Edinburgh’s Hogmany announced the full-line up for Scot:Lands, the exclusive pop-up festival within a festival, on January 1st 2016. Now in its third year, and an integral part of the three day Edinburgh’s Hogmanay which is produced on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council by Unique Events, Scot:Lands is supported by the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund.

An essential component of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, Scot:Lands takes over New Year’s Day as a multi-arts festival in its own right and, as can be seen by the programme announced today, offers a scintillating selection of the best of Scotland’s artistic talent – intriguing, provocative, sometimes reflective; always entertaining. With many of the performances created or re-imagined exclusively for Scot:Lands, this pop-up Festival offers one chance, on one afternoon only, for audiences to enjoy an extraordinary collection of spoken word, dance, music and film, fashioned and curated by some of Scotland’s most innovative artists and arts organisations.

Pete Irvine, Director of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, said:

“We’re delighted that through the support of the Expo Fund we set off on our New Year’s Day journey again and this year from a new starting point, our Departure Lounge within the Old College Quad. This, truly the first Scottish Festival of the year, may have a short life – 4 to 5 hours – but it’s packed with unexpected in-situ performances from a stellar line-up of Scottish artists, each creating something you’ll never see again. It’s the spin of the compass alone that will determine your New Year journey. Edinburgh’s Old Town is both the theatre and the landscape for discovering and experiencing culture, in a format perhaps unique in the world of festivals.”

Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, said:

“Over the last three years, Scot:Lands has grown in prominence, attracting an audience from far and wide. More than 150,000 visitors from 70 countries visited the capital last year to take part in Edinburgh’s Hogmanay programme. Scot:Lands draws together artists from across Scotland to provide a ‘whole’ experience of music, theatre, installations, audio visual and the spoken word in unique settings. Scot:Lands is part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, one of the cornerstone events of the Scottish Government’s Winter Festivals programme. This year a record £390,000 of funding has been provided to support 21 key cultural events in 15 local authority areas across the country.”

Cllr Richard Lewis, Festival and Events Champion for the City of Edinburgh Council, said

“Scot;Lands is an integral part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and provides an opportunity for some of the best Scottish artists to collaborate and showcase their talents in some unique spaces across the city. My first memory of January 1st 2015 was experiencing a wonderful Tam o’ Shanter performed by Andy Cannon at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. That was just one of many first class performances taking place that day and I’m already looking forward to this year’s offering.”

The all-important element of chance returns again this year, as audiences ‘check in’ at the Departure Lounge in the University of Edinburgh’s Old College, before spinning a compass to discover their first destination on a randomly, tantalisingly selected, unpredictable journey through eleven hidden Edinburgh Old Town venues – some familiar and some unknown and rarely accessible to the public.

They might alight on Blazin:Land, presented by renowned fiddle collective Blazin’ Fiddles who will be joined by some very special guests including Rachel Sermanni and Adam Holmes; or be transported to the Isle of Skye in Blue Skye:Land where they will be treated to captivating musical and performance pieces including the UK premiere of a collaboration between beatboxer Jason Singh and Gaelic vocalist Anne Martin. Sea Bird:Land will introduce a reconfigured live performance of Dalziel + Scullion‘s mesmerising, multi-media art installation, Tumadh is Turas: Immersion & Journey, in a hauntingly atmospheric venue with a live soundtrack from Aidan O’Rourke, Graeme Stephen and John Blease.
Elsewhere Coorie-In:Land will introduce an exhilarating menu of lyrical delight and artsy mischief curated by Edinburgh literary duo Rally & Broad; Licht:Land will offer a celebration of light at the gateway to the New Year with puppetry, live music and storytelling while Lyrical:Land will bring together some of Scotland’s foremost singer/songwriters with intimate performances from Kathryn Joseph, Mercury Prize nominated C Duncan, Roddy Woomble and poet Michael Pedersen amongst others. Cine:Land will mark 70 pioneering years of the Edinburgh International Film Festival with a labyrinth of mini-cinemas showing award-winning short films in a celebration of Scotland on the big screen; and Glasgow’s Chemikal Underground will celebrate their 20th anniversary in Chemikal:Land featuring live performances from R M Hubbert, Emma Pollock and Miaoux Miaoux. Curious Seed will create a mesmerising, immersive and improvised new dance work for the turn of the year, which will be accompanied by live music from Luke Sutherland in d’Arc:Land and dropping in from Aviemore The Insider Festival will recreate the essence of an outdoor festival in an indoor venue – Insider:Land – with a distillation of music, food and drink from the Inver Restaurant and performances from Admiral Fallow, Blue Rose Code, Findlay Napier and BEAM.
For the first time, a Land has been specially created for families and children under 10. WeeScot:Land will offer a theatre show as well as arts and crafts, balloons, face-painting, storytelling, music and street performance in the most unexpected forms at the National Museum of Scotland, presented by Festival partners Pleasance KidZone and National Museums Scotland.

At the end of the afternoon, as all other Lands draw to a close, audiences are invited to come, or come back to, the National Museum of Scotland for The Final Fling, the closing event of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2015/16 with music and Ceilidh Callers from Edinburgh’s top ceilidh outfit, the Portobello Ceilidh Band.

Scot:Lands has become increasingly popular every year, and places are limited. Tickets are free and from today, Monday 2 November 2015, are available from www.edinburghshogmanay.com.

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is a three day Festival and starts on Wednesday 30 December with the Torchlight Procession. On Thursday 31 December the world famous Street Party, Concert in the Gardens and Old Town Ceilidh will welcome 75,000 revellers to the city centre, and in addition to Scot:Lands on Friday 1 January, the Stoats Loony Dook will see over 1000 Dookers take a chilly dip in the River Forth under the shadow of the world famous Bridges. Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is a key part of Scotland’s Winter Festivals celebrations.

Tickets for Scot:Lands, which are free, are available from www.edinburghshogmanay.com. Tickets for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Concert in the Gardens are already sold-out. Tickets for the world famous Street Party, The Old Town Ceilidh, and pre-booked Torches for the Torchlight Procession, are on sale now from www.edinburghshogmanay.com, by calling Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Box Office on 0844 573 8455 or by calling into the Hogmanay Box Office at The Fringe Office, 180 High Street, Edinburgh. Street Party tickets are priced at £25.00 (including booking fee). Early bird tickets for EH postcode residents are still available at £19.00 (including booking fee). Old Town Ceilidh Tickets are priced at £45.00 (including Booking Fee). Torches for the Torchlight procession can be pre-booked (priced at £10.00) and registration for the Stoats Loony Dook is also open (£10.00 including booking fee and 10% donation to the South Queensferry branch of the RNLI).

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is produced on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council by Unique Events, working with partners Underbelly who present Edinburgh’s Christmas attractions and events.