Renamed Just Festival in 2013, the Festival of Spirituality and Peace was established in 2001 - post 9/11 - out of a desire to re-awaken the original spirit of the Edinburgh International Festival. The EIF was set up as a peace initiative following the devastation and suffering of WWII: art and culture were seen as a platform for peace and reconciliation - a "flowering of the human spirit".
A festival within the overall Edinburgh Festival in August, Just Festival is "a place of encounter, conversation and respect, of shared wisdom applied to the issues of our day."
With its main base at St John's Church at the foot of Lothian Road, Just Festival includes an ever-growing myriad of events - musical performances, exhibitions, conversations, food events, healing sessions, prayer, poetry readings, screenings and more.
The unifying theme: commitment to the principles of creativity, inclusivity and dialogue and to modelling the dynamics of peacemaking. Just Festival aims to sponsor the kind of conversations and encounters which need to happen in the wider world if there is to be peace and respect for all - and to garner wisdom wherever it is to be found.