So you’ve been planning a trip to Scotland, but you’re not sure what time of year to visit? Why not time your trip to catch one of many Glasgow festivals while you’re there? Glasgow is well known as a city of art, culture, and excellent parties, so it’s the perfect place to take in some art, dance the night away, or even see your favourite author read from their new bestseller.
The city plays host to a huge number of festivals throughout the year, encompassing art, music, comedy, writing and theatre, so whatever your interests, there’ll be an event to suit you!
West End Festival and Glasgow Mela
Date: June
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Glasgow’s West End has long been a centre of art and culture. The area is home to The University of Glasgow, as well as a vibrant music scene and two of the city’s most popular green spaces in the shape of the Botanic Gardens and Kelvingrove Park.
An annual June event that runs for the whole month and now attracts up to 150,000 people, the West End Festival began in 1996 as a small Byres-road centred celebration. Now, both parks and the university host the festival along with this West End high street.
Attractions at the West End Festival are unusually varied. Often, there is a theatrical production, with London’s Globe Theatre even performing Romeo and Juliet in 2006. There is always a carnival-style opening parade and market on the opening Sunday of the event, though, with much of Glasgow’s West End taking part. In addition, the programme includes music of all stripes, exhibitions, street parties, art and literature, and last year even an outdoor ceilidh! There really is something for everyone at this festival, and whether you’re a family group, friends looking for a good time, or a couple on a mini-break, you’re bound to find something suited to your taste.
Glasgow Mela was folded into the West End Festival from 2006. Scotland’s largest multicultural festival is based in Kelvingrove Park, where a series of performances and interactive exhibitions from around the world wow visitors. There is also international street food, and dances from around the world. This is a Glasgow party, though! The annual Mela is meant as a celebration of all the cultures that make up the city.
Celtic Connections
Date:
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Another big hitter on the Glasgow festivals circuit is Celtic Connections. As the name suggests, this festival brings together art, culture and music from around the Celtic world for Glaswegians and visitors to enjoy.
Celtic Connections ranges from academic talks to wild nights out, though it began as a music festival. A January staple, the festival is meant to clear away those winter blues over its 18-day span. The 2019 festival is looking good so far, with John Oates (of Hall & Oates), Judy Collins, and The Dead South already confirmed. There are also nightly ceilidhs at the weekends, often attended by the musicians and performers festival goers enjoyed earlier. And if you’ve not had a dram and danced the Gay Gordons, then a ceilidh is one festival event you can’t be caught missing!
Celtic Connections is largely based in the city centre, with events at the O2 Academy, Royal Concert Hall, and Fruit Market. There are some concerts in venues in the West End, but far fewer. This means travel between shows is easy, and if booked early enough accommodation shouldn’t be a problem.
Glasgow Film Festival
Date: 20 February – 3 March 2019
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One for the film buffs, Glasgow Film Festival was begun in 2005 and has since enjoyed tremendous success, with annual audience figures now regularly surpassing 40,000. In 2017, the festival saw the UK premieres of 45 films, and the programme included hits like I am Not Your Negro and Elle alongside more esoteric events: John Carpenter’s The Thing on an indoor ski slope, anybody?
Glasgow Film Festival is one of the UK’s top three film festivals, and Glasgow itself was recently voted into the top 20 places in the world to visit by National Geographic Traveller. Glasgow, and Scotland as a whole, can be explored from the comfort of the cinema during the Glasgow Film Festival, which is always sure to include Scottish premiers in its lineup. Last year, favourites included Super November, Mad to be Normal (starring David Tennant), and the wonderfully evocative folk-musics documentary, Where You’re Meant to be.
The centre of the festival is the GFT. Scotland’s first independent film theatre is located on Jamaica Street, just off Sauchiehall Street. The beautiful theatre was purpose built in the 1930s and is still going strong, with a year-round programme of classic and contemporary cinema, as well as dementia friendly, autism-friendly and child-friendly shows in its schedule. All of this still goes on during the festival, so get yourself down to the GFT, no matter what it is you’re looking for!
