‘Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine’: Palestinian voices, art and culture in Govanhill and Edinburgh
Palestinian artists will bring theatre, music and poetry to the Govanhill International Festival on 9–10 August offering a rare chance to experience powerful expressions of Palestinian culture right here in the Southside – before it heads to Edinburgh Fringe.
Amal Kaawash will be performing traditional Palestinian music at the Glad Cafe on 9 August
By Eliza Gearty, playwright, screenwriter and community arts worker based in Govanhill.
The festival-within-a-festival will run from Tuesday 12th to Friday 15th August at Portobello Town Hall – and is well worth the journey to Edinburgh
The first time the Palestinian artist Farah Saleh engaged with Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine was in 2015. Saleh had travelled from her home in Palestine to perform at the inaugural one-day showcase, launched during that year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. “It was a great opportunity to exchange knowledge with Scottish artists and audiences,” Saleh recalls. A decade on, Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine is back – and Saleh, now living in Scotland, is one of its key organisers.
What began as a single-day event is now returning as a fully-fledged four-day festival at Portobello Town Hall during the 2025 festival season, featuring an exhilarating mix of theatre, dance, music, poetry and more.
As Palestinians continue to endure unprecedented violence, the packed programme reflects the richness of a culture that stands in defiance against attacks and erasure. Performances range from dramatic plays to puppet shows, musicals, electronic DJ sets and dance acts featuring ballet, hip-hop and dabke. Themes of joy, resistance, grief and anger run through the creative works, often side by side.
Welcome to Gaza, written and partly performed by children from Gaza and the West Bank, features animals, genies and dancing’ alongside ‘messages from the genocide, bombed hospitals and schools.’ In his comedy act, Sami Abu Wardeh pokes fun at Western nationalism, while Diline Abushaban will teach audiences about Palestine’s cuisine and its links to resistance in her live cooking demonstration.
On Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 August there’s an opportunity to see these amazing Palestinian artists at Govanhill International Festival – with events at the Tramway, Glad Cafe, Street Music Festival, Category Is Books, and Govanhill Book festival. For more details, check out the Govanhill International Festival programme or scroll down to the bottom of this page.
DJ Bruno Cruz will be bringing Palestinian underground sounds to the Govanhill Street Music Festival on 10 August
For the organisers of the fringe – a group of independent artists and producers, including Saleh, playwright Sara Shaarwari and playwright David Greig among others – the festival is an important way to platform Palestinian voices and celebrate a culture shaped but not defined by struggle.
“At a time when Palestinians are facing extreme violence, it feels like a small, good thing for us to share the human spirit together: art, comedy, music, theatre, food and more, all in the convivial and welcoming atmosphere of Porty Town Hall,” says Greig. “Edinburgh in August is all about connection. This project is a chance for us all to go beyond statistics, despair and political soundbites and, instead, to meet Palestinians where they are – with heart and soul.”
Shaarwari agrees: “Art and theatre have always played a role in humanising narratives and resisting oppression, in communal processing and remembrance”, she says. “And that is all reflected in the programme.”
Mohammed Moussa, a poet who will be performing at Welcome To The Fringe with his collective The Gaza Poets Society, believes the festival is significant because it will provide a platform for “voices that are often overlooked” at the biggest arts festival in the world.
“I believe it is crucial to present our work at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, particularly during these challenging times,” he says. “Sharing these poems is not merely an artistic pursuit – it is a profound responsibility I embrace fully. Getting our work into the festival shows how art can bring people together and get Gaza's poets heard around the world.”
Pulled together by volunteers and funded via crowd-sourcing, the festival is a huge testament to collective solidarity and organisation. The team are still fundraising, shy of their target (if you would like to donate, you can find details on how to below) but have remarkably raised £40,000 since February. “We would not have been able to organise this without the immense support and donated labour, resources and skills as well as monetary donations [from] various communities and individuals in Scotland,” says Shaarwari.
The swell of effort and generosity demonstrates grassroots community support for Palestine, and a desire for cultural exchange and hearing untold stories. Saleh hopes that the festival will not only serve to celebrate Palestinian art and culture but will also educate and inspire Scottish audiences.
