AROUND TOWN list.co.uk/aroundtown
HITLIST THE BEST COMEDY, COMICS & CYCLING
✽ West End Festival Comedy nights, art exhibitions, pop-up shops and whisky
tasting are all on the cards as part of the annual Glasgow jamboree. Various venues, Glasgow, until Sun 29 Jun.
✽ Edinburgh Festival of Cycling Tours, talks and a competition to see who can
fold a Brompton bike the fastest. See preview at list.co.uk. Various venues, Edinburgh, Thu 12–Sun 22 Jun.
✽ Refugee Week Scotland The upcoming Commonwealth Games are the starting point for many events taking place during this week-long, Scotland-wide event, which this year looks at the theme of ‘welcome’. See preview, page 41. Various venues, Mon 16–Sun 22 Jun.
✽ LeithLate The annual visual art celebration spreads its wings to take up a whole weekend. See preview, left. Various venues, Edinburgh, Sat 21 & Sun 22 Jun.
✽ Edinburgh International Magic
Festival Sleight of hand, mind-reading and the odd white bunny can be expected at this year’s bash. Featuring Luke
Jermay, Colin Cloud and Richard Wiseman. See 5 Things, page 39. Fri 27 Jun–Fri 4 Jul.
✽ Glasgow Comic Con Comic book fans get ready for this gathering of the best of
the city’s comic culture. There will be more than 100 exhibitors coming to the CCA for the two-day event, including indie presses, comic book dealers, toy sellers and guests. And don’t forget the Cosplay competition (with a cash prize!). CCA, Glasgow, Sat 5 & Sun 6 Jul.
Y E R A C N O E
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LEITHLATE The arts party expands to a whole weekend
‘T he aim was to put on a party and hope that people turned up,’ says LeithLate director (although she doesn’t like the term) Morvern Cunningham of her art and music festival in Edinburgh’s port area. Starting out as a one-night celebration of the DIY art spaces and interesting shops in the area, the event attracted far greater numbers than anticipated, and for its fourth outing is expanding from a single Thursday night to a weekend-long festival.
‘Leith has evolved in the time that LeithLate has been operating,’ says Cunningham. ‘It’s now widely recognised as an area of cultural activity, with many artists and practitioners choosing to make Leith their home. The bar scene’s really exploded as well, with a wide selection of hipster pubs with fancy beers, art on the walls and regular creative events.’ She speaks enthusiastically about this year’s highlights, including the work of Ugandan
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artist Immy Mali in the window of braiding salon Super 5, work from Moses Serubiri next door in African Flavour Lounge, the Gallery of Bad Art at vintage shop Junkadelic, the afterparty at Thomas Morton Hall and the LeithLate14 bus which connects the various sites. ‘Our new weekend format is a bit of an experiment,’ says Cunningham, who has also founded public art initiatives The Mural Project and The Shutter Project through the LeithLate platform, ‘but if it goes down well we’ll continue into the future, perhaps at some point expanding again into a week- long event or longer. The aim is to continue to transform Leith into a visually vibrant and exciting place to visit, live and work.’ (David Pollock)
Various venues, Edinburgh, Sat 21 & Sun 22 Jun.