Edinburgh Art Festival

Edinburgh Art Festival returns in August 2027, taking over galleries, museums, production facilities and artist-run spaces across the city. It's the UK's largest annual celebration of visual art, and it's built on a partnership of galleries committed to keeping high-quality visual art at the heart of Edinburgh's summer festival season. The main programme brings together more than 40 exhibitions, with artist talks, guided tours, performances and screenings running alongside.

Beyond the exhibitions, the festival works as an international platform for the development, production and presentation of ambitious new work by artists in Scotland, the UK and abroad. It pairs established names with emerging talent and commissions pieces that respond to the city's public and historic sites. The whole thing is spread across the city rather than confined to one building, so you'll find it in galleries, museums, production facilities and artist-run spaces all over Edinburgh.

There's also a year-round programme of learning and engagement that continues after the main festival ends. Tailored tours, workshops and projects with community organisations and local schools look at local issues from an artistic point of view, so the work reaches beyond the galleries and into the community. The vast majority of the festival is free, and it runs throughout August 2027.