Glasgow - Scotland with style and culture

Almost twenty years after the prestigious accolade catapulted it into the cultural limelight, Glasgow’s current vibrant arts scene demonstrates that the city’s creativity is a continuum.

Still home to the national performing arts organisations Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet, Glasgow is also blazing an internationally acclaimed trail in contemporary art, design and music.

No fewer than two Turner Prize winners (Douglas Gordon, Simon Starling); four Turner Prize nominees (Christine Borland, Phil Collins, Nathan Coley, Jim Lambie) and three Beck’s Futures winners (Roderick Buchanan, Rosalind Nashashibi, Toby Paterson) have hailed from, trained in, or worked out of the city in recent years.

Innovative spaces such as the CCA on Sauchiehall Street (cca-glasgow.com), Tramway on Glasgow’s South Side (tramway.org) and The Lighthouse in Mitchell Lane (thelighthouse.co.uk ) are just some of the cutting-edge venues at the very epicentre of the city’s creativity with their year-round programmes of thought provoking events and exhibitions.

Independent, artist-run galleries like Transmission (transmissiongallery.org); Mary Mary (marymarygallery.co.uk ); Sorcha Dallas (sorchadallas.com ) and the ‘culturepreneurs’ at the Modern Institute (themoderninstitute.com) all punch well above their weight in helping to put Glasgow on the world art map.

Glasgow’s Studio Warehouse (SWG3) in the city’s Yorkhill district is a multi-discipline arts and education centre dedicated to the development and promotion of the arts in Glasgow. It offers a series of open plan studios for rent to local artists on a temporary or permanent basis and among the visual artists currently using space within the three-storey warehouse are those specialising in painting, photography, sculpture, film/video and graphic design, Swg3.tv.

The diversity of Glasgow’s contemporary music scene is also extraordinary. Time Magazine described the city as ‘Europe’s secret capital of music’ while the 2008 edition of Make the Most of Your Time on Earth: A Rough Guide to the World cites that ‘Scotland’s biggest city has an alternative rock pedigree that few can match’.

Whether it is music, contemporary visual art or design Glasgow’s creative energy continues to flourish with a passion that make it one of Europe’s most exciting cities to visit. Here are just a few of the must-sees for 2008:

VISUAL ARTS
• Glasgow Film Festival (14 – 24 February)
The fourth Glasgow Film Festival will run from St Valentine’s Day until February 24 and is now the UK’s fastest growing film festival. Over eleven days the Festival will screen over 100 films in four city centre venues. With special star guests plus gala screenings of some of 2008’s most hotly anticipated films and glamorous events the Glasgow Film Festival is a not to be missed cinematic extravaganza! glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk

• Glasgow Art Fair (27 – 30 March)
Since its inception in 1996 the Glasgow Art Fair held in custom-built pavilions in the city’s George Square has grown to become the largest and most prestigious event of its kind in the UK outside London. Now approaching its 13th year, the Glasgow Art Fair brings together over 50 selected galleries and arts organisations from throughout the UK and overseas to ensure the widest range of contemporary art.

Representing work from over a thousand artists and attracting collectors, occasional buyers and art enthusiasts, the Glasgow Art Fair is the best place to buy, sell and discover art in Scotland. For further information visit glasgowartfair.com

• The Gi Festival 2008 – A Cultural Safari (11-27 April)
Celebrating Glasgow’s acclaimed contemporary visual arts, The Gi Festival is a biennial showcase of work from a city that has nurtured Turner Prize, Hugo Boss and Beck’s Futures winners. It includes new commissions and rare chances to see work by world-renowned artists such as Jim Lambie, Simon Starling and Jonathan Monk as well as new, emerging talent. Complementing pieces by Glasgow’s own artists are exhibitions and installations by artists from across the globe.

The work on show in the 2008 Gi Festival not only provides an unrivalled opportunity to see exhilarating exhibitions, but also to experience the city in a new and exciting way. From shows in established spaces such as The Gallery of Modern Art, CCA, Tramway and The Modern Institute to installations in found spaces, public sites and even an artist’s living room, The 2008 Gi Festival is a veritable cultural safari for visitors.

Highlights include: a major new show by Turner Prize nominated Jim Lambie in the Gallery of Modern Art, a centre piece of which will be a breathtaking new work on the floor of the main gallery; High Wire a joint Gi Festival/Artangel film-based commission from Catherine Yass, which features celebrated tight-rope walker Didier Pasquette walking the high wire between Glasgow’s Red Road Flats - once the highest residential tower blocks in Europe; interventions by Vancouver-based Rodney Graham; new work by New York based Kalup Linzy and by Poland’s Wilhelm Sasnal, and a long-awaited exhibition by Jonathan Monk, whose new show will highlight the history of Tramway (a former Tram shed).

The 2008 Gi Festival is curated by Francis McKee and produced by Jean Cameron. For further information on the Festival visit glasgowinternational.org.

PERFORMING ARTS
• Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival (6 – 23 March)
Now in its sixth year, the Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival steps up to the mike for 18 days in March. Side-splittingly stuffed with top national and international stand-ups, brand new comedy, drama, films, kids’ shows, workshops and more, the festival offers more than 300 events in over 40 venues. To be first to get news and great ticket offers register now at: glasgowcomedyfestival.com.

• Scottish Ballet Set to Move to Tramway
This year will see Scottish Ballet - Scotland’s national dance company and a major cultural asset for the UK - move from their (rather cramped) West Princes Street premises to their new home at Tramway by the end of 2008.

Since its artistic re-launch in 2003, the Company has been on a trajectory that has brought world-wide acclaim. It produces a wide range of dynamic work, including full-length narrative ballets, seminal works by the best choreographers of the 20th century, and new commissions.

Tramway is one of the leading contemporary visual and performing arts venues in Europe and the relocation will enable Scottish Ballet to forge stronger connections to the international arts scene and help put Scottish dance firmly on the world map. Scottishballet.co.uk, Tramway.org

MUSIC
• Celtic Connections (16 January – 3 February)
Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival is recognised not only as the premiere Celtic festival in the UK but also as one of the largest winter music festivals of its kind and a major event in the folk and world music calendar. Acts appearing at the 2008 festival include k.d. lang, Steve Earle, Paul Brady, Capercaillie and Moving Hearts. celticconnections.com

• Triptych 08 (25 - 27 April)
Triptych is one of Europe’s most innovative and exhilarating music events. Triptych’s trademark fusion of local talent, underexposed sonic mavericks and international legends will delight enthusiasts and newcomers alike. NB. Triptych coincides with the last weekend of The Gi Festival. triptychfestival.com

• Glasgow: City of Music, Cool Sounds and Art Rock
This new podcast takes the listener on a journey of Glasgow’s music scene: past, present and future and is narrated by local actor/musician Sean Biggerstaff who was recently named BAFTA Scotland’s Television Actor of the Year. Divided into five distinct audio chapters, the 13-minute podcast encompasses interviews with local musicians and venues as well as Glasgow-based record labels and promoters. The podcast also features music by up and coming Attic Lights, Union of Knives, The Dykeenies and Make Model.

Listen to it at: Seeglasgow.com. You can also download it from iTunes.

For comprehensive information on what to do and where to stay in Glasgow: Scotland with style visit Seeglasgow.com.