Picturehouses Toddler Time – today with The Teapot Trust! Short screenings exclusively for pre-school children and their parents and carers. Today’s film is The Hive, Programme 5 (U): join Buzzbee and his friends in their fun-packed adventures. Every day brings something new for the little bee as he explores the world around him with best pals Barnabee, Debee, Jaspar the wasp, and his sister Rubee. As an extra today, The Teapot Trust, an Edinburgh-based charity providing art therapy for children with chronic illnesses, will be offering fun arts and crafts activities after the film. 
11am, Cameo, Home Street. Tickets cost £3 for children, free for accompanying adults, and may be purchased from the Box Office in person, by calling 0871 902 5723 or online. No adult unaccompanied by a toddler will be admitted.
WHALE Arts Jewellery Making: a free drop-in session for ages 8+. 10am-12 noon, WHALE Arts, 30 Westburn Grove. All welcome!
Pentland Hills Regional Park Wildflower Meadow Survey: help survey the wildflowers at Bavelaw Marsh, located within a Site of Specific Scientific Interest. Bring sturdy footwear and waterproofs! 1.30-3.30pm, Threipmuir Car Park, Balerno EH14 7JT. Booking is essential: please contact Pentland Hills Regional Park HQ, Hermitage of Braid, 69a Braid Road, tel: 0131 529 2401. Free.
Guided Tour of the National Library: a tour of the building and an introduction to the Library’s collections and history. 2pm, National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge. Booking is essential and may be made by calling 0131 623 3734 or online here.
Record Breakers: Larry Potty’s Animal Rhymes. For ages 4-7. 2.30pm, Oxgangs Library, Oxgangs Road North. Please book by calling the library on 0131 529 5549.
Grassmarket Community Cinema: Crash (15). The powerful story of Los Angeles citizens with vastly different lives colliding in an interweaving story of race, loss and redemption. An incredible ensemble cast (including Sandra Bullock and Matt Dillon), give some almost uncomfortably brave performances of bigotry and racism. ‘A raw and unsettling morality piece on modern angst and urban disconnect’ (Rotten Tomatoes). 7pm, Grassmarket Community Project, 86 Candlemaker Row. All welcome; free – donations to the Project also very welcome. The cafe will be open – please use it!
On The Beach: free sports and beach games every day this week for children aged 5+. Led by qualified coaches and youth workers, with drinks and fruit provided. 2-4pm, meet on the beach in front of Portobello Swim Centre, 57 Promenade (corner of Belfield Street), Portobello. Also at same times on Tuesday 4th, Wednesday 5th, Thursday 6th and Friday 7th August.
Open Eye Gallery: New Exhibitions – (1) John Bellany: The Capercaillie’s Song. Works selected by Helen Bellany reveal a personal view of her journey as John Bellany’s lifelong muse and inspiration, brought to life through key works from the family collection; (2) Joanne Thompson: Weave. Celebrating Joanne Thompson’s 20th year as a maker, this exhibition showcases new wearable sculptural forms which balance elements of 3D visual art and contemporary jewellery. 10am-6pm Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm Saturdays, Open Eye Gallery, Abercromby Place. Both exhibitions end 2nd September 2015.
New Town and Broughton Community Council Meeting: this month’s meeting will include a Q & A session with Julian Farrar and Janet Pope of Ironside Farrar Design Consultants on design principles for George Street. They have set up a focus group of key stakeholders – including NTBCC – to formulate design principles. 7.30pm, Drummond Room, Broughton St Mary’s Church, Bellevue Crescent. All local residents welcome: if you have an issue you wish to raise, please use the contact form on the NTBCC’s website to give them advance notice.
EICC’s InnovationNation – Arts: Kath M Mainland CBE, Chief Executive Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, and Fergus Linehan, Festival Director and Chief Executive, Edinburgh International Festival, will talk on two of the world’s biggest festivals. There will be refreshments and an opportunity for networking after the talks. 6pm, Edinburgh International Conference Centre, The Exchange. Free tickets may be obtained via eventbrite here. The InnovationNation series is a programme of themed seminars, open to the public, with a line-up of inspirational speakers.
Personal Organiser: get ready for the start of a new term by making your own fridge magnet organiser – never forget your homework deadlines, trips and invitations! With Margaret Lowrey. 2.30-4pm, Museum of Edinburgh, Huntly House, 142 Canongate. Tickets cost £4 and must be booked in advance via the Usher Hall Box Office, in person, by calling 0131 228 1155 or online here. Please note that these workshops are intended for children and adults to experience together; children must be accompanied by at least one paying adult, and no child should be booked into a workshop alone.
Picturehouses Culture Shock: bringing you the best in cult and genre films. Today’s film is The Breakfast Club (15) – when five very different high school students are forced to spend a Saturday together in detention, they find themselves interacting with and understanding each other for the first time – but will they still speak to each other when they return to classes? John Hughes’ ‘true teen classic with timeless appeal’. 9pm, Cameo, Home Street. Tickets may be purchased from the Box Office in person, by calling 0871 902 5723 or online; prices vary.
