WHALE Arts

29/10/2026

Our weekly Coorie In Café sessions are all about taking some time for yourself, finding ways to improve your wellbeing and connecting with others.

It has been lovely to have our fantastic wellbeing coach, Kousar, leading these sessions and creating a welcoming and supportive space for participants. Kousar has been offered a wonderful opportunity and will be moving on from her role here. We've loved having her as part of our team and we wish her all the very best in her new venture.

Our wonderful team of freelance artists are leading our Coorie In Café and will be exploring how different creative tools can support our wellbeing.

Yesterday's session explored neurographic art - a relaxing drawing practice creating spontaneous lines and patterns to help us slow down, focus on movement, quieten the mind and unwind.

Fancy joining us? Pop in to our Coorie In Café, get creative, enjoy a chat and a cuppa!

🎨 Coorie In Café
📆 Every Wednesday
🕙️ 10am - 12pm
📍 WHALE Arts
💛 Free, no need to book. Materials, tea, coffee and biscuits supplied.

28/10/2026

✏️ Creative Writing with Open Book - Join the WHALE Arts Creative Writing Group! 📖

Local writer, Beth, will be leading these gentle, guided creative writing sessions. Whether you love to write or just fancy trying something new, come along for a bit of creativity, a friendly chat and good company!

The sessions will run at WHALE Arts from 10:30am - 12:30pm on the following dates:

📆 Friday 6th November
📆 Friday 4th December
📆 Friday 15th January
📆 Friday 5th February
📆 Friday 5th March

Sessions are free. For adults aged 18+.

To find out more or to book you place, please pop into WHALE Arts and speak to reception, email us at [email protected] or call us on 0131 458 3267.

28/10/2026

A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to our Pay It Forward board. We've had some really lovely donations recently, and we're so grateful to everyone who helps keep it going 💛

If you're popping into our Pod Café and could do with a cuppa or something to eat, then please remember that everything on the board has already been paid for, so if you need a little pick-me-up, then please help yourself.

Our café is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:30am - 2pm.

27/10/2026

❄️ Save the Date ❄️

The WHALE Arts Winter Fayre is on Saturday 28th November, 12pm - 4pm!

🍃 Get creative and cosy with wreath making and winter crafting
🎶 Enjoy live music from Big Noise Wester Hailes
👶 Keep the little ones entertained with fun activities for under 5's with Starcatchers
🪮 Get some top tips from SCOREscotland at their winter hairstyles workshop
🫧 Join in with our festive games
🍵 Enjoy festive treats and hot drinks from our Pod Café
🎁 Browse our craft sale for the perfect handmade gift

Free, no need to book, just come along and join in the fun. Tell your friends, family and neighbours ... everyone is welcome!

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🎨 Poster images created by Artcraft

22/10/2026

📢 Save the Date - WHALE Arts AGM

Come along, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with us, and be part of our AGM.

Hear what we've been up to over the past year, celebrate the achievements, and find out what we've got planned for the year ahead.

Our community meal will run as usual, so stay a little longer, grab a plate and enjoy a delicious free lunch afterwards.

We hope you can join us.

📅 Friday 20th November
☕️ Tea and coffee: 11:30am - 12pm
📒 AGM: 12pm - 1pm
🍽️ Community meal: 1pm - 2pm
📍 WHALE Arts, 30 Westburn Grove, Edinburgh EH14 2SA
🎟️ No booking required

20/10/2026

👀 A little sneak peek at the Wester Hailes Open Exhibition

Join us this Friday and Saturday as we celebrate our incredible creative community with two very special events:

🎉 Opening Celebration 🎉
📆 Friday 23rd October
🕐️ 1pm - 4pm
📍 WHALE Arts, 30 Westburn Grove, Edinburgh, EH14 2SA

Be one of the first to check out the exhibition, make your very own mini masterpiece, and enjoy an extra special community meal (1pm - 2pm) followed by some light refreshments.

🎨 Special Saturday Open Day 🎨
📆 Saturday 24th October
🕚️ 11am - 3pm
📍 WHALE Arts, 30 Westburn Grove, Edinburgh, EH14 2SA

Explore the exhibition, get hands-on with some collaging fun, or create a mini masterpiece! Bring along your family and friends to check out the artwork and get creative together. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.

