Days out and Previews

Jupiter Artland opens its season with a new Charles Jencks exhibition

The ourdoor 'art park' also features work by Anthony Gormley

25 Apr 2011

You know that spring has sprung when Jupiter Artland opens its doors with a new season – and this year’s artistic bloom looks to be just as exciting as their last. Launching with special exhibition Metaphysical Landscape by landform artist, philosopher…

Giants in the Forest: The natural art project putting sculpture into Scotland's woods

Massive project undertaken as part of the Year of Creative Scotland

9 May 2012

In a country where much of our creativity is inspired by the incredible natural environment around us, what better year to launch our unique project, Giants in the Forest? Looking down on us from tree tops will be massive wicker heads, seeded and…

The BFG

2 Apr 2009

PREVIEW STAGE ADAPTATION Nineteen years after his death, Roald Dahl remains as popular as ever with the bedtime crowd. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches – the list goes on, each of them bringing delight to…

Hogmanay 2008 - Clubbing

11 Dec 2008

‘It’s on’ is the simple motto which Glasgow überclub Optimo are using to promote their famous Hogmanay special – it’s at the Fruitmarket again, and will see Twitch and Wilkes joined by Glasgow Italo-punks Den Haan and laptop-wielding Parisian show-offs…

Holocaust Memorial Day

17 Jan 2008

For most of Scotland, the end of January means Burns Night. Whisky, tradition and rousing renditions of ‘A Man’s A Man For A’ That’; a time for national nostalgia and a noisy assertion, however fleeting, of equality. Perhaps it’s fitting then that a…

Mirazozo coloured inflatable structure a 2011 Edinburgh Fringe highlight

Architects of Air bring their latest inflatable structure to Edinburgh

8 Jul 2011

Picture the scene – you walk inside a Fringe venue, and find no actors, no musicians, no dancers, in fact no performers at all. You'd be forgiven for wanting your money back. Unless, that is, your ticket is for an Architects of Air creation – because…

Chris Packham - Wild thing

30 Oct 2009

Chris Packham recently suggested that we should just let the giant panda die out. As he comes to Glasgow, Kirstin Innes talks to the controversial conservationist.

Underneath The Arches

8 Jan 2009

Glasgow’s Arches, as anyone who’s worked there will tell you, is the sort of place that doesn’t so much defy your expectations as consistently confound them. Audiences might marvel at the sort of building that can stage a theatre show, art exhibition…

Glasgow grins and bares it

29 Nov 2007

Celebrate your cellulite this Christmas! Professional ego-booster Gok Wan is in town for the live How To Look Good Naked roadshow. Two audience members will get the full-on nudie glow, and a host of hairstylists and make-up artists will be doling out…

Refugee Week 2012 highlights

Programme of awareness-raising events features King Creosote and Glasgow Girls: The Musical

22 May 2012

Scotland’s favourite Fence Records chap and former Mercury Award nominee King Creosote will kick off seven days of events to promote understanding of the experiences of refugees living in Scotland. The gig, which takes place at the Old Fruitmarket on…

Burns Night 2012: Glasgow and Edinburgh highlights

6 Jan 2012

Edinburgh gets its bard celebrations off to an impressive (and prompt) start with Burnsfest at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in association with Scotland’s Winter Festivals (17–28 Jan, times vary). From a ceilidh in the café to performances of the…

Edinburgh Festival of Sport

2 Jun 2010

It’s a sad but true fact that the closest many parents come to sporting activity is dropping their kids off at the swimming pool or standing at the touchline on a Saturday morning. Which is why Edinburgh’s Active Schools campaign has just launched its…

Scotland The Great - Scotland smiles better

22 Jan 2009

Cheapskates Penny-pinching, tight-arsed misers. They say when a Scot drops a coin, they bend down to pick it up so quick, it hits them on the back of the napper. But what about the US of A’s Hetty Green, the world’s biggest miser according to the…

Australia Day

22 Jan 2009

Calling all Aussies! Missing the homeland, on this most sacred day of your Antipodean calendar? Get ye down to the Espy bar in Portobello, where they've put on a (shivering) barbie on the beach Especially For You, plus Neighbours–themed karoke and a…

Hogmanay 2008 - Paolo Nutini

11 Dec 2008

Reports of Hogmanay’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Certainly Edinburgh’s event, which suffered all manner of gloomy speculation pretty much since the bells finished ringing us into 2008, has returned with perhaps the strongest line-up in memory.

