Creative Circles: Celebrating Scotland’s Multicultural Heritage

Hosted by Creative Edinburgh, Creative Circles runs every month. For June, we're in-person.

This event is a casual monthly meetup for creatives, techies, makers, students, freelance folk and everyone in between who is interested in discovering more about what's happening in Edinburgh. Take a break from work, share ideas and advice, make new connections, and find your next collaborator.

June's Conversation: Celebrating Scotland’s Multicultural Heritage

In June's Creative Circles event, we want to celebrate the creativity of our members who are refugees or seeking asylum here in Scotland. We'll hear from three inspiring artists who will share their stories of making Scotland their home. Join us to learn about their journeys and appreciate their work in a visual showcase.

We will be speaking with creative practitioners Razan Madhoon, Alena Rogozhkina and Olga Niekrasova.

All Creative Circles in 2024 are generously sponsored by an accounting software that lets accountants, small businesses and landlords file Self-assessments directly to HMRC, saving time and reducing stress. We are excited to be working with FreeAgent and can't wait to introduce them to our members at the upcoming events.

Creative Circles is for members of Creative Edinburgh. Not a member yet? It's free to join click here.

About our Speakers

Olga Niekrasova

An award-winning screenwriter/director from Kyiv, Ukraine and now based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her experimental short films VALISE and SHADOWS are being screened in various places across the UK, including the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Storytelling Center and Cameo Picturehouse.

Alena Rogozhkina

A Ukrainian-born Edinburgh-based visual artist, researcher, curator and creative educator driven by a passion for community wellbeing. Linking both her background in Behavioural Science and Contemporary Art Practice, she expresses her own emotional realities while exploring the limits that people have to create a better everyday reality.

Alena has recently established Abandoned Artists CIC to develop the platform to support displaced creative professionals in Scotland. She strongly believes in art as a powerful tool that we can use to drive social change, rebuild trust, and infuse optimism into our ordinary lives. Alena’s current collaborators are creative and cultural organisations including Edinburgh Ukrainian Community Centre, Art in Healthcare, Scottish National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh Royal Lyceum Theatre, Traverse Theatre, Volunteer Edinburgh, Life with Art, and ArtLink to bring numerous socially-engaged projects to life.

About the Venue

Dovecot is a world-renowned tapestry studio in the heart of Edinburgh and a landmark centre for contemporary art, craft and design. Established in 1912, Dovecot continues a century-long heritage of collaboration with international artists to make exceptional handwoven tapestries and gun-tufted rugs.

This Summer Dovecot Studios' major tapestry with Chris Ofili will return to Scotland. The Caged Bird’s Song, commissioned by The Clothworkers’ Company, will be shown in the context of the tapestry studio where the work was created.

Running Order

16:30 - 16:45: Welcome everyone to the session & introduction from Creative Edinburgh

16:45 - 17:45: Discussion with panel

17:45: Community announcements, Creative Edinburgh news

18:00: Socialising with others in attendance

18:30: Thank you and farewell

Can't make the whole event? Just join us for what you can.

Got something to shout about during our community announcements? Get in touch with us at .

How are we making sure this event is accessible?

There won't be a BSL interpreter present at the event.

There will be no amplified music or bright lights used throughout the event. If you have other access requirements, please let us know during registration or contact us directly, and we will do our very best to help.

Have we forgotten anything? Please help us learn and let us know.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to our team at [email protected].

We look forward to seeing you there!

We want to hear from you

We're looking to improve how we run our events. We'd love to hear from you through this quick survey if you have attended any of our events in the past six months.

About Creative Edinburgh

Creative Edinburgh is a registered Scottish Charity (SC052838) committed to helping creatives thrive. Through events, career support and advocacy, we bring together and help grow the city’s creative community, providing a space for creation, collaboration and connection at every stage of your career. Creative Edinburgh is supported by Creative Scotland as one of the Regularly Funded Organisations (RFOs).

To become a member of Creative Edinburgh, click .

Host or Publisher Creative Edinburgh