Sketchy Beats Cafe

Sketchy Beats Cafe Non-profit community arts space,
Pay-as-you-feel practice room downstairs. Opening hours depend on bookings! BYOB, donation-based.
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Send us a message or book online:
https://sites.google.com/view/sketchy-beats/home Sketchy Beats Café is a not-for-profit arts café and event space on Great Junction Street, Leith. The space is an open platform for creatives of any kind to use and share their ideas with the public. The concept started off as an experimental life drawing event, incorporating a live musician, a dancer, a nude model

and a live DJ set. This took place once a month in the basement of Yellow Bench on Leith Walk. As this event gained popularity, money was raised through crowdfunding to create a community space where creative events like this could happen every night. Since the café opened in October 2015, members of the local community have organized all kind of events in the café: live hip-hop nights, art exhibitions, poetry slams, live music jams, climate change discussions, life drawing sessions, craft fairs and charity fundraiser gigs, to name a few. The space is designed to be affordable and accessible to everyone - people who have never organized events before, musicians who have never played outside their own bedroom, artists who have never exhibited before. The café aims to be a space where creativity brings the community together, without money being an obstacle. The space is available for anyone in the community to organize their own events, parties and workshops. If you are interested in using the space, just message the Sketchy Beats Café page with your idea and a suggested date and time!

*Update*

We now have a pay-as-you-feel practice / live stream room downstairs! Max 6 people to allow for adequate space between band members. To book the room, message the page :)

18/02/2025

Reasons to be in Leith this Friday




This Friday we have a diverse, multi-genre fundraiser hosted by .ginger.nomad. It's on from 4-11pm, suggested donation i...
18/02/2025

This Friday we have a diverse, multi-genre fundraiser hosted by .ginger.nomad. It's on from 4-11pm, suggested donation is £5-10. You can BYOB or help yourself to a tea or coffee (for a small donation) ❤️

Tomorrow evening 🎤
18/02/2025

Tomorrow evening 🎤

Wednesday 19th Feb . . . . . . . . .

Sign-up from 7pm

BYOB - Entry By Donation

15/02/2025

Dune! The Musical is eligible for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form 🎭

Be part of the best Dune joke in the known Universe; include Dune! The Musical in your Hugo Nominations ❤️🪱🤺🚀

Voting closes march 14th, winners announced in August at WorldCon in Seattle 🤞

09/02/2025

Closing tomorrow! The Neverending Glen open call for artists 👀

Amongst the sun-dappled foliage, the rushing river and rustling trees of the glen, we host an immersive pop-up gallery of site-specific works that respond to their natural surroundings.

We've seen all disciplines and mediums, from sculpture to textiles and performance art. To apply to be featured, send us your proposals by the end of tomorrow.

More info & apply: https://opportunities.creativescotland.com/opportunity/index/c476a50f-dfac-4eab-8e6c-cf8b8bc1f35e

08/02/2025

Just over 2 weeks to go until I grace the decks at Sketchy Beats Cafe Leith 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 playing my faster, energetic signature style of trance 🔥🎧🎧🔥
There's been a change to the line-up, unfortunately DBKM is unable to attend so Gemma Gemmgemm Mckeown has stepped in under her Cemmo alias to make her Sketchys debut!!
We've had a recent spike in ticket sales but there is still spaces left at only £6 via the link in the comments below. This is a quality we intimate venue and has a really good atmosphere, alongside some stacked talent, I'm really looking forward to playing out this one. 🔥🔥🎧🎧🙌🙌🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

06/02/2025

Throw back to our first ever headline set back in 2019 when the fine folks at Sketchy Beats Cafe invited us to be the featured act at the Thursday night jam session.

Up until this point we'd done a few 25 to 30 minute support slots, and if you've ever seen us live you'll know that's enough time for about 4 tunes haha.

This night however we got to play for 1.5 hrs then got to jam with some of the best musicians in Edinburgh until we left with slightly bleary eyes and massive smiles at about 10am the next day.

Big up this amazing place and all they've done for us and so many other creatives!
SKETCHY BEATS FOR LIFE 🤘🦄🤘

We're also playing this Sunday 9th Feb with brothers in riff Dunes and Acidsaurus B**g
At Bannermans Bar Come along for a boogie to some filthy grooves.

Tomorrow evening!
04/02/2025

Tomorrow evening!

Wednesday 5th February

Sad Song Club @ Sketchy Beats Cafe

BYOB // Entry by Donation

Sign up at 7pm for 7.30 start

Sad songs
Weird poems
Short, miserable little stories

Badges

Let's Sad

03/02/2025

A four day explosion of arts and culture in the grounds and estate of Kelburn Castle. A Music Arts Festival like no other.

