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Scottish Storytelling Centre

The Scottish Storytelling Centre is a vibrant arts venue with a seasonal programme of live storytelling and theatre, music, workshops and festivals.

Scottish Storytelling Centre

About Scottish Storytelling Centre

43 - 45 High Street, Edinburgh Old Town EH1 1SR
01315569579
Scottish Storytelling Centre Website
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The Scottish Storytelling Centre is a vibrant arts venue centrally located on Edinburgh’s High Street celebrating the live art of storytelling for all ages and interests. The Centre hosts a year-round programme of storytelling, music, theatre, dance and more, with plenty to offer locals and visitors alike. An ever-changing roster of workshops and exhibitions beg repeat visits throughout the year, as does the bustling Haggis Box Café, situated within the Centre’s welcoming Storytelling Court.

Each October the Storytelling Centre is the hub for the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, internationally recognised as a leader in its field and one of the 11 Edinburgh Festivals. It also curates a vibrant programme for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August. The Centre also manages the adjacent John Knox House Museum which dates back to 1470, making it one of the oldest original medieval buildings still standing on the Royal Mile. The house is now set up as a museum where visitors can learn about the house itself and some of the residents, including the turbulent times of John Knox and Mary Queen of Scots during the Reformation.

The Scottish Storytelling Centre is a great meeting place, where a warm welcome is extended to families and visitors, and where creative minds can explore cultures and traditions (old and new) in Scotland today.

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Upcoming Events at Scottish Storytelling Centre

Moonspinners

Selected dates between 15th March 2025 - 19th July 2025

Join us for a new quarterly series of full-moon celebrations, with live storytelling, music and a rotating programme of incredible performers.

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Starting with Stories: Workshop with Ruth Kirkpatrick

26th April 2025

Storyteller Ruth Kirkpatrick leads this participatory session for anyone curious about discovering and developing their own storytelling talent at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on 26th April.

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Loud Poets Showcase

1st May 2025

Don’t miss the next fantastic show from Scotland’s best spoken word night 'Loud Poets' on Thursday 1st May with Inga Dale, Sarah Grant, Bradley Taylor & Stephen Watt!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: MAIK

2nd May 2025

Jamie Cook and Kirsty Law have joined forces to bring some of their most beloved songs together as brand new folk duo MAIK. Catch them at the Scottish Storytelling Centre as part of Tradfest!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: A Necklace of Stories from the Highlands & Islands

3rd May 2025

With story, music and imagery, storytellers Bea Ferguson and Heather Yule explore the captivating tales of these lands, and the people and strange creatures who dwelt there.

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Mini Mummers Parade Prep

3rd May 2025

Join the Family Beltane crew for a morning of mask decoration, crafting and face painting ahead of the May Day Parade.

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Edinburgh Tradfest: An Introduction to Gaelic Storytelling

3rd May 2025

Join Gaelic storyteller Martin MacIntyre for an introductory session exploring the history, importance and joy in Gaelic storytelling culture in Scotland.

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Family Beltane

3rd May 2025

This delightful Beltane Fire Society tradition allows parents to share in the magic of the Beltane story with their little ones through storytelling, face painting and arts & crafts.

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Easy Sundays: Family Ceilidh

4th May 2025

Come with family and friends to dance Scottish dances and sing well-known songs with the Minnow Ceilidh Band at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on 4th May!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Dowally + Philippe Boudot: Ici et Là-Bas

4th May 2025

Don't miss cinematic-folk duo Dowally and innovative French drummer Philippe Boudot as they celebrate the release of their album Ici et Là-Bas, recorded last year in Edinburgh!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Hip Hop Story Stop! Old Edinburgh Street Games & Stories

5th May 2025

Join Claire McNicol and Fergus McNicol for a lively, family-friendly session of traditional street games, playful rhymes, toe-tapping songs, and captivating tales from Old Edinburgh!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Scotland’s Ancient Goddess: Hidden in Plain Sight

5th May 2025

In his new book Scotland’s Sacred Goddess: Hidden in Plain Sight, Stuart McHardy explores the pre-Christian beliefs of the Scottish people.

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Cafe Ceilidh

6th May 2025

Celebrate Edinburgh's Tradfest with a free afternoon session of traditional songs, music, poems and stories with friends from the Scots Music Group in the Scottish Storytelling Centre!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Stories and Songs in the North-East Bothy Tradition

6th May 2025

Join ballad singer Allan Taylor, fiddler Karin Paterson and storytellers Phyll McBain and Jackie Ross for a ceilidh of land, laughter and a hearty dollop of Doric!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Let Them Be Heard: Sangstream Scots Folk Choir

7th May 2025

Sangstream, the a cappella Scots folk choir now in its 28th year, led by the renowned Corrina Hewat, is excited to perform their rich choice of songs as part of Tradfest.

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Hearth Fire Sessions

8th May 2025

Welcome to an eclectic night of ancient myth, contemporary storytelling, post-folk music, and physical artistry!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: The Legend of the Anonymous Poet (Or a 20th Century Barbarian Account)

9th May 2025

This special live performance from filmmaker/storytellers Nadir Bouhmouch and Soumeya Ait Ahmed combines film, lecture and storytelling!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Bog Standard

9th May 2025

Bog Standard is the gripping true story of a tip off which led a rookie journalist to one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century.

