September – A great month to visit Glasgow

A major new centre for the arts and creativity will open in Glasgow on 12 September, heralding a new chapter in the city’s cultural life and offering visitors the opportunity to participate in, view and buy a wide variety of art all under one roof.

‘Trongate 103’, which is housed over six floors in a former Edwardian warehouse, will be home to eight of Scotland’s most diverse and vibrant arts organisation comprising: Glasgow Print Studio, Transmission, Street Level Photoworks, Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre, the Russian Cultural Centre, Glasgow Centre for Media Access (GMAC), Glasgow Independent Studio and Project Room and Project Ability.

There is no other facility like this in the UK - and few others in the world - in terms of supporting such a broad range of practice.

Trongate 103 is situated in Glasgow’s vibrant Merchant City – where the constituent members of the new facility were previously located as separate units - and will reinforce the area’s reputation as the city’s official cultural quarter.

Although much of the facility is dedicated to providing studios, workshops and production spaces to tenants, the ground and first floors of Trongate 103 offer extensive public gallery spaces for hosting year-round exhibitions, kicking off with a programme of special events and activities over the opening weeks.

The launch weekend of 12/13 September will feature printing, self-portrait and Russian board painting workshops, short film screenings at GMAC, a Russian costume party, an opportunity to view the archives of Glasgow Print Studio, live music and taster performances from Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre.

While the weekend of 19/20 September will present the opportunity to take a tour of Trongate 103, enjoy a tea, blini and music special at Café Cossachok, and listen to talks from the project artist and architect involved in the refurbishment, as part of the city’s annual Doors Open Day celebrations.

Then for the weekend of the Merchant City Festival (25 – 27 September), Trongate 103 will offer the opportunity to witness the Mechanical Orchestra commissioned in collaboration with Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre and listen to the Rostov Youth Jazz Band and a talk from legendary photographer John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins - known for his work with beat poets, rock stars and figures such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King - at Street Level Photoworks.

Many of the launch events and activities are free.

Malcolm Dickson, chair of the Trongate 103 Tenants’ Forum, commented, “Several of the tenants at Trongate 103 were operating in Glasgow before the city’s reign as European City of Culture and can remember the very early stages of artistic renaissance. Today, almost 20 years later, Glasgow’s arts scene feels very much like it has come of age and we hope that Trongate 103 will be central to the next exciting chapter in the city’s cultural development.”

For more information on Trongate 103 and full details of its opening events programme, visit trongate103.com. To download a full programme for Doors Open Day: Glasgow’s Built Heritage Festival which runs from 16 – 20 September, go to glasgowdoorsopenday.com .

Glasgow’s Merchant City Festival returns to Glasgow’s cultural quarter for its eighth year, running from Thursday, 24th to Sunday 27th September. The cutting edge festival features some of the best of Scottish arts and entertainment, with a packed programme of theatre, music, comedy, fashion, visual art, film, dance and literature. For more information, see merchantcityfestival.com.