School children in red jumpers colouring on a table

Our Work with Children & Families

Learning and Engagement

Our Work with Children & Families

We present a number of year-round creative projects that engage children in school years up to Primary 7 with music, theatre, opera, visual art, literacy, and health and wellbeing.

Young Music Pass

A group of children dressed in their school uniforms watch a performance of Dido's Ghost at Edinburgh Academy Junior School

A performance of Dido's Ghost at Edinburgh Academy Junior School

© Jess Shurte

Discover a world of classical music for free.

Every year some of the world’s finest musicians, orchestras and ensembles come to perform in Edinburgh at the International Festival. With a Young Music Pass, you can see them for free!

From world-class orchestras at the Usher Hall, to breathtaking soloists, singers and instrumentalists at The Queens Hall, the International Festival’s classical music programme has something for everyone. Every year we give away hundreds of free concert tickets to local young people, so why not take up the opportunity to experience the best classical music from around the world on your doorstep?

Learn more

Play On: Stages

A group of children play on an outdoor stage at Hermitage Park Primary School

Pupils from Hermitage Park Primary School enjoying the stage built in their playground as part of the Play On: Stages project

© Ryan Buchanan

In place of the stages left empty in August 2020, when the International Festival was cancelled in a live sense and moved online, our Play On: Stages project has seen outdoor stages built in the playgrounds of four primary schools in Edinburgh. Built in consultation with teachers and pupils, stage structures were gifted to Hermitage Park Primary, Leith Primary, Lorne Primary and St Mary’s RC Primary (Leith), and were designed to bring theatricality to the schools, supporting young people to play, perform and learn outdoors.

Alongside each structure the International Festival has provided a number of online resources and a programme of engagement activities to support creativity and learning. This has included a story creation workshop with performers Ruxy Cantir and Sarah Rose Graber, and a heroes workshop with comic book creator Etienne Kubwabo.

More information on the stages and our full Play On: Stages resource can be found here.

Previous Projects

Image gallery

A gallery carousel of 12 items

An aerial view of a church hall, with children seated in a semi circle facing a piano.

Primary 7 pupils participating in our Art of Listening workshops

© Credit : Ryan Buchanan
Children laid on black mats on a modern floor, taken from a birds eye view

Pupils participating in the focused listening exercise as part of Art of Listening

© Credit : Ryan Buchanan
A group of school pupils stand facing a woman who is leading them in a singing exercise.

Singing exercises for P7 pupils as part of Art of Listening

© Credit : Ryan Buchanan
A girl in school uniform hangs a colourful telegram up on a string hanging from a classroom wall.

A pupil from Corstorphine Primary School hanging up a telegram she had designed as part of our Five Telegrams Schools Project to support the Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event: Five Telegrams in 2018

© 2018 Credit : Ian Georgeson
A boy in school uniform holds a piece of paper in front of his face to cut shapes out of it..

Pupils creating their artwork as part our Soul Boxes project for Primary 6 pupils

© 2017 Credit : Mihaela Bodlovic
Children and adults jump in the air copying teachers at the front of a class, held in a large hall.

Dancers from Cas Public delivering a family workshop in support of their show 9 presented at the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival

© 2019 Credit : L&E Team
Two girls stand either side of a man at the side of Tynecastle Park, each smiling and holding up large yellow cardboard stars with their names written on them.

Pupils showing off the stars they created as part of our Heart of Hollywood project in connection with the Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event: La Phil at Tynecastle

© Credit : Ryan Buchanan
Two boys sit at their desks in a primary school classroom, with colourful pictures on the walls and the teacher standing in the background.

Pupils from Tollcross Primary School participating in our Heart of Hollywood workshops that explored film and orchestra through music making and visual art

© 2019 Credit : Ryan Buchanan
Four children look at paper cut-outs under a large projector

Pupils from Trinity Primary School animating their stories as part of our My Festival, My Story workshop that explored storytelling in support of 1927’s Roots, presented at the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival

© 2019 Credit : Ryan Buchanan
A boy holds up scissors and a paper cutout as a woman and girl look on smiling.

Pupils from Trinity Primary School creating characters for their animations as part of My Festival, My Story, a project connected to 1927’s Roots presented at the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival

© 2019 Credit : Ryan Buchanan
A group of four people standing in a park hold up colourful poster designs for the Virgin Money Fireworks Concert.

Winners of the 2019 Virgin Money Fireworks Concert Poster Competition with Arlene and Boogie from Forth One

© 2019 Credit : Ryan Buchanan
Photo of the audience and stage in Princes Street Gardens, with Edinburgh Castle in the background

Primary 7 pupils from across Edinburgh enjoy the Scottish Chamber Orchestra performing in Princes Street Gardens for the Virgin Money Schools Concert 2019

© 2019 Credit : Ryan Buchanan
String musicians play in library with audience out of focus at the front of the image

Our work with Communities

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Three school teenagers looking at technical equipment and smiling

Our Work with Young People

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Group of three adults rehearing and holding scripts while sat on in a rehearsal room

Our work with Creative Development

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