Edinburgh’s Mela stages a comeback as week-long festival

● Event returns 12 months after it was abandoned amid funding cut

The Edinburgh Mela is being brought back from the dead and turned into a week-long festival – 12 months after it was abandoned when its funding was axed due to behind-thescenes turmoil.

The city council and Creative Scotland have agreed to fund a reboot of the festival after an overhaul of its board, who were accused of sabotaging the event last year by its last director, Chris Purnell, in a damning letter of resignation.

He warned the event was on the “brink of catastrophe” due to a breakdown of trust between the staff and the board. Mr Purnell claimed the event was being “destroyed from within”.

Police and the charity regulator were called in to investigate complaints made about the running of Scotland’s biggest celebration of world music and dance.

Edinburgh’s former lord provost Lesley Hinds is heading a rescue bid for the newlook Mela, with events staged in venues across Leith. The programme, from 26 August until 3 September, will end with a two-day outdoor event on Leith Links, which will

0 The Mela will feature events at several venues across Leith be smaller than in previous years.

Literature, dancing, film, visual arts and community choir workshops are being held in the run-up to the Leith Links event, which will be free for the first time in years.

Ms Hinds said: “There was a lot of disappointment when the event did not happen last year. The Mela was always an event that brought all the different communities of Edinburgh together. We’re trying to get a spread of acts and performers that reflect all the different cultures in Edinburgh.

“It is about celebrating thefactedinburghisareally international city, but it’s also about breaking down barriers that might exist.”