List of festivals in Glasgow

Glasgow Festivals include festivals for art, film, comedy, folk music and jazz. Glasgow also hosts an annual queer arts festival in November.

Unlike the Edinburgh Festival (where the main festival and fringe festivals all occur around about the same time in August), Glasgow's festivals are spread evenly across the year, therefore ensuring a continuous annual programme of events.

Past festivals

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Glasgow held several Great Exhibitions. They were the International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry in 1888, the Glasgow International Exhibition in 1901, the Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art and Industry in 1911 and the Empire Exhibition in 1938. The latter attracted 12.6 million visits, easily eclipsing the Festival of Britain (1951) or the Millennium Dome in London (2000). Glasgow also hosted the Industrial exhibitions as part of the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Glasgow's Mayfest started in 1983 from the popular success of the STUC-organised May Day Parades and became a citywide public festival, covering theatre, music, dance, and visual arts. It became the second largest arts festival in Britain until funding ceased in 1997.

In 1988, Glasgow hosted its very successful Glasgow Garden Festival on old docks opposite the SECC, now home to the Glasgow Science Centre at Pacific Quay. 4.3 million people attended over 5 months, making it by far the most popular of the UK's five Garden Festivals held between 1984 and 1992.

In August 1990 Glasgow was crowned European City of Culture, the first such city in Britain and featured an impressive year-long calendar of special events, inspiring the creation of several festivals which still continue today. This European Union designation started in 1985, for Athens, and followed in successive years by Florence, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Paris (1989).

In 2008 Glasgow was declared a UNESCO City of Music, the first in Britain, and joins 9 other cities with the status worldwide.

Main festivals

Glasgow's main festivals are Celtic Connections,(founded 1993), the Jazz Festival (founded 1989), the West End Festival (founded 1996), Merchant City Festival (founded 2002), Southside Festival [founded 2008], Pride Glasgow Scotland's largest LGBT Pride Festival and Glasgay! (a queer arts festival which is one of the biggest gay and lesbian multi-arts festivals in Europe)(founded 1997).

Glasgow also hosts the annual World Pipe Band Championships in August on Glasgow Green, with over 8,000 musicians.

Calendar of festivals

As part of Glasgow's cultural renaissance, Glasgow is host to a variety of festivals throughout the year:-

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.glasgowopenhouse.co.uk
  2. ↑ http://www.rhymeswithpurple.net/gcf
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