Scottish Storytelling Centre Business Spotlight

Edinburgh is a small city, so positive partnerships and collaboration are important. We host the Scottish International Storytelling Festival each October and like to work with many other Edinburgh Festivals throughout the year, offering venue space or creative programming. The city has a range of great arts activities, making it an exciting and dynamic place to work in.

Across the years we have run initiatives like the Old Town Festival and engaged with local traders like Psychomoda Clothing and the Haggis Box Café to enhance our offering. We also work closely with other cultural organisations in the area, such as the Museum of Childhood and the Edinburgh City of Literature Trust, both of whom have a shared desire to explore the stories of Edinburgh’s Old Town

We stock many Edinburgh storytelling books in our shop, with a particular favourite being Edinburgh’s Old Town by John Fee and AN Other. We also celebrated Edinburgh’s 900 years as a Royal Burgh this year, with many events across the city and through a new book by our former Director, Donald Smith, entitled Edinburgh: Our Storied Town.

Edinburgh is a truly beautiful and unique city. We have an incredible history going back 900 years and to have the opportunity to share that either in storytelling form or with John Knox House is something of a privilege. Also, as I mentioned before, Edinburgh is a small city, so the opportunity to build working relationships with friends and former colleagues is something that I find very easy to do. Businesses are more likely to know of each other or know people who work in a certain field or business which makes networking between us all that little bit easier.

I always try to get at least 2 or 3 days to just explore the city during The Fringe. Watch as much street theatre as possible and watch people from around the world be just blown away by what the city becomes. At Christmas, we always go to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The Botanics at Christmas is a visual spectacular that has never disappointed.

We are always looking to develop and become a larger part of what the city offers. We are very proud to say the Storytelling Centre already shows off the people and culture of not just Edinburgh but the whole of Scotland. We are proud to host so many events from so many different communities and traditions that we hope to continue to grow and reach out to people all over the city. We are also working hard to and have a vision to make John Knox House a must-do when visiting the city. As the oldest medieval building still standing on the Royal Mile, it is our goal to celebrate and share the fact that since 1470, our building has watched Scotland’s history pass by and even sometimes walk through our doors.