Thomas Baldwin looks forward to festival season, in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland

AUGUST in Edinburgh means one thing: festival time.

Anticipated with a mixture of excitement and trepidation by those who live or work there, every year festival season sees hundreds of thousands of people descend on the city to take in thousands of events in hundreds of venues, from the grandest concert halls to the pokiest basements including many churches and, of course, the Church of Scotland’s Assembly Hall, which is transformed into a major comedy venue.

This year’s International Festival is the first directed by Scotland’s superstar violinist Nicola Benedetti, and is themed around the question ‘where do we go from here?’. The programme of 295 events encompasses music, opera, dance and theatre performed by over 2000 artists from 48 nations.

The International Festival this year also includes the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The world’s oldest continually running film festival looked under threat when its organising company went into administration last autumn, but will return with what organisers describe as a handpicked programme that ‘will celebrate the work of exceptional local and global filmmakers’.

As ever, for sheer scale the International Festival is dwarfed by the Fringe, which this year includes a mind-boggling 3,013 shows. Probably best-known for comedy, with big names sharing space on the programme with up-and-comers and young hopefuls, the Fringe also includes theatre, dance, circus, physical theatre, music, musicals, opera, cabaret, variety, children’s shows, spoken word, exhibitions and events.

The Just Festival will also return to St John’s Church on Princes Street, with a programme of exhibitions, shows, talks, conversations and concerts on themes of peace and justice.

And not forgetting the Book Festival, which this year takes place at the Edinburgh College of Art and includes a large range of author talks, creative workshops and discussions with Scottish, UK and international authors.

Of course, Edinburgh is far from the only place in Scotland offering cultural events, and if you prefer somewhere less crowded you’ll almost certainly be able to find something for you. In fact, the VisitScotland website lists over 800 events in August alone, including:

• Mugstock, ‘a festival of music and merriment’, takes place at Strathallan Castle, Perthshire from August 4-7

• Surge Festival, dedicated to the best in street art, physical performance and circus, takes place in Glasgow city centre from August 11-13

• The Mull of Kintyre Music Festival, Campbeltown, celebrates its 30th anniversary with traditional and popular music concerts both indoor and open-air, heritage walks, a parade and more from August 11-13

• Scone Palace is the venue for Otherlands Music and Arts Festival from August 11-13

• The Piping Live festival is in Glasgow from August 12-20

• The Rattray Arts Festival, an exhibition of hundreds of paintings plus works by local sculptors, woodturners, jewellers, silversmiths, stained glass artists, potters and weavers, is on at Blairgowrie Town Hall from August 19-27

And that’s not to mention the plethora of one-off events, garden openings, Highland shows, exhibitions and guided walks taking place the length and breadth of Scotland this month.

For more details on these and many other events, visit www.visitscotland.com/things-todo/events