Glasgow

Celtic Connections

Celtic Connections is a music festival, showcasing a broadly ‘Celtic’ style. The types of music include modern Celtic rock, dance, big bands, choral performances, international folk superstars, and theatre, as well as traditional pipe bands and ceilidhs. The festival started in 1994 in Glasgow and is now held there every January. In terms of participation, the first festival was launched in just one venue, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, attracting around 35,000 people. In 2008, approximately 120,000 pe... Read More
Glasgow Mela

Background : Mela is a sanskrit word meaning ‘gathering’ and is used to describe festivals in the Indian subcontinent.The Scottish Mela festivals are multicultural arts festivals that, while having their roots in South Asian culture, can now best be seen as celebrating wide diversity of cultural life in Scotland, featuring dance, music, crafts, food and fashion, not just from South Asia, but from all over the world. There are two annual Mela festivals in Scotland: one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. ... Read More
Glasgow West End Festival

Starting in 1996, the West End Festival has grown to become a two week long celebration of music, comedy, drama, outdoor theatre and many other activities in the city's West End. A collection of photographs from the 2009 festival can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/garlies/sets/72157619704317203/... Read More
Glasgow's Travelling Showpeople Community

" Travelling Showpeople opened Glasgow's first cinemas, operated the rides and stalls at the annual Kelvin Hall Winter Fair and Glasgow Green. As the winter base for over 80% of Scottish show families, Glasgow has the largest concentration of Showpeople in Europe. Yet the unique traditions and histories of this tight-knit community are still unknown to most of the Scottish public." The quote above was taken from a publication that was produced as part of the Fair Glasgow project. This project was initia... Read More
Scotland's Year of Stories 2022 Project: Solidarity for All - Africa Delice

This community cooking session took place in Glasgow. The aim was to teach the community how to cook dishes from different African Cultures and to hold a celebration event involving the wider community. Mireille Njike: "The aim of the event is for refugees to have a forum through which they can meet new faces and share the struggles they have encountered from leaving their countries to the difficulties here in Glasgow. We offer an avenue for people to know they are not alone and through some stories ... Read More
Scotland's Year of Stories Project: Objects Speak Louder Than Words

Greater Govanhill community magazine celebrated the diversity of the local community with FONDS: Objects Speak Louder Than Words. Residents in the area brought objects that were special to them to be photographed by Morwenna Kearsley and these objects were the focus of interviews with participants, inspiring memories and musings of family, identity and home. Objects from Kuwait, Brazil, Afghanistan and Romania are all featured. You can access the wide range of objects and interviews here: https://www.gr... Read More
Scotland's Year of Stories Project: Big Adventure: storytelling weekend and supporting programme for John Patrick Byrne Exhibition at Kelvingrove

A cultural icon, Byrne has continued to work, paint and create plays on into his 80’s. The exhibition encapsulated the energy and excitement of Byrne's work, displaying over 40 self-portraits, the most ever displayed at one time, spanning Byrne's whole career. Various other works were also drawn from Glasgow Life Museums’ collections, other institutions across Scotland, and private lenders. Stories were drawn from the exhibition, John Patrick Byrne: A Big Adventure. Stories covered reflections on his li... Read More
Scotland's Year of Stories Project: Fables at the Stables

Cassiltoun Housing Association (originally Castlemilk East Housing Co-op) is the oldest community ownership Housing Co-operative in Glasgow, being registered with the Industrial and Provident Society in December 1984. Castlemilk is one of Glasgow’s peripheral housing schemes and was originally built on a green field site in the 1950s/1960’s. The area changed dramatically with the decline of manufacturing industry in the West of Scotland. Castlemilk suffered from a lack of facilities within the community... Read More
Scotland's Year of Stories Project: Govanhill Food Stories

