A LGBTIQ+ film festival, an exhibition of George Washington Wilson’s images and a morning of Scottish folklore are among the online events taking place over the next week.
BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival
Daily, until Sun March 28. Times and prices vary.
Annual LGBTIQ+ film festival hosted by the British Film Institute, showcasing the very best in new queer cinema. Featuring a biopic on the life of Moomins creator Tove Jansson, coming-of-age feature Sweetheart, Cold War drama Firebird and Anna Kerrigan’s thriller Cowboys.
By The Seaside: Heritage, Healing and New Horizons
Daily, until Sun June 20. Times vary, free.
Online exhibition exploring the connections between humanity and the water around us. The event is hosted in partnership between postgraduate students at St Andrews University and the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther.
Envisioning Women’s Places: Photographs from the George Washington Wilson Collection
Daily, until Fri October 29. Times vary, free.
Showcase of rarely seen photographs from the Victorian and Edwardian era by Aberdonian photographer George Washington Wilson. This online exhibition showcases the spaces women inhabited, from the studio to the golf course, and from as far afield as Australia and the Mediterranean.
Wishes Out Windows
Fri March 19, 10.30am, free.
An interactive children’s workshop suitable for ages 3-5. Wee ones are encouraged to help Tilly the naughty fairy and Eddie the elf as they head out on an adventure to spread positive thoughts throughout their community.
Inform Fridays: An Introduction to Traditional Floors
Fri March 19, 3pm, free.
Historic Environment Scotland experts Lila Angelaka and Roger Curtis discuss common types of traditional flooring and how they were constructed, common issues around repair and maintenance, and options around improving their thermal performance.
London Contemporary Orchestra
Fri March 19, 7.30pm, £10.
The London Contemporary Orchestra performs live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall, with world premiere performances of orchestral interpretations of Kelly Lee Owens’ version of Arpeggi by Radiohead and Duval Timothy’s Look. Vocal groups VOCES8 and Apollo5 will also be premiering arrangements of Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Ascent and Ólafur Arnalds’ momentary.
Climate Week North East
Fri March 19–Sun March 21, times and prices vary.
Programme of events centred in Aberdeenshire designed to sound the alarm around the climate crisis and inspire us to live more sustainable lives.
Shedinburgh Replay: Greatest Huts
Fri March 19–Mon March 22, times vary, pay what you can.
Encore streaming of 14 hit shows from the inaugural Shedinburgh Festival, launched in 2020 by Gary McNair, Francesca Moody and Harriet Bolwell in response to the cancellation of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Highlights include McNair’s McGonagall’s Chronicles, James Rowland’s Team Viking, a limited stream of White Rabbit, Red Rabbit performed by Tobias Menzies, and comedy from the likes of Deborah Frances-White, Sophie Duker and Rosie Jones.
Pop Mutations
Sat March 20, 11am, £8.
The team behind Glasgow’s The Flying Duck, Mono and Stereo host this virtual celebration of music and culture, featuring streams from local and international acts such as Count Florida, Nightshift, a DJ set from The Orielles, Third Ear, Edwin Stevens and more.
Reimagined Scottish Folklore
Sat March 20, 11.30am, free.
Live streamed storytelling event hosted by Mara Menzies and featuring Kirsty Logan, Niall Moorjani and Sunnah Khan in celebration of World Storytelling Day, wherein some of Scotland’s oldest stories will be re-explored for the 21st century.
Live in Leith
Sat March 20, 8pm, £11.50.
The first of three live broadcasts from Edinburgh’s Leith Theatre, featuring sets from singer-songwriter Connor Fyfe and indie-rock ensemble Retro Video Club. Hosted by Vic Galloway.
Collywobblers Comedy: Comedy Fundraiser for Cults Primary PTA Aberdeen
Sat March 20, 9pm, £12.
Live streamed fundraising comedy gig featuring Marcel Lucont, John Hastings, Hatty Ashdown and more.
Gigfest
Sat March 20 and Sun March 21, times and prices vary.
Award-winning comedian Catherine Bohart and the Gigless team host a weekend of online comedy previews from some of the biggest names on the circuit, including the likes of Rosie Jones, Olga Koch, Maisie Adam, Sindhu Vee, Stuart Goldsmith and Bohart herself.
OnFife Spring Festival
Sat March 20 and Sun March 21, times and prices vary.
OnFife celebrates the arrival of spring with a programme of online events, including a musical performance by Horse and pop-rock band Dancing on Tables; comedy workshops with Raymond Mearns and Jay Lafferty; a Bollywood dance workshop with Tanwi Bhattacharya; and a screening of the documentary From Scotland with Love.
The Grass is Blue: Evocation of Place
Sun March 21 & Tue March 23, Sun 3pm; Tue 6.30pm, free.
Writing workshops exploring the intersections between the English and Gaelic languages, and how the writing process relates to our surroundings. Proficiency or knowledge of Gaelic not required. Hosted by Gaelic poet, writer, musician and broadcaster Marcas Mac an Tuairneir as part of Historic Environment Scotland’s Colmcille 1500 commemorations.
Scottish Engineering: Building Boilers, Cars, Ships — and Female Engineers
Mon March 22, 7pm, free.
Online talk hosted by the Devil’s Porridge Museum about Scottish engineering in the late 19th and early 20th Century, and a select group of women engineers who blazed a trail during this period.
Soundhouse Spotlight
Mon March 22, 8pm, £5.
The team behind Edinburgh Tradfest host this virtual concert series, featuring ten intimate gigs from 16 of the best emerging artists in the world of traditional folk, Americana and jazz. Monday’s concert features a pre-recorded performance with Cathal McConnell, accompanied by fiddler and violinist Kathryn Nicoll and harpist Karen Marshalsay.
Glasgow Short Film Festival
Mon March 22–Thu March 25, until Sun March 28. Times and prices vary.
The largest competitive short film festival in Scotland celebrates diverse forms of cinematic expression that transgress the boundaries of conventional narrative film. The online 2021 festival will feature competitions and many special programmes, alongside some new specially curated programmes, filmmaker interviews and live Q&As.
Brunton Classical Online: The Magic of Mendelssohn
Tue March 23, 1pm, £7.
The Brunton, in partnership with the Lammermuir Festivaland and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland present a series of live streamed lunchtime concerts. Tuesday’s performance features renditions of Leo Weiner’s Romance, Mendelssohn’s Trio no. 1 in D Minor and folk arrangement Reservoir by Myst.
Does Tech Discriminate?
Thu March 25, 7.30pm, free.
A panel of experts, hosted by The Gadget Show presenter Otis Deley, discuss how the technology that we are increasingly deploying in our everyday lives — from social media to facial recognition software — has the potential to amplify discrimination and prejudices.
Purcell, Reich, Pärt, Howard, & Andriessen
Thu March 25, 7.30pm, free.
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra performs a programme that explores the energy of rhythm, including Purcell’s Chacony and Fantasia, Steven Reich’s Nagoya Marimbas, Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, Dani Howard’s Shades and Louis Andriessen’s Workers Union. The concert was filmed at Perth Concert Hall, and will be broadcast via the SCO’s YouTube and Facebook channels all month.
Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas
Thu March 25, 8pm, free.
Curated by the University of Edinburgh, two experts in their field and one comedian present ‘dangerous’ ideas that’ll spark much discussion and debate. Hosted by Susan Morrison, topics include whether cheating is inevitable in elite sports and why women can sometimes be horrible to each other.
