All’s Fair: Fair Saturday Scotland’s 2025 programme

As the nights grow longer and the air catches a chill, it is easy to retreat into ourselves. To turn down gallery trips and community meals and poetry readings. Instead, as Black Friday beckons, we’re tempted with discounts and deals for items we don’t need (or, really, want). Each year, Fair Saturday takes place the day after Black Friday and pushes against this late-stage capitalist inclination. Instead, we’re offered a one-day celebration of creativity and community. In a long winter, we need it: gathering together – whether with a song or a dance – will keep us warm. 

“The idea is very simple – instead of focusing on material things, we use this day to come together, enjoy experiencing and sharing in cultural activities, and show how proud and grateful we are to social projects for the work they do,” says Suzy Ensom, Regional Manager Scotland for the Fair Saturday Foundation. Founded in 2014, by Jordi Albareda in Bilbao-Bizkaia, Fair Saturday has since arrived in Edinburgh, much to the delight of communities across the city. Now in its eighth edition, Fair Saturday Scotland is looking forward to bringing people together again on 29 November, the last Saturday of the month. “I think the advantage of a single day is that it creates a sense of celebration and momentum, something very special that’s a real response to Black Friday,” says Ensom. A fixed, single date in the calendar offers a focal point from which new connections – both creative and social – can blossom. 

Edinburgh, of course, isn’t a stranger to the odd arts festival or two. “Edinburgh is a city of world class festivals, so we’re finding our niche, which I think is really about engaging communities across the city and providing a platform for artists, both well-established and newly emerging,” says Ensom. Centring itself around a range of social projects, Fair Saturday Scotland is keen to champion the vital work already existing within our local communities. “Rather than trying to compete with the brilliant festivals and year-round arts, we’re trying to complement and support the existing cultural ecosystem, while trying to do something a little different.” 

This year’s programme yet again promises a warm welcome, and there’s truly something for everyone. From Bharatanatyam dance organisation Cosmic Dance to social enterprise Mycobee Mushrooms, to Pianodrome Bruntsfield Community Hub and Bookbinding with Cass, the breadth of organisations involved reflects the rich variety of arts in Edinburgh. The day will bring a range of practical workshops to learn new skills – printmaking, singing, songwriting. Those who’d rather sit back and relax are also in luck: a plethora of artists will take to the stage in performances to remember. 

Anyone can attend Fair Saturday; likewise, any artists or venues can participate. With an open access format, the festival isn’t interested in the traditional programming hierarchies of the arts. “As we promote all the events in a single programme, everyone is equally valued and has an equal platform, but it also means that smaller or less well-known artists or events benefit from cross-promotion,” says Ensom. With limited opportunities within the arts, it’s all too easy for the sector to become overly competitive, with each cut-throat funding round more grave than the last. But Fair Saturday is keen to remain true to its ethos: all are welcome and all are valued, no matter how many awards and accolades you’ve got under your belt.  

With low cost or free tickets, Fair Saturday aims to open its door to anyone – regardless of whether you can afford a Black Friday shopping spree or not. The support of the City of Edinburgh Council makes the Fair Saturday Edinburgh Community Engagement Fund possible, supporting artists, organisations and community groups to create events for communities across Edinburgh. In this, the festival’s funding structure lives up to its namesake – a matter particularly pertinent amid wider conversations around ethical finances in the arts.

“We live in complex and uncertain times, and culture has a way of bringing us together, sharing and exploring ideas and learning about ourselves, each other, and the world around us,” says Ensom. We need the arts – but we need the arts fairly. And Fair Saturday is all about exactly that.

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Fair Saturday Scotland takes place on 29 Nov; find out more on standrews.fairsaturday.org