This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Frin…
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
01 · What it is
Living Tradition
Documented cultural tradition on record; family classification awaits an editor.
02 · Where & name
United Kingdom
Placed on record in United Kingdom.
03 · How it is doing
□□□□ (Not yet assessed)
Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
04 · Proof & reuse
2 cited sources
Every claim links to a public record below. Free to quote, teach, and share under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Chapter Takeaways
The festivalsListed in chronological order by 2018 start date, with year of foundation in brackets
AprilDead by Dawn (1993) Edinburgh International Science Festival (1988)
MayEdinburgh International Children's Festival (formerly the Imaginate Festival) (1990)
JuneLeith Festival (1907) Leith Jazz and Blues Festival Edinburgh International Film Festival (1947) Hidden Door Festival (2010) Edinburgh Annuale (2004) CYMERA: Scotland's Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror…
Common Questions Answered on Record
What is Edinburgh Festival in plain words?
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Where is Edinburgh Festival practised or documented?
Sources on this page place Edinburgh Festival in United Kingdom.
What is the current condition of Edinburgh Festival today?
□□□□ (Not yet assessed): Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
How do I cite or share this Edinburgh Festival entry?
Cite as: "Edinburgh Festival." folkroom, https://folkroom.org/art-forms/edinburgh-festival, text CC BY-SA, with attribution.
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which runs alongside it. The latter is the largest event of its kind in the world.
The term Edinburgh Festival is commonly used, but there is no single festival; the various festivals are put on by separate, unrelated organisations. However they are widely regarded as part of the same event, particularly the various festivals that take place simultaneously in August each year. The term Edinburgh Festival is often used to refer more specifically to the Fringe, being the largest of the festivals; or sometimes to the International Festival, being the original "official" arts festival. Within the industry, people refer to all the festivals collectively as the Edinburgh Festivals (plural).
In 2026, Edinburgh's festival season was also affected by the introduction of Scotland's first visitor levy, which came into effect in July. Festival organisations called for a greater share of the revenue generated by the levy to be reinvested in the city's cultural infrastructure. 1
The festivals
Listed in chronological order by 2018 start date, with year of foundation in brackets 1
April
Dead by Dawn (1993)
Edinburgh International Science Festival (1988) 1
Easter time
Ceilidh Culture (1951) 1
May
Edinburgh International Children's Festival (formerly the Imaginate Festival) (1990) 1
June
Leith Festival (1907)
Leith Jazz and Blues Festival
Edinburgh International Film Festival (1947)
Hidden Door Festival (2010)
Edinburgh Annuale (2004)
CYMERA: Scotland's Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Writing (2019) 1
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “List of Edinburgh festivals”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. 1
Edinburgh Festival is arts and cultural festivals in Edinburgh, Scotland during the summer, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 2
The source record links this tradition to 9 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. 2
