The Soapbox Newsletter
November '24 Edition; Time, Storytellers, and Community Events ✨
Good Morning, pals!
Welcome to this month’s edition of The Soapbox Newsletter!
As the year draws closer to its end, I’ve been reflecting on what makes the Soapbox community so special: the connections we build, the ideas we share, and the space we create for genuine, intentional conversations.
While we pause our in person meet-ups, I have some great community events I’d love to share that are taking place around the city to bring people together.
So, grab a cuppa, settle in, and enjoy this month’s stories, updates, and inspirations.
The Story Sessions:
At the start of November, we held another Story Sessions gathering, and this one felt extra special. We were lucky to have our friends Joanna and Helena from Còmhla join us - they crafted, cooked, and hosted the most beautiful spread of food to nourish us before we came together to share and listen to some incredible stories.
This month our theme was Nourishment, and we had four brilliant speakers -
Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin is an Irish writer living and working in Edinburgh. You can find her on Instagram. Her debut novel Ordinary Saints will be published in April 2025. It’s about Jay, a queer Irish woman who finds out her older brother may be made a Catholic saint, and explores questions of family, faith, grief and queer identity. It’s available for pre-order now!
Naomi Penfold told a story about giving herself permission to explore and learn for fun. She's a data scientist at the NHS, with a background in research, advocacy and community building in biology. Missing practical lab work, she went on a personal journey in 2022 to learn how to grow her own mushrooms. She's interested in sustainable food, opening up knowledge, and using data well. Her favourite podcast is 99 percent invisible. Find her on linkedin or Instagram.
Naomi Head (she/her) is a writer based in Edinburgh. Her work explores themes of community, mental health, food, belonging and identity, and queerness. Naomi's poetry and writing work has been published and shared locally and internationally by Dreich, SNACK Magazine, Edinburgh Literary Salon, Loud Poets, Beyond the Veil Press, Sunday Mornings at the River, and more. Her poetry zine Kitchen Love was published in November 2023, printed by Typewronger Riso Studio with illustrations by Hana Khan. She also hosts monthly writing group The Chicken Coop at Lost in Leith Bar & Fermentaria. You can stay up to date with Naomi and her work on Instagram, check out her Cookbook, and subscribe to her Newsletter.
For everyone who’s been asking for the recipe Naomi shared in her story, check it out below:
Hi I'm Elise Boileau and it was so fun to share a story at Story Sessions, I would highly recommend it to anyone thinking of doing it!
I've been in Edinburgh for a year now, and loving the silver northern light and meeting new people. I work remotely, so I really value events like Soapbox. I love trying new things and I am currently learning pottery and the banjo. I'm also part of a wonderful choir called Cadenza - come to our Christmas concert on 14th December for some caroling delights: Cadenza at Christmas 2024 – Cadenza
Things happening in our community:
There are some great community events happening in and around the city this weekend you won’t want to miss—grab your pals, your family, or just yourself, and check them out!
Còmhla are hosting their very first Festive Supper Club! Taking place on December 14th at Dovecot Studios, you’ll be enjoying a six course tasting menu reflecting the best of Scotland's festive season. Check out the eventbrite page for more information and the menu.
Rosemains Steading Winter Market is this Saturday November 30th! Taking place between 10am and 3pm at Rosemains Steading, Patched, EH37 5UQ. It’s family friendly, dog friendly, and with ample free parking available on site.
Spot Design Market have their first Edinburgh Winter Market this weekened; November 30th & December 1st at Dovecot Studios, taking place from 11am-4pm. It’s wheelchair accessible and children & dog friendly.
The Power of Creativity & Art is a special evening exploring the transformative power of creativity. There will be an inspiring panel talk with five guests sharing personal stories on how creativity has shaped their lives and their resilience from 7pm to 9pm at Greyfriars Hall at the Virgin Hotel.
Oremi Edinburgh has some events coming up over the next few weeks, including a live music event in collaboration with The Edinburgh Collective - taking place this Saturday November 30th. The Meadows Sessions is a cosy evening of live, acoustic music featuring local Edinburgh artists. Unwind, enjoy great sounds, and make new connections. More information and tickets available here via eventbrite. If you’re looking to make new friends in Edinburgh you can also check out their Christmas evening on December 5th - handprint your own Christmas candles whilst enjoying delicious cake and chatting to new people in a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere. Whether you come with friends or solo, this event is all about creativity and connection. Perfect for beginners and seasoned crafters alike—don’t miss out on this delightful experience!
