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 5th August: 16:45 – 17:45
Saturday 24th August: 10:00-11:00
Learn more and apply to participate in Summerhall Surgeries here:
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.
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 presents it’s first set of exhibitions that will be held within the galleries of Summerhall arts village and sees the unveiling of FORM: A season of exhibitions by female contemporary sculptors.
Mella Shaw presents Sounding Line, an installation exposing the overuse of marine sonar and it’s devastating effect on deep diving whale species; Camilla Ospina Gaitán’s An Uncanny Feeling That She Was Being Watched examines the male gaze concept, through the sculptural use of glass, ceramics and textiles; Yumiko Ono investigates the concept of utopia, an ideal world in imagination, through the reconstitution of materials to produce novel form in Composition IV; Emma Hislop responds to the Summerhall Post Mortem Gallery space and invites an autopsy of synchronicities, unpacking imagery from myth and lore surrounding Summerhall and Rosslyn Chapel in What is Left Behind and recent graduate Rowan walker explores our relationship to pain and experience of clinical environments in her work Foreign Objects.
Opening times:
Wednesday – Sunday, 11am – 5pm,1st of December 2023 – 25th of February 2024.
Christmas and New Years Closures:
23rd of December 2023 – 3rd of January 2024, inclusive.
Mella Shaw is an artist and an environmental activist using themes of balance, tipping points, fragility, and loss to raise awareness and inspire change.
Wednesday - Sunday, 11am - 5pm Closed from the 23rd of December 2023 - 3rd of January 2024 inclusive. A solo exhibition of contemporary sculpture that redefines the Male Gaze …
What is Left Behind unveils the previously unopened to the public Post Mortem Room as a new gallery space, bringing together Emma Hislop’s practice and the history of the room within the Royal Dick Veterinary School.
Summerhall Arts is a new charitable arts organisation in Scotland that will deliver vital support and opportunities to local and national creative arts practitioners and inspire, challenge and engage artists, audiences, and the community, whilst making a lasting contribution to the cultural fabric of Edinburgh and beyond.
The experienced team behind the charity believe this action, whilst it has been planned for a long time, is now urgent and necessary at a time of drastic cuts in the arts and culture sector. They aim to provide a platform for companies and individuals to come together to make work and consolidate a splintering sector in the current economic climate.
The new arts organisation has independent governance from a diverse team and board of trustees but activity will be based within the popular Summerhall arts venue.
Summerhall Arts will champion the voices of emerging and early career artists and creatives and provide a nurturing safe space for artistic experimentation and new writing. It will empower and cultivate a vibrant and inclusive arts community through offering resources, mentorship, and platforms for showcasing work and foster collaborations across artistic disciplines and practitioners, engage with the local community and contribute to the growth of the arts sector in Edinburgh.
Sam Gough, CEO of Summerhall Arts said:
“There is a moment just before its too late, that if nothing is done at that point, all you can then do is stand by and watch what is treasured become lost. I think that pivotal moment is now.
I am so excited to be working with this talented group of people, we have ambitious plans to unveil a programme of support and development opportunities across the performance and visual arts sector, along with year round new writing commissions and performances. To be there at the start of a new arts organisation that will put creating work and supporting the artists first is inspiring and we cant wait to get going. We are lucky to be able to house this charity and the work we will be doing in this fantastic Arts Village – the work Summerhall has done over the years is phenomenal, but as invariably everyone is cutting back and being more cautious about how many and whom they support Summerhall Arts is looking to enable so much more, bring it all under one roof and give the incredibly talented artists in Scotland more opportunities to be able to compete on the world stage.”
Trustee Harry Mould said:
“It’s vital, now more than ever, that we provide meaningful and affordable opportunities for those who want to make and participate in art, and that those opportunities actively dismantle barriers to access and authentic, long-term inclusion. I’m really delighted to be one of the team of trustees for Summerhall Arts, and to have the chance to play a part in building an arts organisation from its inception with the mission of providing a properly community-engaged platform that nurtures and celebrates a real variety of exciting voices. I hope to contribute to establishing best practice, so that underrepresented artists and underserved communities in particular can be a part of all that we do whilst feeling safe, centred, seen and supported. “
Chair of the Summerhall Arts board Marcus Pickering said:
“I am so thrilled that we are launching Summerhall Arts as we recognise the importance of sustaining and supporting the arts here in Scotland. It has been a delight watching the arts develop over twelve years at Summerhall and it would be a shame if it is lost. We are here to ensure the survival of it and galvanise the arts community by bringing it together in one place and to witness the wonderful output of so much creativity is magnificent. It is a joy to work with such an amazingly talented mix of arts professionals in the core team and a wealth of industry experience across our board. We hope that the arts community and arts fans engage with and support this essential new organisation.”
The vision of Summerhall Arts is to be Edinburgh’s leading arts organisation. One 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.
Their mission is to provide a dynamic and community-focused platform for emerging artists, nurturing expression and engaging audiences through a diverse programme of new writing and enabling opportunities through the visual and performative arts as well as live music and theatre. The goal is to promote cultural understanding, spark dialogue, and contribute to the thriving arts scene in Edinburgh and Scotland.
Summerhall Arts will work to its core values ofCreativity and Innovation; Community Engagement;
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion; Accessibility; Collaboration and Partnerships; Excellence and Professionalism and Sustainability and Environmental Responsibility.
The Artistic Strategy of Summerhall Arts comprises of a Performance, Scottish Touring Circuit & Receiving House for New Writing; Professional Artist Development including Artist Residencies and Artist Showcases; Mentoring and Professional Development; Visual Arts Exhibitions, Installations and a Cinema programme; Local Live Music Programming and Inter-disciplinary Arts & Community Engagement.
Professional Development will includedevelopment spaces, Lab weeks, artist residencies and surgeries, industry networking sessions, talks, workshops and writing spaces.
Initially, the Performance programme will hostvisiting companies throughout the year, outwith Fringe time, New writing commissions, Progression to stage 2 for a project and offer up to 40 weeks of paid and free development space available for individuals and companies across the year.
The Visual Arts programmewill see Summerhall Arts curated as well as associate exhibition seasons, artists residencies and commission opportunities, animated though workshops talks and community events. The in-house curated Cinema programme will offer regular screenings of independent and art house cinema from around the globe, a home for film festivals and screening opportunities for independent film makers.
Summerhall Arts plans to work with other complementary organisations and individuals to provide the much-needed opportunities and facilities to make the culture sector thrive.
The key team that will deliver the Summerhall Arts programme are Sam Gough, CEO; Samantha Chapman, Visual Arts and Cinema Curator; Arusa Qureshi, Music Programmer; Tom Forster, Performance Programmer and Imogen Stirling, Development and Producing Lead.
The independent board of trustees responsible for the governance of the organisation are Harry Mould – Policy and Public Affairs Lead, Federation of Scottish Theatre; Debbie Christie– TV Executive, documentary maker and Chair of SDI; Nancy Riach – Development, Arts Culture Health & Wellbeing Scotland; Jonathan Seddon – Partner, Morton Fraser MacRoberts Lawyers; Colin Ferrier – Bass Rock Financial Management Ltd and Marcus Pickering (Chair) Founder and Managing Director of Pickerings Gin.
For further information on Summerhall Arts, to get involved or to support please get in touch with
Summerhall Arts is a Registered Scottish Charity – SC052638
For more information, images and interview requests please contact: Michelle Mangan PR – | 07979227909
