August 2026 in Video
Edinburgh's Festivals act as a melting pot for global culture and in 2026, c80 countries participated in the August festivals, with 16 holding city/region/country showcases - and if previous years are anything to go by, audiences will have come from c100 countries. But the Edinburgh Festivals are not just about the international, being authentically rooted in the city and part of the intangible cultural heritage of Scotland. As the great historian Sir Tom Devine says: ‘The Edinburgh Festivals are indeed a jewel in the Scottish crown which bring a matchless world-wide profile to our country.’
After 24-days of spectacular music, theatre, dance and opera, the 2026 Edinburgh International Festival has wrapped up in spectacular style. This year's programme, All Rise, put America in the spotlight, featuring the largest representation of American artists in the Festival's history. With over 2,000 artists from 46 countries, the 2026 Festival was defined by extraordinary artists and thinkers who presented a range of contemporary perspectives, and a vision for the future.
This year’s Festival theme, All Rise, was a rallying cry for collaboration and resilience, based on our firm belief that through artistic endeavour we can learn to see one another more truthfully, and more tolerantly. We asked audiences to take a leap with us... They responded with curiosity and bravery. This is what it looks like when culture gives us hope.
Over 25 days, the most celebrated cultural event in the world - the 79th edition of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - welcomed some 4,232 shows from 77 countries who undertook 61,277 performances across 306 venues.
As of 11:30 on the last day of Fringe 2026, 2,805,395 tickets had been issued for a programme packed with a broad range of dynamic themes: from artificial intelligence to cults; the manosphere to identity crisis; social class to Y2K nostalgia; the state of the world to resilience and hope. We encouraged audiences to #MixItUp and the 8% increase in tickets issued from 2025 highlights that they did just that. Within the data, it was notable that the Fringe recorded its highest ever single-day attendance, with over 164,000 tickets being issued for performances on Saturday 15 August – 1% higher than the previous peak on Saturday 17 August 2019.
Edinburgh International Book Festival concluded a record-breaking year that reaffirmed its position as one of the world's leading spaces for public conversation. With a smaller programme but a higher proportion of available tickets sold, the Book Festival brought together writers, thinkers, artists and audiences to explore the defining issues of our time under this year's theme, Changing Your Mind. In its third year at Edinburgh Futures Institute, footfall increased by 20% compared with last year, while ticket sales rose despite a smaller programme. Meanwhile, 62% of tickets were sold to people in EH postcodes, underlining the Book Festival's strong local support.
Alongside major discussions on politics, technology and society, audiences flocked to hear acclaimed fiction writers including John Grisham, Maggie O'Farrell and 2026 International Booker Prize winners Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and Lin King. The programme also brought together leading voices writing in English alongside internationally celebrated authors in translation, reinforcing the Book Festival's reputation as a global home for literature and storytelling. Together, these conversations demonstrated the Book Festival's role as a space where complex issues can be explored openly, while helping connect people of all ages with books, writers and reading.
This year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival [EIFF] ran from 13 – 19 August 2026 and opened with the International Premiere of Edinburgh-born filmmaker Louis Paxton’s debut feature The Incomer and closed with Louise Lockwood’s powerful debut documentary feature Bel. EIFF’s invigorated vision under leadership from CEO & Festival Director Paul Ridd and Festival Producer Emma Boa continues to accelerate the discovery of new film talent and engage with audiences, industry members and local, national and international media.
The winner of this year’s The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, decided on by an audience vote and funded by The Connery Foundation is Kieron J. Walsh’s Skintown. Ten feature-length World Premieres were presented at EIFF as part of the competition with the winning filmmaker being awarded £50,000 to support their future projects. The winner of this year’s Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence Competition, decided on by an audience vote and funded by The Connery Foundation is Sinda Agha’s Grief Room. The World Premieres of Ten Short Films were presented at EIFF as part of the competition with the winning filmmaker being awarded £15,000 to support their future projects.