Hidden Door has unveiled the dates for its festival at The Paper Factory in 2025 and promises an intriguing programme that centres on buildings as myths. While the main festival will take place from Wednesday 11–Sunday 15 June, the site will also be transformed into a creative hub featuring studio, workshop and community spaces throughout the year. A limited release of tickets is available now. 

An open call for creative collaborations on the space will open soon with creatives now being invited to register their interest in being involved in the 2025 programme. 

Jill Martin Boualaxai, creative lead, said, ‘Our 2025 festival program, titled “The Building As A Myth", invites artists to collaboratively develop ambitious multidisciplinary projects. 

‘Guided by the overarching concepts of transformation and reclamation, time and memory, rituals and new narratives, and feminisation and reimagining the space, the programme encourages exploration of how industrial spaces can be reclaimed by nature, layered with temporal narratives, and reimagined as inclusive, symbolic environments.

‘An open call will welcome submissions across various disciplines, including visual art, dance, moving image, spoken word, music and performance, inviting work that resonates with these themes. With access to The Paper Factory for the whole of 2025, we have a unique opportunity to collaborate, experiment, and fully engage with the building’s unique history and character, promising an immersive multi-arts experience for our audience.’

A 15.5-acre site occupied by the former Saica paper and cardboard manufacturing facility on the western edge of Edinburgh, The Paper Factory in Maybury features a mixture of warehouses, factory floors, offices and outhouses.

We paid a visit to the venue before the launch party in November, and found an expansive space filled with open areas, interlocking rooms and hideaway hubs that call to mind the most memorable Door venues of the past decade. 

Hazel Johnson, festival director of Hidden Door, said, 'We were delighted to open up a small section of The Paper Factory for our venue launch event, giving audiences a first glimpse of our new home.

'We’re now looking ahead to 2025, and over the coming months the transformation will continue, opening up more of the vast industrial site and filling every corner with our most ambitious programme yet. 

‘In the lead up to the festival we'll also be creating workshop, studio, rehearsal and community spaces to make the most of this amazing space.

‘We exist to support the creative community and to connect audiences with emerging artists, and this latest venue will be at the heart of delivering that in 2025. We look forward to welcoming you to The Paper Factory.’

Hidden Door, The Paper Factory, Edinburgh, Wednesday 11–Sunday 15 June.