“Art in the Palestinian context has always been a form of resistance and steadfastness,” she says. “I hope this edition will allow Scottish audiences to reflect on the power of art in the Scottish context and learn from the Palestinian experience".
Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine has been funded by almost £40,000 in donations from over 400 individuals and organisations through a crowdfunding campaign, with donations ranging from £3 to £3,500 Fundraising is ongoing. Donations can be made online: Crowdfunder.
Welcome To The Fringe: Palestine – at Govanhill Festival
Saturday 9 August, 7pm
The Glad Cafe, 1006A Pollokshaws Road
A mini-festival of Palestinian art celebrating its vital role in the ongoing struggle for Palestinian liberation. An opportunity to see some of the best artists from across Palestine and the diaspora. Poetry from Mohamed Moussa of Gaza Poets Society; words from leading queer Palestinian voice Randa Jarrar; traditional music from the great Amal Kaawash; thrilling spoken word from Fadi Murad; and an electrifying DJ set diving into the heart of Palestinian underground music from Bruno Cruz.
Donations welcome on the door.
Welcome to the Fringe: Palestine presents a showcase of some of the most exciting writing coming out of Palestine today. With Palestinian poets, novelists and storytellers joining us in Govanhill from Gaza, Galilee and New York. Featuring Deline Abushaban, Dareen Tartour, Mohamed Mousa (Gaza Poets Society) and Randa Jarar. This is an incredibly rare opportunity to hear leading Palestinian writers share their work in person.
*This event is 18+ only.
Ruh al Ruh – Open Rehearsal
Saturday 9 August, 11:30am–5pm
The Work Room Tramway, 25 Albert Drive
Ruh al Ruh was written during the current war on Gaza by Rafat Al Aydi, a Gaza-based playwright and director, who has also translated the play into English. It tells the story of a couple trying to find a way to live through this impossible situation, it’s an ode to imagination and the ‘artist way of living’.
Welcome to the Fringe: Palestine will be presenting a rehearsed reading of the play with local actors and a director. This is an open rehearsal where you can drop in and watch the piece in development prior to the performance in Edinburgh.
The thread that binds us to Palestine: antisweatshop activists against apartheid
Saturday 9 August, 12pm–1:30pm
The Deep End Workshop, 21 Nithsdale Street
This gathering is an invitation to learn together – about the history of Palestine’s textile industry, and the ways in which occupation, apartheid and ongoing genocide have disrupted not only lives, but also the cultural knowledge, skills and labour held within cloth.
We’ll explore how the global garment industry is complicit in these violences – and how it can also be a site of resistance. Through conversation with organisers – each rooted in different struggles within the garment sector – we’ll trace lines of solidarity across borders: from shop floors to frontlines, from craft to collective action.
Join us to explore the politics of fabric, and how memory, exploitation and the possibility of liberation are stitched into the seams.
Click here to book/Free but ticketed – Donations welcome on the door
*No age restrictions, Seated event
Govanhill Book Festival
Saturday 9 August, 4pm
Welcome to the Fringe: Palestine presents a showcase of some of the most exciting writing coming out of Palestine today.
With Palestinian poets, novelists and storytellers joining us in Govanhill from Gaza, Galilee and New York. Featuring Deline Abushaban, Dareen Tartour, Mohamed Mousa (Gaza Poets Society) and Randa Jarrar. This is an incredibly rare opportunity to hear leading Palestinian writers share their work in person.
Love Music Hate Racism stage at the Govanhill Street Music Festival
1pm – 8pm
South Seeds, Victoria Road
• Aleena
• Bado Reti
• The Creative Martyrs
• DJ Bruno Cruz
• More acts to be confirmed
Love Music Hate Racism returns to our Street Music Festival with a stage uniting artists, activists and musicians to promote intolerance of racism; it has no place here. The campaign harnesses the power of music for unity and resistance that has been bringing people together to party with a purpose for over twenty years in Glasgow.
LMHR has played its part in the past year in a wider movement to counter a resurgence of far right activity and promote its positive anti-racist message that says refugees are welcome here–we’re aw fae somewhere! Let’s use music as a unifying force to take a stand against racism.
No age restriction.