Everyone is welcome, there's no need to book, admission and activities are free. Creative activities are suitable for all ages, no experience required.

We hope to see you there!

19/10/2026

19/10/2026

Our doors are back open after the half term break and our regular programme for adults and young people is back in full swing!

Here's a glimpse into what we've got going on here at WHALE Arts every week:

Adults programme

🎨 Open Studio
📆 Tuesdays (10:30am - 12:30pm) and Thursdays (1:30pm - 4pm)
➡️ A social and creative drop-in group. Bring along a project you're already working on or use our materials and try something new.

🔨 Makers Club
📆 Wednesdays
🕥️ 10:30am - 1:45pm
➡️ A relaxed group for men who want to meet new people and make things.
Work on your own project or join in with our group activity (e.g. drawing, painting, light woodwork, sculpture). Each session ends with a shared meal provided by us.

🍵 Coorie In Cafe
📆 Wednesdays
🕙️ 10am - 12pm
➡️ Group coaching sessions with our wellbeing coach. For adults living with long-term conditions, disabilities and mental health challenges.

📱 Digital Support Drop-In
📆 Mondays, 1pm - 3pm, at WHALE Arts
📆 Tuesdays, 1pm - 3pm, at The Health Agency
➡️ Need a helping hand with a digital issue - a new device, social media, accessing an online service, or something else? Our Digital Support Drop-In may be what you need.

Youth programme

✏️ Comic Club
📆 Wednesdays
🕓️ 4pm - 6pm
➡️ For young people aged 12 - 16. Learn how to write, draw and create your very own comics, as well cosplay, model-making, animation and more!

🎨 SmARTies Art Club
📆 Fridays
🕜️ 1:30pm - 3pm
➡️ For young people aged 6 - 11. Explore a range of fun art activities, from drawing, painting and sculpture, to animation, photography and textiles.

Anything else?

🥗 Our community meal runs as usual every Friday, 1pm - 2pm, so pop in, grab a plate and enjoy a delicious free lunch.

🎥 Our Local Cinema film screenings are back! Next up: the brilliant 'Inside Out 2' on Friday 30th October at 2:30pm.

🍰 Our Pod Café is open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:30am - 2pm, and is the perfect spot to take a break, and enjoy a tasty treat and a hot drink.

⭐️ We've got heaps more going on and coming up, visit whalearts.co.uk/whats-on to check out our full programme! ⭐️

14/10/2026

Did you know that we run Digital Support Drop-In sessions? Perhaps you're getting to grips with a new device, need help accessing an online service, trying a new social media channel, or something else! These free, relaxed sessions are the perfect place to get the support you need. There's no need to book and no set curriculum, just turn up and raise the topics you're interested in.

📅 Every Monday
🕐 1pm - 3pm
📍 WHALE Arts, 30 Westburn Grove, Edinburgh, EH14 2SA

📅 Every Tuesday
🕐 1pm - 3pm
📍 The Health Agency, 30 Harvesters Way, Edinburgh, EH14 3JF

08/10/2026

We are delighted to introduce Mog, the new Digital Inclusion Lead at WHALE Arts.

Mog has recently joined our team and will be leading our Digital Support Drop-In sessions from Monday 19th October. We asked her a couple of questions to get to know her a little better:

⭐️ What are you looking forward to doing as part of your new role?
I'm looking forward to getting to know the community and helping with the different kinds of things that people want to learn to do on their phones and computers.

⭐️ What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my two kittens, learning kung fu, and performing in the kung fu school lion & dragon dance team. You might see us around in Edinburgh at Chinese new year and the summer parades 🙂

Our Digital Support Drop-In sessions will run on Mondays and Tuesdays. Need a helping hand with a new device? Using social media? Accessing an online service? Or something else? These free, relaxed sessions are the perfect place to get the support you need. There's no need to book and no set curriculum, just turn up and raise the topics you're interested in.

📅 Every Monday
🕐 1pm - 3pm
📍 WHALE Arts, 30 Westburn Grove, Edinburgh, EH14 2SA

📅 Every Tuesday
🕐 1pm - 3pm
📍 The Health Agency, 30 Harvesters Way, Edinburgh, EH14 3JF