Join Bard on December 4th for a candlelit book signing of ‘A Place In Scotland’ with author Banjo Beale and photographer Alex Baxter from 6-7:30pm. Come and meet the dynamic duo, have a glass of something chilled, a mouthful of something cheesy, and take in Bard's latest show 'A Scottish Enlightenment', featuring candlesticks by 20 makers and artists from all over Scotland. Grab your tickets here via eventbrite.
Creativity For The Everyday is an interdisciplinary arts workshop with The Norm Project collective taking place on Saturday 21st of December at the Salisbury Centre. Join us to draw, write, move and make friends! Over the two hour session we will explore techniques to create visual art, movement sequences and poetry, all inspired by the routines of our everyday lives. This workshop will also have a special focus on the Winter Solstice, making the most of the shortest day. The Norm Project is a multidisciplinary collective created by Jorja Follina (Dance Artist), Ellie Higgins (Performance Artist) and Rho McGuire (Interdisciplinary Artist) who will guide this workshop. Open to all levels, no previous experience required. Attendance by donation, tickets available here via eventbrite.
Leith Creative Trail is a route of all Leith's (you guessed it) creative Markets and Open Studios from Saturday 30th November through to Sunday 8th December. It’s an opportunity to discover and celebrate all the artistic happenings in the vibrant nooks of Leith. Some new, some institutions, some small, some big but all full of curiosity and talent. There will be markets, open studios, workshops and pop-up shops. Pretty cool hey!
The idea of the trail is to try and bag as many venues as possible – as we are all about knitting together the creative community and getting involved. You never know what you will discover. To help you negotiate and navigate all of these happenings, we have created a map, timetable and directory – this year designed by the talented and lovely Cat Gordon Illustrations. These are available in print form from participating venues or you can download them to your phone. Follow @leithcreativetrail for all the updates and some groovy content.
Paul Meikle has a new art project; he’s repurposing an old helter skelter from Montgomery Street Park and making a series of artworks from the metal. The helter-skelter in Montgomery Street Park has been a Leith Landmark since its installation in the 1970s. More recently it’s been replaced by a new, more modern slide but the community group, Friends of Montgomery Park, wanted to see the slide put to good use. Originally they had hoped to have the slide repaired and installed somewhere else, but after a £15-20,000 estimate was given, they opened up to other ideas for it.
I approached them suggesting turning the helter-skelter into a series of artworks by dismantling and reassembling the slide. My work heavily features reusing old materials, usually wood from a skip or bits of sheet metal I find lying around, but nothing yet of this scale. Even though it's massive and I’m not entirely sure where I’m currently going to store it, it’s such an interesting project with a lot of history and memories surrounding it. I’m currently in the process of dismantling it, then I’ll start to plan how I’m going to reassemble the parts. The aim is to create unique artworks by welding together different parts of the slide, maintaining its distinctive colours and character and preserving the history and memories surrounding it.I’m creating a series of short videos on Instagram and TikTok keeping people up to date with my progress. After uploading my first video, I had people reaching out to me sharing stories and memories of the slide as a child, I hope to gather loads more stories and photographs and present them alongside the artworks as part of an exhibition. Leith photographer and videographer, Sam McGill, is capturing these stories, as well as the project’s progression, and the footage will be compiled to create a short-form documentary.
Edinburgh Street Art is a community-run observational instagram page; a co-created historical record of Edinburghs’s street art and walls. Currently the page is looking for people to share pics of street art, murals, or graffiti art they come across in the streets. It doesn’t have to be a professional looking photo, and they are just looking for regular people’s observations. Community guidelines can be found here. If you’re interested in being a contributor, reach out to edinburghstreetart@gmail.com
Something interesting to end our November newsletter:
Thank you for reading
If you’d like to stay up to date with more events, jobs and opportunities, do consider following Soapbox on Instagram!
If you have something you would like to share with the community please feel free to email soapboxforcreatives@gmail.com!
We hope to see you at our next event if you’re local, and in the meantime please feel free to share The Soapbox Newsletter if you enjoyed it.
Until next time,
Ellie ✨