If you live or work in Leith, please take a moment to vote for our funding application! We would like to start offering ...
21/01/2025

If you live or work in Leith, please take a moment to vote for our funding application! We would like to start offering regular art classes, free of charge, for anyone to attend. These will be fully tutored by local artists and all materials will be provided.

Online voting is open until February 3rd. You can read our application and cast your vote here:

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/voteleithchooses

(1) Edna, setting up our stall at the event on Saturday
(2-3)Testimonials from people who have been coming to our monthly classes, taught by Graeme
(4-7) Photos of last week's class, taken by Graeme's niece Eilidh

18/01/2025

Today’s the day!! Please pop into the Leith Community Centre in the Kirkgate, from 12, to meet up with all
sorts of fun people, and to vote for your top Leith charities/community groups. Free refreshments, kids welcome, free face painting.

Address

208 Great Junction Street
Edinburgh
EH65LW

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Videos

Open jams on the Sketchy Beats Stage // Kelburn Garden Party 2024 Captured by @craft.punk.cookie / @naomisfunhouse #sketchybeats #jam #kelburn #femalevocalists

When @butterbeys invited every drummer in the audience to join them up on stage... Sketchy Beats Stage // Kelburn Garden Party 2024 📽 @steviebeegoodmusic #butter #jam #scottishfestival #drummer #kelburn #kelburncastle #newmusic #sketchybeats

This was such a beautiful jam - more and more vocalists kept joining in and sitting together on the edge of the stage. Kelburn, thank you for having us! #sketchybeats #openjam #kelburn #kelburngardenparty #femalerapper #femalevocalist

@daraplaysharp put on an amazing show at @legendsedinburgh this weekend! You can catch the full band on the @sketchybeats stage at @kelburnparties next week - Friday at 5pm 🌳 #harp #edinburgh #kelburn #sketchybeats

Fish and the Kelpies performing on our stage at @kelburnparties last year! You can catch them again this year, Sunday at 4pm 🐠🐎 #kelburn #sketchybeats #fishandthekelpies

Just over two weeks until @kelburnparties! You'll find the Sketchy Beats stage running from 12-9pm each day, by the Monument, in the @neverendingglen 🌳 Thanks to @chattypatter for putting this reel together 👌 #scottishfestival #scottishcastle #festivalseason #music #jam #localartist #supportlocal

Thanks @elfwasted for capturing some moments from last week's jam 🎷 #jamsession #sketchybeats #leith #artspace

Here's a clip of Finnish fingerpicking guitarist Kadonnut Manner, performing at Sketchy Beats two nights ago... @kadonnutmanner kadonnutmanner.bandcamp.com/ www.kadonnutmanner.fi #fingerpicking #fingerpickingguitar #finland #acoustic #acousticguitar #sketchybeats #leith #edinburgh

@kryss_talmeth in the @sketchybeats tent last year at @kelburnparties - you can catch them again this year, headlining our stage on the Friday! Find us next to the Monument, in the @neverendingglen... #festivalseason #scottishfestival #kelburn #alternativerock #scottishband

Jamming by a sketchy stream... @hatcheyb @rastaviking420 @the_rhubarb_goblin #jam #leith #edinburgh #saxophone #guitar #bass #waterofleith #sketchybeats

Acoustic Jam led by Laura Silverstone @laurasilverstonemusic #acoustic #guitar #cajon #saxophone #jamsession #leith #edinburgh

That time Lewis Capaldi played in our basement... Filmed by Louise Duffy #lewiscapaldi #acoustic #leith #sketchybeats #capaldi

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Sketchy Beats Cafe is a not-for-profit arts cafe on Great Junction Street, Leith. The space is an open platform for creatives of any kind to use and share their ideas with the public. The concept started off as an experimental life drawing event, incorporating a live musician, a dancer, a n**e model and a live DJ set. This took place once a month in the basement of Yellow Bench, a Polish Bistro on Leith Walk. As this event gained popularity, we raised the money through crowdfunding to create a community space where creative events like this could happen every night. Since the cafe opened in October 2015, members of the local community have organized all kind of events in the cafe: live hip-hop nights, art exhibitions, poetry slams, live music jams, DJ showcases, climate change discussions, life drawing sessions, craft fairs, charity fundraisers, birthday parties and much more. The space is designed to be affordable and accessible to everyone - people who have never organized events before, musicians who have never played outside their own bedroom, artists who have never exhibited before. The cafe aims to be a space where creativity brings the community together, without money being an obstacle. The space is available for anyone to organize their own events, parties and workshops, from the early evening into the small hours. If you are interested in using the space, just message the Sketchy Beats Cafe page with your idea and a suggested date and time.