Hidden Door

Two weekends ago the Roxy Art House staged its second Hidden Door Festival, the first of which took place in January. Those that saw the first Hidden Door might remember it for its remarkable energy and artistic variety. This second festival – hosting 40 bands, 60 artists and 20 poets over three days – was even more impressive in its scale and eclectic combination of creative disciplines.

As with the earlier Festival, the event was split over all three floors of the Roxy Art House, making full and imaginative use of the building. The top floor was converted into ‘The Garden’, a space turfed with real grass and devoted to art installations and videos; the bottom floor staged poetry readings and a second arts installation area labelled ‘impossible interactions’; the central hall housed five separate music stages, which at the close of the festival were used by five bands simultaneously.

An effective addition to the programme this year was the inclusion of performance art pieces between music sets, further blurring the line between the disciplines. Also notable were the built stages, which themselves were worthy of artistic merit.

The impressiveness of this festival was a clear testament to the health of the arts scene in Edinburgh. As such it was sad and unexpected news to hear that the Roxy Art House has recently closed, owing to financial difficulty with the charity that supports the building. The organisers have expressed their hope that the building will soon be able to re-open as an arts space . Those concerned about the arts in Edinburgh must surely share their sentiment, and hope that this particular door is not closed for too long.