EAF (Edinburgh Art Festival) is the UK’s largest annual festival of visual art. The Festival’s 21st edition takes root in the EAF Pavilion, branching out to galleries and community spaces across the city. The Festival creates a unique moment in time, with a programme of artist-driven exhibitions, performances, gatherings, and residencies during the August festival season. 

From modern myths to queer history, the political body to environmental collectivity, the Festival invites you to witness, reflect, and participate in these narratives that have fought to be remembered. Encounter a voiceless sound shaking a cathedral; knowledge shared around a tree-shaded table; a familiar object under museum glass; a story of belonging ringing out amidst standing stones.

Presenting 82 events and exhibitions across 45 Partner Galleries and Venues, the Festival showcases artists: local and global; historic and contemporary; emerging and established; and always strives to amplify intersectional voices.

Download the EAF25 Guide here.

We can’t wait to welcome you.

What is EAF?

EAF is made up of three core strands: Festival-led commissions, year-round Civic programme, and Partner Gallery offerings. These strands overlap and blend together to create a strong network of multi-dimensional, interconnected programming.

The Festival-led strand makes up the series of EAF-commissioned exhibitions, installations, and live events, creating space for challenging artist-driven work during the August festival. Drawing together collaborations with local and global art platforms, the Festival-led programme stages world class artists for a moment in time during Edinburgh’s Summer festival season.
Explore What’s On during August.

The Civic strand is EAF’s work with year-round collaborations with local artists and communities who find alternative ways to organise through art. These projects aim to innovate safer, braver, and more accessible ways to engage with creativity, centring those who have historically been excluded from the art world. This includes long-term artist development, open and closed group workshops, and collaborative access events, as well as exhibitions and events during the August festival.
Explore the Civic programme.

The Partner Gallery strand brings together the diverse, exciting programmes of our 25 Partner Galleries and Museums across Edinburgh. From the historic to the contemporary, the emerging to the established, the local to the global, the vast breadth of offerings from our Partner Galleries mean there is something for everyone.
Find out more about the Partner Galleries here.

Edinburgh Festivals

EAF is part of Festivals Edinburgh, a collective of the city’s largest festivals. 

During August, visitors can also enjoy a wide range of exciting events from the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. 

Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival also takes place earlier in July. Our partners at Edinburgh Deaf Festival and Edinburgh Book Fringe will also be running their own varied, engaging programmes during August, which we encourage visitors to explore.