THE Edinburgh Multicultural Festival is back in town for a fifth year – with its director hailing how "welcoming" the city is to international talent.
The festival celebrates the cultural diversity of the capital by bringing together local and international artists of diverse backgrounds to create experiences to be shared by all communities.
The programme features an extensive range of performers and visual artists telling their stories through creative writing and visual literacy workshops, artwork, poetry, storytelling, music, theatre and dance.
The event is supported by the City of Edinburgh Council.
Councillor Val Walker said: “I’m incredibly proud that we are supporting local artists of all backgrounds to get involved with a truly unique festival.
“Edinburgh’s diversity is one of our greatest strengths and this festival is just one fantastic example of our outstanding year-round cultural offerings.
“We all want to see as many of our residents as possible expressing themselves and adding to Edinburgh’s already excellent cultural sector.”
The festival boasts more than 150 artists.
Family activities including arts and crafts, puppetry, living statues and reading sessions, and drumming workshops will be held by Visual Literacy Matters and other artists.
Edinburgh Multicultural Festival director Morgan Njobo said: “We are grateful to the City of Edinburgh Council for their support, thanks to which we can create opportunities for local diverse artists to share their work and cultures.
“As a South African artist based in Edinburgh myself, I value how welcoming the city is to the international talent.
“This year we feature local artists of African, Asian, Caribbean, European and South American origin thus creating a world stage at your doorstep.”
This year’s musical acts include Los Chichanos, Mio Shudo, Motown Brothers, The Spinning Blowfish, Elaine Cheng, as well as dance artists – Sam Vaherlehto and TuFlamenco.
There will also be theatremakers – Catherine Bisset, Flavia D’Avila, Luntu Masiza and Olivier Van Den Hende.
The festivities will be held will be held at Edinburgh College (Granton Campus) on Saturday, September 30 and at Lauriston Castle on Sunday, October 1.
All events are free but ticketed.
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