Spirit of the age

Edinburgh Festival of Spirituality and Peace

Another festival growing in popularity, from humble beginnings is the Festival of Spirituality & Peace. Launched just three years ago, through the Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association, the Edinburgh International Centre for World Spiritualities and Creative Space (a project of the local churches seeking to promote public discourse), this well-conceived jamboree commits itself to the principles of creativity and inclusivity, encouraging people to talk and connect with the world going on around them.

Each day at 1pm throughout August, the festival promotes a minute of silence for peace across the city and this idea of collaboration and understanding is echoed throughout the programme, with profits from ticket sales going to charitable causes. From conversations and discussion groups to its music programme, film series, workshops and exhibitions, the festival positions itself as a powerful forum for debate with this years theme as ‘Be the change: Wellbeing of People and Planet’.

Highlights of the festival include Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma, who will take part in a variety of roundtable discussions, Ziauddin Sardar, prominent Muslim intellectual and columnist in the New Statesman who will be in conversation with Lord McCluskey, former Solicitor-General for Scotland and senior judge. Entertainment comes in the inimitable guise of classic Indian dance troupe, Ragamala.

Festival of Spirituality and Peace, 3-24 Aug, www.festivalofspirituality.org.uk

More: Arun Gandhi, Edinburgh Festivals, Festival of Spirituality and Peace, Lord McCluskey, Ragamala, Spirituality & Peace, Ziauddin Sardar

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