From theatre and literature to innovation and community engagement, Edinburgh Futures Institute brings creativity, research, and social impact together in the 2025 Edinburgh Festivals season.
We are thrilled to support exciting events in three of the city’s major festivals: the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and the Edinburgh Art Festival.
The performances, panels, and exhibitions we are supporting align with the Institute’s futures-focused, interdisciplinary and data-driven mission, encouraging collaboration across disciplines and helping shape conversations that matter.
Edinburgh International Festival
Earlier in August, the Futures Institute supported a unique strand of programming at the 2025 Edinburgh International Festival, centred around the world premiere of Make it Happen, a bold new co-production from the Festival, Dundee Rep, and the National Theatre of Scotland.
The play, which ran from 31 July to 9 August at the Festival Theatre, charts the rise and fall of the Royal Bank of Scotland and the 2008 financial crash, and marked Brian Cox’s long-awaited return to the Scottish stage.
The play’s theme of building trust in financial institutions links closely with Edinburgh Futures Institute’s aim to create better futures for all, and in particular the mission of our Compassion in Financial Services Hub.
We supported two panel events, hosted by Professor Liz Grant, Co-Director of the Compassion in Financial Services Hub:
- Conducting Business (6 August)
This business breakfast gathered around 60 Scottish business leaders to discuss trust, ethics, and innovation in financial services.
- Making It Happen: Building Trust in Financial Institutions (6 August)
This accessible public discussion deepened the dialogue around financial institutions, including voices from consumers, fintech, and the arts.
Edinburgh International Book Festival
As a Major Sponsor of the 2025 Book Festival, now based at the Futures Institute, we are supporting multiple events spanning literature, AI, Buddhist philosophy, community storytelling, and future-focused discussion.
Edinburgh Futures Institute-supported events include:
- Future Library: Memory is the Future (13 Aug, 20:15. NW)
A celebration of the Future Library—a 100-year literary project by Katie Paterson.
- Halle O’Neal: Buddhist Repair – Saving Yourself and Others(17 Aug, 10:30, Spiegeltent)
This event explores healing in Buddhist traditions, from scripture-eating to kintsugi. O’Neal is Co-Director of Edinburgh Buddhist Studies and a leading expert on Japanese art.
- Richard Susskind: Navigating the AI Revolution (24 Aug, 15:15, Venue T)
A vital conversation on AI’s ethical, legal, and social implications, chaired by Centre for Technomoral Futures Director, Professor Shannon Vallor.
In addition to our sponsored events, Edinburgh Futures Institute colleagues are delivering a workshop:
- Utopia Lab Workshop (Venue A)
Led by Futures Institute Creative Projects Manager Jennifer Williams with Jo Balfour-Oatts and Jimmy Turner, this creative workshop explores speculative futures through a multidisciplinary lens.
Two community pop-up exhibitions are in the Anthea Bond Exhibition Room throughout the Book Festival:
- Words from the Wards: The Exhibition (9–17 August)
Stories and illustrations celebrating the Old Royal Infirmary, created through a collaboration between the Futures Institute, Edinburgh International Book Festival, and Edinburgh College of Art.
- Spark Exhibition (19–24 August)
A vibrant showcase of creative work by young people from Spartans Alternative School, developed with Book Festival Writer in Residence Owen Sutcliffe.
Edinburgh Art Festival
Edinburgh Futures Institute is also participating in the Edinburgh Art Festival (EAF), which runs from 7–24 August.
Visitors to the Futures Institute building can explore the Edinburgh Seven Tapestry, the first long term installation in our building, commemorating the first female medical students in the UK.
Also part of this year’s EAF are two exhibitions by the Futures Institute-based programme, Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID):
Featuring seven newly commissioned artworks from across the UK, the exhibition explores what artists can do to help us more wisely respond to the present realities and near-future horizons of Artificial Intelligence.
The result of BRAID research fellow Caterina Moruzzi’s CREA-TEC project, the artworks presented in this exhibition will ask questions about digital authenticity, our perceptions of what is real and fabricated, and what shapes our trust in human-made creations.
Join us throughout the August as we open our doors to the city, connect ideas with audiences, and help shape the future.
See you at the festivals!
