Big Things on the Beach

Big Things on the Beach invites all concerned citizens of Portobello to join us on September 3^rd in an artistic expression of concern for the quality of life.

We are proud to present the UK and Scottish premiere of ToxMe by Federico Calo’ in cooperation with Freakfoundation. The Italian artist Federico Calo’ is one of the most controversial and public video artists in Europe.

Public Art Fest – 27 August to 3 September – Portobello, Edinburgh: What Makes Art Public?

A week long festival of public art projects, workshops and discussions. Take part in an exciting mass participation human installation or sign up for one of our free workshops.

Big Things on the Beach, Portobello’s community based public art trust, presents a week long, free programme of participatory public art projects, workshops and discussions. The Public Art Fest has been developed in collaboration with the Edinburgh College of Art and with GeoArte, an international cultural exchange organisation based in Puglia, southern Italy.

The Public Art Fest will create opportunities for exchange and learning between artists and the public about their roles in the production of public art. The purpose of the event is to provoke creative thinking about the future possibilities of public art practice and to lay the ground for the development of an ongoing programme of learning about public art – a “Public Art School’ - in the coming years. We intend this to be the first of a series of similar events that will include an increasing range of international partners and participants.

Join the Big Welcome picnic from 3.00 pm to 6.00pm on Portobello Promenade on Sunday, July 24th as part of the 2012 Olympic Open Weekend and Cultural Olympiad.

We invite everyone to decorate a tablecloth to show your international connections with people and places around the world that you love.

Bring your tablecloths, your cakes and picnic to Portobello Prom to help set out a tea table along one kilometre of the Portobello sea wall. Bring your sport, your performance, your music and your dance to entertain each other and our overseas visitors, to show the world that Edinburgh’s Seaside is a great place to visit.

We would like your tablecloth ideas to be as creative as possible. Join one of our artist led workshops to stimulate your imagination. Workshops will be held on Saturdays at:

Place	Date
Portobello Community Centre, Adelphi Place	June 25th; 1.00pm – 5.00pm
St. Phillips Church Hall, Brunstane Road North	July 2nd; 1.00pm – 5.00pm
St. Phillips Church Hall	July 9th; 1.00pm – 5.00pm
St. Phillips Church Hall	July 16th; 1.00pm – 5.00pm

Register your tablecloth on our website and support the work of Amnesty International. The Big Welcome is supported by Creative Scotland, Portobello & Craigmillar Neighbourhood Partnership and Edinburgh City Libraries.