Previous events at Birnam Arts

Cafe

Located in the heart of Birnam Arts, our café is the meeting place and gathering space for everyone, from local friendly faces to new visitors from far and wide.

Opening times

Daily | 10 - 4

Highlights

The food scene in Dunkeld and Birnam is becoming a go-to for food lovers and we're proud to be part of the that story.

This is a lovely light and welcoming building with a cafe and library during the day and some really excellent concerts and shows of all genres mostly in the evening. It's an intimate space but with capacity for several hundred people and tends to be competitively priced. It relies on volunteer support and is an excellent community hub.

Katharine Preedy   |   Google Reviews

Shop

Our Shop has a unique selection of gifts sourced both locally and from throughout Scotland. With a range of design, jewellery and craft items there’s a little something for everyone. We also stock the largest range of Beatrix Potter merchandise in the country.

Opening times

Daily | 10:30 - 15:30

Highlights

We pride ourselves in supporting emerging and established makers alongside contemporary brands such as Harris Tweed, and offer a range of books on Perthshire, as well as V&A Stationery and gifts for the wee ones.

The Birnam Book Festival Committee were so pleased with how the new facilities in the Auditorium added to an extremely professionally presented event. The lighting allowed us to create staging to match the country’s leading book festival events, such as we’ve seen in Edinburgh.

Fiona Ritchie   |   Birnam Book Festival 2022

Gallery

Birnam Arts delivers a programme of monthly exhibitions showing work by artists at varying stages of their careers within both solo and group exhibitions.

Highlights

We continually develop new opportunities to support the practice and development of Scottish based artists, whilst also bringing work that is inspiring, creative and different to the contemporary art scene in rural Perthshire.

We had not planned to present a hybrid festival, however that changed when one of our main authors tested positive for Covid. I greatly appreciated how the team worked with us to pivot and present remotely in part, making full use of your enhanced video conferencing equipment. As a result, we were able to deliver quite complex events with several elements all showing on screen simultaneously. The audio-visual quality was excellent, and our audiences were delighted that these events could still go ahead, in spite of Covid. The author in question was really pleased that he could join us on screen and remarked that he had not been so well supported in this way at any other festival.

Fiona Ritchie   |   Birnam Book Festival 2022

Studios

Located upstairs of the original Victorian part of Birnam Arts, our Visual Arts and Performing Arts studios are where much of the creative magic at Birnam Arts takes place.

We really enjoy visiting the Arts Centre when we are walking in the Birnam area, and our family loved the Puppet show at Christmas.

Anne Stuart   |   Crowdfunder #savebirnamarts 2020

Auditorium

At the heart of Birnam Arts is a highly versatile space, otherwise known as the John Kinnaird Hall, our home for live music, film, theatre, public meetings, conferences and private events.

Highlights

Spacious Hall, New Tech

Have always enjoyed BA whether for coffee or concerts. I look forward to many more years of enjoyment.

Rebecca Forbes   |   Crowdfunder #savebirnamarts 2020

Beatrix Potter

Within this dedicated space celebrating Beatrix Potter, her much loved characters and historical ties to the area, there is something for both kids and adults alike.

Opening times

Daily | 10:30 - 15:30

I have enjoyed taking part in events such as Scots Opera before we came to live in the area. Since then we have enjoyed both attending events and the splendid cafe In the foyer. It is a brilliant example of a local/regional community arts initiative and must not be allowed to falter.

Christopher D Morris   |   Crowdfunder #savebirnamarts 2020