Aye Write! Glasgow’s Book Festival
Date: Mid-late March
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Another more specialised festival, Aye Write! is Glasgow’s number one literary festival. Founded in 2005, the annual spring event spans the breadth of the city, with events at The Mitchell Library, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Tramway, City Halls, CCA, Glasgow Film Theatre and Glasgow University Chapel.
Appropriately for a festival named punnily for a Glasgow expression, that means, roughly, ‘Yeah, as if!’, Aye Write! Features a healthy clutch of comedians and entertainers of all stripes who also write as well as the literary names you would expect. In the past guests have included Alexei Sayle, Kate Tempest and Scottish favourite Alexander Mccall Smith among many others. This autumn, in satellite events that are held throughout the year, top billing goes to Susan Calman and Graham Norton.
Aye Write! is supplemented by the wonderful Wee Write, a festival of children’s lit. This branch of the festival also runs events in schools and holds family days. Perfect for young kids and their bookworm parents!
Aye Write! is an intentionally inclusive festival, with tickets available at libraries throughout the city the insure as many Glaswegians as possible have access to the literary pleasures of its events. It is also very fairly priced, with most events costing between £4 and £10. With prices like that, travellers should be able to see plenty of events, seeing half the city as they do so!
Glasgow International
Date: End of April – beginning of May(18 days)
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As a biennial event, Glasgow International (GI) is a young event. Started in 2005, there have been 7 festivals thus far. And being young, GI is correspondingly cool. Scotland’s contemporary art event uses the city that birthed it as a canvas, with 268 artists taking part in events and exhibitions over 18 days.
Glasgow is a city well known for its art. Macintosh is a city-wide hero, and the art school fires were a tragedy for everyone who lives or has lived there. As an ex-industrial city with a relatively low cost of living, Glasgow has been incubating artists for generations, with more Turner Prize nominees having graduated from the GSA than anywhere else in recent years. Venues in the city range from large international venues like the Gallery of Modern Art, modern creative spaces like the CCA, to commercial galleries like Street Level Photo Works, and small artist-run galleries and studios such as Good Press. There are, additionally, GI shows in outdoor venues, under railway tracks, in charity shops, and even in bars throughout the city.
The whole of Glasgow, in other words, becomes a part of the city’s biennial. Some shows are even held in the artists’ tenement flats!
So, whatever kind of a tourist you want to be, whether you fancy seeing the sights or relaxing like a local, a tour of some of what this wonderful, modern festival has to offer could only enrich your stay.
Southside Fringe Festival
Date: Late May(two weeks)
Another option for seeing some of the ‘real’ Glasgow, and straying off the well-beaten Scottish tourist trail, is the Southside Fringe. The youngest festival on our list, the southside fringe began in 2011 as a way to showcase and expand the cabaret, theatre, music and burlesque of southern Glasgow, specifically focused on Shawlands and Queen’s Park.
These beautiful neighbourhoods have undergone a huge amount of regeneration in the past few years, and now many of the tenements and houses around the large park are inhabited by young families and creative professionals, and the high streets of the area boast independent bars, coffee shops and collectives galore.
In keeping with the spirit of the area, the Southside Fringe is Glasgow’s largest community organised festival. In 2016 the festival consisted of 110 events over nearly 30 venues, an amazing achievement for the community who put it together. Now, after years of work, this eclectic celebration has a homebase in the form of the Govanhill Baths. The swimming pool was closed by the council, but in recent years has had a slow climb back to community relevance as an arts venue run by volunteers and activists.
The Southside Fringe has had so much success it has begun to spill north across the River Clyde, with Kelvingrove Park included as an honorary chuck of the south in 2018. And who can blame the Westenders for wanting to join in? The programme this year included a mac and cheese festival (Pastaval!), a Southside Film Festival, and a Bad Movie Night along with the usual music, theatre, comedy and art.
As always, we’ve been able to include only a small taste of what Glasgow has to offer in this blog. Almost every month of the year there are Glasgow festivals or event happening in this wonderful, lively Scottish city. So what are you waiting for? Get your glad rags packed, book a flight, and get yourself to a Glasgow festival!