Working with Artists: Julie-Ann Delaney, Curator, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, will give a tour of two new displays featuring specially commissioned works by contemporary artists Michael Fullerton and Julie Favreau. Both rooms form part of the REFLECTIONS exhibition and have been produced as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival. Ms Delaney will also talk more widely about the ways in which the gallery works with living artists. 12.45-1.30pm, First Floor, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art ONE, Belford Road. Free and unticketed.
St Mary’s Cathedral Phoebe Anna Traquair Song School Murals Tours: painted between 1888 and 1892, Traquair’s acclaimed murals, restored in 1998, illustrate the canticle Benedicite omnia opera. Showing the pre-Raphaelite influence, they are a moving expression of faith. 11am or 12 noon, today and Monday to Saturday throughout August (except 19th August) St Mary’s Cathedral (meet at Cathedral entrance), Palmerston Place. Free.
South Queensferry Creative Writing Group: a friendly group suitable for complete beginners – all you need to bring are your writing materials! 6.30pm tonight and the first Monday of every month, South Queensferry Library, Shore Road. For more information please email shirley.bell@edinburgh.gov.uk.
Blackwell’s Edinburgh Presents The Monthly Book Quiz: if you know your Waugh from your Peace and your Meyer from your Heyer, try Blackwell’s book quiz, with questions on anything from classics to current bestsellers, Booker Prize winners and celebrity biographies. Teams of up to 5 people can take part. 6-7.15pm, Caffe Nero, Blackwell’s, South Bridge. Free and unticketed, but please arrive early as space is limited.
Portrait Gallery: Daily Highlight Tours. Discover more about the history of the building and explore highlights from the collection with a curator, educator or gallery attendant. 3-3.30pm today and every day until 28th August 2015, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street. Free but numbers are limited to 15 per tour, so please book your place at the Portrait Gallery information desk.
Poetry at The Sutton Gallery: Graham Foust, Jane Goldman and Innua Ellams read from their work. 7pm, The Sutton Gallery, 18a Dundas Street. Free and unticketed.
LGBT Police Surgery: seek advice, raise concerns around safety issues, report incidents or discuss policing in your area with an officer from Police Scotland. No appointment needed for this informal session, which is held within the weekly Drop-in. 6.30-7.30pm (Drop-in runs 5.30-8pm), LGBT Health & Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. For advice around safety issues or to arrange an appointment with Police Scotland outwith surgery times, please contact George Burrows on 0131 652 3281 or george@lgbthealth.org.uk.
Celtic Summer School: Celtic Storytelling. Renowned storyteller David Campbell takes you into the heart of Celtic tradition and the ceilidh spirit – experience the sources and skills of traditional storytelling. 11am, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street. Tickets cost £7/£5 and may be purchased in person, by calling the Box Office on 0131 556 9579 or online here. The Celtic Summer School runs until 7th August 2015; you can buy tickets for individual events, or save money with a day or weekly pass – see the Centre’s website for details.
Andrea Popyordanova, Viktoriya Staykova and Mark Connolly: A Circus of Lakes. A new exhibition of paintings. Launch tonight with refreshments, 7.30pm, Sofi’s, Henderson Street, then during usual opening hours. Ends 13th August 2015.
Celtic Summer School: Norse Influence on Scottish Culture. Talk about ‘Viking raiders’ has obscured the long-lasting and fruitful interchange between Scotland and Scandinavia. Learn more about our Norse inheritance with Stuart McHardy. 1pm, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street. Tickets cost £6/£4 and may be purchased in person, by calling the Box Office on 0131 556 9579 or online here. The Celtic Summer School runs until 7th August 2015; you can buy tickets for individual events, or save money with a day or weekly pass – see the Centre’s website for details.
Celtic Summer School: Scotland’s Democracy Trail Walk. Follow the gripping story of Scotland’s democratic development on a walk with Jean Bareham from Calton Hill to the Scottish Parliament. 2.30pm, Scottish Storytelling Centre (starts), 43-45 High Street. Tickets cost £9/£7 and may be purchased in person, by calling the Box Office on 0131 556 9579 or online here. The Celtic Summer School runs until 7th August 2015; you can buy tickets for individual events, or save money with a day or weekly pass – see the Centre’s website for details.
Sofi’s Cult Movie Mondays: popular classics on the silver screen in Sofi’s cosy darkened back room. Free popcorn! Tonight’s film is The Commitments (12): Jimmy Rabbitte, a self-proclaimed promoter, decides to organise an R & B group to fill the musical void in Dublin. Based on the novel by Roddy Doyle. 8pm, Sofi’s, Henderson Street.
The Art of Giving: a charity art exhibition in support of International Voluntary Service. 10am-4pm, Undercroft Cafe, St Andrew’s & St George’s West Church, 13 George Street. Ends 29th August 2015. There will be an Opening Gala on Saturday 8th August, 3-7pm.
