The Old Town Festival is the annual two-week celebration of the Edinburgh Old Town, with The 2009 Festival's 44 storytelling, music, film, talk, tour and family open day events for Edinburgh residents and visitors.
Edinburgh's Old Town is layered with stories of people, lives and characters, and the area has long been a vibrant focus of community life and an inspiring hub for Edinburgh's rich culture and heritage.
2009's Old Town Festival takes a ‘houses and homes' theme with, among other events, a home research workshop (Down Your Street workshop, Wed 17 & Fri 26), Royal Mile tours (Royal Mile tours Thu-Sun) and Old Town tales (Chairman's Tales, Thu 25-Sat 27 and Guid Crack, Fri 26).
This year Old Town community-based groups have joined with larger cultural organisations such as the National Galleries of Scotland, National Museums Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council Museums to contribute to the packed Festival programme, which is coordinated by the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
Programme highlights include Films of the Old Town at the National Library of Scotland (Tue 16, 6pm), live tales of Old Town mystery and intrigue at the Storytelling Café (Wed 17, 7pm) and chances to get involved in family open days at new partner venues such as Stills, Edinburgh's centre for photography (Sat 27) and the Palace of Holyroodhouse (Sat 20 & Sun 21).
The Scottish Storytelling Centre hosts the Festival finale, with a story-filled open day and Storyfair (Sun 28) with live storytelling, live music, craft activities, face painting and family fun.