KINDLING HOPE is the broad theme of the Solas Festival 2023, which gathers in Errol Park, Perthshire, Scotland, this weekend, running from 4pm on Friday 16 June through to 6pm on Sunday 18 June. Once again, Ekklesia is delighted to be a sponsor of this exciting and energising event.
As usual, the festival will feature music, talks and discussions, literature, the arts, storytelling, children’s and family activities, spirituality and wellbeing. The full programme and schedule can be viewed here.
Ekklesia director Simon Barrow will be interviewing Edinburgh North and Leith MSP Ben Macpherson about ‘Kindling Hope in Politics’ at 1.30pm on Sunday 18th June. Ben has held a number of Scottish Government ministerial posts in recent years, most recently playing a key role in implementing Scotland’s new social security system. He has recently returned to the backbenches at Holyrood and has been writing and speaking about the need to change the style and ethos of politics.
On the overall theme, Festival chair Frank Strang says: “So many people are facing tough times right now. There is a climate crisis and a making-ends-meet crisis, and there’s a war on. I also think there are crises in our churches and, more broadly, in our public conversations. We have decided to focus at Solas less on these crises themselves and more on how we can kindle hope both in and through them. For the first time we intend to capture what emerges from the festival to see if we can bring a little more hope to others.”
* More about the Solas Festival
* The full programme can be downloaded here
* Follow Solas as it unfolds on Twitter: #SolasFestival and #Solas2023