Govanhill Community Market holds an annual Food festival in August. This outdoor market celebrated narrative through food as part of Govanhill International Festival and the Year of Stories 2022. It was a great opportunity to try an exciting variety of cuisines, cooked by community organisations and businesses from Govanhill and beyond, and to learn the history and traditions behind the dishes. We were served delicious coffee and pop-corn at the Eritrean coffee ceremony led by UNITY Sisters, and explored li... Read More
Scotland's Year of Stories Project: Project 31's Park Life

Project 31’s ‘Park Life’ Project celebrated the stories of Cambuslang Park, a local green space which has been central to the area since 1913. Spanning ten hectares it is packed with local legend and folklore much of which remains unknown by those living nearby. The events saw local primary school classes invited to the park to explore it’s wider history and focus on one particular legend, choosing from The Quarry, The Zoo, and The War or The Witches. Much of the information had been gathered throu... Read More
Scotland's Year of Stories Project: Scotland’s Identities Past and Present

There were two strands to these storytelling sessions. "Summer of Stories" brought to life traditional African folk tales, as inspired by objects within the Hunterian museums recent intervention, "Curating Discomfort". This allowed for new interpretations of objects within our collection, told from the perspective of Suleman "Chief" Chebe, a new Scot of Ghanaian heritage. The second session was entitled "Which Mary Are You?" with stories focussed upon the various guises of Mary Queen of Scots - the Princes... Read More
Scotland's Year of Stories Project: Standing Tall Stories

Standing Tall Stories was a project working with separated young people seeking asylum in Scotland. The young people are supported by Scottish Guardianship Service, which provides tailored support for unaccompanied children in Scotland. In celebration of Refugee Festival Scotland on Saturday 18th of June Standing Tall Stories hosted an afternoon of arts, music, and food at Scottish Youth Theatre to celebrate the launch of this project and the work we have made so far. This event was catered by Afro-Fusion C... Read More
Scotland's Year of Stories Project: Striking Herstories

In 2021, the Scottish Football Museum, Hampden Park, was awarded funding to create a trail based on women’s history. The project was delivered by the Museum’s curatorial staff and our volunteer Curatorial Assistant. There were four objectives for the funding: • Commission four artworks • Commission a custom trail • Update 5 existing text panels • Host a girls community football club The funding allowed the Museum to commission an artist to paint four subjects relating to women’s footb... Read More
Scotland's Year of Stories Project: Tales of a Travelling Scotland & Roma Cultural Festival

Ando Glaso was established in 2016 to encourage greater understanding and participation in the cultural heritage of the Roma people in Scotland aiming at stimulating and advancing community cohesion that is built on respect for celebrating diverse cultural identities. The organisation was initiated by a dedicated group of Roma volunteers who shared the passion and desire to further encourage links between the Roma and Scottish diverse cultures at several levels including support and understanding through th... Read More
Scottish Blackface Carpets and Meat

The Scottish Blackface Sheep is one Scottish animal that rarely gets the recognition it deserves. Although it is commonly bred on the British Isles, it’s origins are traced back to the Anglo-Scottish border, and it can also be found around the Glasgow area. The wool produced from the Blackface is in a league of its own. It has been used for decades to create quality carpets and clothing that feel fine and comfortable. It is also used for meat across Scotland, including haggis. The Blackface ... Read More
Scramble

The‘scramble’ or ‘poor-oot’ (pour out) is a tradition related to weddings. As newlyweds drive off from the church after their wedding ceremony the groom (or husband) throws handfuls of coins out of the car window. Children then ‘scramble’ in the street to grab the scattered money. Presumably this originally symbolised the new husband sharing his ‘good fortune’ and demonstrating his happiness? There may be similar traditions or different names for this custom in different parts of the country... Read More
The Meadows Mummers; tradition with a difference.

Among the practitioners in this field are The Meadows Mummers. This Edinburgh-based all-female group have taken the traditional folk drama “Galoshins” (in all its various spellings) and updated it with a modernised and expanded script, written in rhyming couplets, while still respecting its traditional form and Commedia dell'Arte roots. It was associated with Hogmanay, but the Mummers largely perform at community festivals in the summer, so performances are open-air. Through collaborations with the... Read More

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