Cultural Rights Ceilidh

Art27 Scotland and Expressing Scotland are bringing the Cultural Rights Ceilidh to the Main Hall at Summerhall on Saturday 12 December. It's an afternoon of conversation and vision-setting, with Expressing Scotland Co-Director Lynne Campbell hosting. The session asks what's possible for cultural rights in Scotland and how citizens can participate fully in the country's cultural life, and it's built around a ceilidh format — so the talking is interspersed with storytelling, music and other cultural elements.

There are two organisations behind it. Art27 Scotland is based here in Edinburgh and takes its mission from Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: 'everyone has the right freely to participate in cultural life and to enjoy the arts'. Expressing Scotland is an agency that supports Scotland's diverse range of cultural expressions, helps communities navigate funding applications and reporting, and hosts ceilidhs as a way for organisations and partnerships to problem-solve and set out collaborative ways of working. The ceilidh is their way of bringing those two things together — the human rights focus and the collaborative, community-led approach — to look at how cultural rights actually work on the ground.

The day is part of Scotland's Human Rights Festival 2026, themed 'Dignity, Freedom and Justice For All'. It's the first national, multi-day festival dedicated to celebrating, explaining and strengthening support for human rights across Scotland, running from 9 to 13 December across seven cities. The Cultural Rights Ceilidh falls on the Saturday, one of the festival's later dates.

It runs from 12:30pm to 4:30pm in the Main Hall at Summerhall, 1 Summerhall, Edinburgh EH9 1PL. Entry is free, though you'll need a ticket.