Summerhall tenants raise fears ‘vibrant cultural village’ at Festival Fringe venue will vanish under new owners

The Made in Summerhall collective has been launched days after it emerged the complex is expected to keep hosting events, performances and exhibitions for at least another three years.

Campaigners fear the “vibrant cultural village” that has been built up by artists, entrepreneurs and creators over more than a decade will be at risk of vanishing if large parts of the 130,000sqft Summerhall site are redeveloped.

Managers of the venue have launched a £500,000 fundraising drive to help meet the future running costs under a proposed lease agreement with the owners of the building, who put it up for sale in May.

However, there are concerns the studio, office and workshops spaces occupied by more than 120 business, artists, designers, makers and organisations, who are said to occupy around 60 per cent of the Summerhall site between them, will “disappear” when the site is redeveloped.

Estate agents handling the Summerhall complex say it offers “extensive refurbishment and redevelopment options” and have suggested it may be suitable for boutique hotels or student accommodation.

Existing Summerhall tenants include musician Will Pickvance, artists Tatiana Titova, Mary Walters, Laura Lees and Robert Pettigrew, art dealer Lindy McNair, filmmaker Alice Nelson, illustrator Kate Leiper, animator Will Anderson, music group Red Note Ensemble, theatre companies Magnetic North and Manipulate Arts, and photographers Rebecca Milling, Peter Dibdin and Kayhan Jafar Shaghaghi.

Mr Dibdin said: “The cultural life of a city needs more than its venues – in fact, it would be nothing without the creators and makers who make Edinburgh a city of culture and innovation.

“It is vital that places like these remain in city centres. More than 95 per cent of Summerhall residents travel here by foot, bike or public transport and it would be a loss to the city if this highly integrated eco-system were dispersed to remote workshops on the periphery. It feels like hollowing out the city’s cultural core.

“Now our group has been established, we will be highlighting the breadth of activity that takes place here – both culturally and economically – with a campaign running throughout the Fringe and beyond, with a call to the city’s leaders to recognise that the richness of a city is not just its venues and that Edinburgh will always need artists, entrepreneurs and creators at its heart.”

Ms McNair said: “It is terrific news that the public-facing venues will continue at Summerhall for the next few years. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg – and beyond that are literally dozens of businesses and artists who together have evolved over 13 years into an entrepreneurial arts and science-based eco-system right in the heart of the capital. It’s a small, vibrant, cultural village."

Ms Nelson said: “Summerhall is an eco-system, an unusual mix of commercially viable businesses and risk taking and innovative makers."

Ms Lees said: “As an artist working alone, the daily interactions with fellow Summerhall residents are so nourishing for my wellbeing. Everyone who visits Summerhall recognises the unique quality of the premises.”

Summerhall, one of the biggest privately-owned arts centres in Europe, was put up for sale in May by Oesselmann Estates Limited, the Isle of Man-based family-owned trust.

Summerhall chief executive Sam Gough, who is also heading up the new arts charity that is proposed to keep running the arts venue, hopes the agreement of a three-year lease with the trust will “buy time” to allow a longer-term agreement to be reached with whoever buys Summerhall.

He said: “The arts village of Summerhall is packed with more than 100 diverse and creative businesses that make up a rich ecology of amazingly talented people. Everyone hopes that we have a long future here and any potential new owners recognise the strength of this community.”