:00

Learn more and apply to participate in Summerhall Surgeries here:

Applications close at 5pm on Sunday 23 June. 

Following the news that Summerhall has been put on the market by the owners, Summerhall Arts are working closely with Summerhall Management Ltd – the company that delivers the year-round programme of art and culture in the building – to ensure that prospective buyers will put the best interests of this 13-year-old arts village at the heart of any decision made in the future. 

Until that point, it is business as usual. As a charity that has been set up to support development and the provision of creative opportunities for the artists of Scotland, we are looking for financial support to be able to deliver our ambitious and vital programme. 

During a difficult funding climate for the arts, your donations are more vital than ever, and if you want to truly support Summerhall and Summerhall Arts, please buy tickets for shows and donate to Summerhall Arts’ fundraising campaign through the following link.

Donate to Summerhall Arts

In partnership with Summerhall Arts, the Hugo Burge Foundation are offering a fully funded residency with the opportunity to show work at Summerhall.

This is a residency for a visual artist working with any medium who has an interest in art as activism and whose work advocates for social, political, environmental, or cultural change. The residency will offer a period of self-directed research and development followed by the opportunity to exhibit the resultant work in the Summerhall Galleries between December 2024 and February 2025.

The residency will run from the 15th July to 9th August with accommodation in one of the Hobbit Pods and use of the large Old Squash Court Studio on the Marchmont estate. There will also be a weekly stipend of £350 which will be paid directly to the Artist at the start of their residency.

There are no expectations about what you will use the residency for but we would expect the selected artist to conduct at least one public event such as a creative workshop (for adult participants), a talk, demonstration, performance or educational activity.

You will be able to spend time with other visual artists and makers on site, along with another visiting artist also on residency. Our Creative Director, Dr James Fox will provide mentorship during your stay along with Summerhall Arts Head of Visual Arts, Samantha Chapman.

Criterion for selection:

• Artistic Merit
• Potential for professional development
• Relevance to concept
• Contribution to artistic discourse
• Potential for public engagement

Apply by 3rd May on the Hugo Burge Foundation’s website at this link.

Summerhall Arts was set up to be Edinburgh’s leading arts organisation that cultivates creativity, fosters cultural exchange, and enriches lives through a vibrant and inclusive programme of multi-disciplinary arts adding to the cultural fabric of the country.

The mission is to provide a dynamic and community-focused platform for artists and creative practitioners. We will nurture expression and engage audiences through a diverse programme of new writing and will enable opportunities through the visual and performative arts as well as live music, theatre and cinema. We will run development opportunities to equip those creative practitioners with skills they need to thrive. We strive to promote cultural understanding, spark dialogue, and contribute to the thriving arts scene in Edinburgh and Scotland, empowering the creative leaders of the future.