Community Ties
Edinburgh’s chic international community celebrates diversity with music and style during one of Europe’s largest and most important multicultural events. World music, theatre and film performances, speeches, and visual arts exhibitions take centre stage. The event is reminiscent of Asian community festivals, and indeed named for one as well, “mela” means “gathering” in Sanskrit.
With a passionate commitment to showcase some of the best work created in the UK and internationally by minority ethnic artists, or those who choose to work in a culturally diverse way, the Edinburgh Mela features innovative work that engages with important themes or that pushes at
artistic boundaries to create new possibilities. This includes presentations from luminaries who trek to the capital of Scotland from across the globe.
Meanwhile, while the styleconscious will appreciate the multicultural fashion show revealing what’s hot and what’snot a world away, the festival also offers African, Chinese and a world of other cultures the opportunity to gather, explore and celebrate their diverse communities.
The 2011 Edinburgh Mela Festival will be held on Leith Links, only minutes from downtown Edinburgh, nestled among the multicultural
communities of Leith.•
2-4 September 2011
www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk