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The Poet and the Moon: Lorca’s Flamenco Soul

10th May 2025

TuFlamenco presents a tribute to Federico García Lorca, Spain’s most iconic poet, through Flamenco’s rhythm, dance, and poetry at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on Saturday 10th May.

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Storytelling for Musicians

10th May 2025

Join musician and storyteller David Francis and learn how to improve your patter and song introductions with some basic rules of storytelling on this workshop as part of Tradfest!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Transforming Auld Reekie - Walking Tour

10th May 2025

Meeting at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, enjoy a walking tour around the sights and sounds of Edinburgh’s Old Town with artist/curator Claudia Zeiske on 10th May as part of Edinburgh Tradfest!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Sunshine Stories: Sensory Stories and Play

10th May 2025

Join storyteller Ailie Finlay from My Kind of Book on a fun-packed, sensory adventure for May time as we head off through the green grass and squelchy bogs of Scotland!

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Edinburgh Tradfest: Remembering Douglas

11th May 2025

Join us at the Scottish Storytelling Centre for a celebration of independent film in Scotland through the lens of celebrated filmmaker Douglas Eadie!

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Falastin Film Festival: Exhibition: Nakba 77 - Palestine’s Depopulated Villages

15th May 2025 - 1st June 2025

A photographic documentation of the 500+ Palestinian villages across Mandatory Palestine that were depopulated during the Nakba in 1948 and subsequently destroyed by the Zionist settler state.

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Falastin Film Festival: Jenin, Jenin

16th May 2025

Jenin Jenin shows the extent to which the prolonged oppression and terror has affected the state of mind of the Palestinian inhabitants of Jenin.

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Falastin Film Festival: Ghost Hunting

16th May 2025

Former inmates of the Moskobiya interrogation centre in Jerusalem, a group of Palestinian men address trauma by re-enacting their stories of capture and torture.

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Falastin Film Festival: Bye Bye Tiberias

16th May 2025

Hiam Abbass returns home with her filmmaker daughter, in this intimate documentary about four generations of women and their shared legacy of separation.

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Falastin Film Festival: Inside the TV Box, I Found the True Story of the People of Palestine

16th May 2025

Born in exile, Ahmed Saleh knew Palestine only through a TV screen, then he crossed the threshold; moving to Palestine for university, he arrived just as the second intifada erupted.

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Falastin Film Festival: In Conversation with Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta & Yara Eid

17th May 2025

This conversation at the Scottish Storytelling Centre will bring together distinguished voices to share testimonies from Gaza on the ongoing genocide.

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Falastin Film Festival: Performing Archaeology

17th May 2025

Performing Archaeology is a screening of four short films that delve into the manipulation of archaeological heritage and erasure of folkloric traditions by the occupying zionist entity.

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Falastin Film Festival: Three Promises

17th May 2025

Three Promises is a heart-breaking film that conveys the anguish of children and their parents who are forced to choose between safety and emotional upheaval.

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Falastin Film Festival: Longing for Palestine

17th May 2025

A cinematic exploration on borders, the physical, emotional, material & immaterial; those that dictate movement and return, or lack thereof, for Palestinians universally.

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Falastin Film Festival: On Sound

17th May 2025

An aesthetic and provocative screening of four experimental shorts uncovering the occupation’s haunting manipulation of sound as a form of torture, the politics of sound and sonic self-determination

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Falastin Film Festival: From Yemen to Palestine

18th May 2025

Join Falastin Film Festival on 18th May for a musical concert by renowned composer and Oud virtuoso Saied Silbak and singer Intibint!

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Falastin Film Festival: From Ground Zero

18th May 2025

From Ground Zero is a collection of 22 short films made in Gaza during the ongoing genocide and showing as part of the Falastin Film Festival at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

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Falastin Film Festival: Talaeen a Junuub / Up to the South

18th May 2025

An oblique, albeit powerful experimental documentary which examines the politics and economics of South Lebanon against the backdrop of the Israeli occupation.

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Falastin Film Festival: Reclaiming Rhythms

18th May 2025

Two beautiful and powerful medium-length films on the coloniality of archives, reclamation of Palestinian music and dance, and the ethnographic underpinnings of colonization.

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Tales of the City: Part of Edinburgh 900

19th May 2025

Join Penpal Productions at the Scottish Storytelling Centre for this series of short pieces exploring what the city means to these diverse voices.

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Bothan Dhùn Èideann

23rd May 2025

Join us at the Scottish Storytelling Centre for our May Bothan, a monthly session of Gaelic culture and community in Edinburgh!

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Guid Crack: Tales of Wonder, Mystery and Imagination

30th May 2025

Join guest storyteller Kate Walker for another session of Edinburgh’s monthly storytelling club held upstairs in the Waverley Bar on Friday 30th May!

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The Port Road Railway: A Talk by Alan McLellan

30th May 2025

Join Alan McLellan to walk the old Port Road railway line from Dumfries to Stranraer, with vintage film clips and photos illustrating his journey into the past at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

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Related Links

John Knox House

43 - 45 High Street, Edinburgh Old Town EH1 1SR

Dating back to 1470 John Knox House is one of Scotland's greatest cultural treasures and is associated with the most dramatic events in Scotland's turbulent history!

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Sponsored Links

Kevin Quantum
St Mary's Music School
Fayre Play
Support The Makers
Goldups Lane
Escape The Past
Wonder & Co
Napier Uni
RSPB
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MNB
Hostelworld
Edinburgh Dungeon
ATG

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