For more information on each of the events and details on how to book tickets please visit the Edinburgh International Festival web site. Tickets for all the events £6.

The Edinburgh Showcase 2011 will take place from 22 – 27 August, as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The event is a biennial platform of outstanding UK performance, designed to find opportunities for British artists to tour overseas. This builds new relationships and opens up new markets for the UK’s performing arts sector.

This year the Edinburgh Showcase will embrace the best of digital innovation, reaching a wider audience through a new website and an app for the iPhone app and iPad. The new website will invite users to explore the 27 showcase artists and view video trailers from each of the productions, as well as read blogs and engage through social media.

Information:

Can culture, in all its forms, help us to understand better Scotland's place in the world, as well as addressing the issues that face Scottish and global society?

A panel of cultural commentators, academics and practitioners in the field of 21st century enlightenment will explore those themes in a highly interactive audience discussion.

Whose Heritage, Whose Society

Will take place on Thursday 25 August at The Scottish Parliament 10:30 - 12:00, Committee Room 1. Tickets are free and can be obtained online from the Hub booking office.

Revolutionary protests in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and other countries in the region over recent months have brought about the demise of a number of autocratic regimes. But is this really the beginning of what some have described as the 'Arab Spring'?

As part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival British Council Scotland is supporting two events that will look at the underlying causes and implications of these upheavals.

Revolution in the 21st century: North Africa

In the first of his guest selected series on the theme of revolution in the 21st century, BBC special correspondent and presenter Allan Little will discuss the unfolding historic events with the acclaimed Egyptian author and political commentator, Ahdaf Soueif and distinguished Libyan novelist Hisham Matar whose father was imprisoned in Libya over 20 years ago.

Revolution in the 21st century: The Future of Democracy is a Guardian sponsored debate supported by British Council Scotland. Allan Little will oversee a debate between three leading political and literary figures about how the uprisings of the Arab Spring have been characterised not by religious fervour but by calls for human rights and democracy. It will also look at whether democracies can be established as easily as the protesters might have hoped.

Information:

Palazzo Pisani, Calle de le Erbe
Cannaregio (off Campo Santa Marina) 6103
Venice

Karla Black presents her new show at the Scottish pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale.

This is fifth presentation from Scotland + Venice for the Venice Biennale which opens to the public on 4 June and runs until 27 November 2011