Edinburgh Marathon

22 May 2008

‘I’ve run a marathon every year since 2004, mainly just to keep healthy. The first time I crossed the finish line I swore I was never, ever, ever going to do that to myself again, but after about a week I forgot all the pain and decided to make it an…

Preview: the National Museum of Scotland

A peek inside the museum, plus reminiscences from notable Edinburghers and a guide to coming events

22 Jul 2011

The National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street is due to reopen this month after a three-year, £46.4 million redevelopment. David Pollock takes an exclusive peak behind closed doors to find out about the new exhibits

Interview - Prof Brian Cox and Robin Ince

Two minds talk science and comedy ahead of their Uncaged Monkeys show at Edinburgh Science Festival

24 Mar 2011

Robin Ince: Am I wrong to sometimes be scared of science idiots? I presented a show about Schrödinger’s cat on Radio 4 [Schrödinger’s Quantum Kittens] and the BBC received complaints that it was broadcasting shows promoting killing cats in boxes.

Beltane Fire Festival 2010

28 Apr 2010

Another spring comes around; another chance to let your pagan side slide out, as Edinburgh’s strangest, wildest and most wonderful festival mounts Calton Hill for a night of drumming, fire juggling, body paint, ancient Celtic fertility rites and very…

Wallace and Gromit Present: A World of Cracking Ideas

31 Mar 2010

Oscar-winning characters Wallace and Gromit take centre stage at this Aardman Animations exhibition, as visitors get the chance to tour around Wallace and Gromit’s 62 West Wallaby Street home, as well as looking at, and interacting with, their most…

Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

4 Mar 2010

Here at List Towers, we love a party. And so it is that this fortnight sees not one but two of our favourite things realised courtesy of Scandinavian fashion house Kakao by K and tea-boutique Eteaket. As part of a one-off special event, Kakao will…

Secret Wars

2 Apr 2009

The first rule of Art Club is: you don’t talk about Art Club. Unless you’re writing a piece in a magazine. We’re not really sure what an event describing itself as ‘like Fight Club, with artists’ entails, but this live art battle has been running at…

Women-only roller derby: Glasgow Roller Girls

19 Feb 2009

Mistress Malicious meets me, as arranged, in the foyer of the sports centre. She’s easy to spot: she’s tall and elegant, with tattoos and bright scarlet hair. Oh, and she’s on rollerskates. I’m here to train with the Glasgow Rollergirls and learn…

Jean Muir

Absolutely fabulous

30 Oct 2008

Jean Muir didn't invent the little black dress, but she made it her own. The trailblazing designer, who established her own label Jane & Jane in 1962 before branching out under her own name in 1966, was loved not for her catwalk extravagance or her…

Glasgay! - Tennessee Williams

18 Sep 2008

Some years ago, I attended a conference where a debate about the work of Tennessee Williams came very nearly to blows. The bone of contention involved Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, in which the character Brick confesses an attraction to a friend that surpasses…

Preview of 2012 - Fascinating Mummies

Exhibition of Egyptian death rituals and paraphenalia

6 Jan 2012

If, by any chance, you happened to be in Edinburgh in 1988, and at school, there was a very good chance you went on a trip to see the Gold of the Pharaohs exhibition at the City Art Centre. It was a big deal, up there with the Glasgow Garden Festival in…

Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle: Alternative Christmas dining options

Two iconic venues now taking bookings for your Christmas meal

23 Nov 2011

Stuck for somewhere decent to have your Christmas lunch? Need a venue that’ll please a range of tastes but won’t be another run-of-the-mill pub grub standby in the city centre? Have you considered going for something a bit more... iconic?

Bonfire Night: Fireworks displays in Edinburgh and Glasgow 2011

A roundup of the best Guy Fawkes events in the central belt

17 Oct 2011

Tired of having disappointing bonfire nights because you didn’t know what field in your area would be hosting the ultimate firecracker show? Well, fret no more, List reader – we have done some recon in your local area to find out where best to light…

Glasgow Science Festival programme appeals to both children and adults

Opportunities to do some gardening, bread-making and seabird tracking

23 May 2011

For some parents, it’s always been fascinating, for others it was the worst block at school. But one thing’s for sure, these days the world of science offers more fun and creativity than you can shake a pipette at. With four action-packed family days on…

Askasaurus: The Dinosaur Event for Grown-ups

1 Sep 2010

Kids tend to get all the good things: organised nap time, adventure playgrounds, babygros... and at some point, they seem to have called dibs on dinosaurs, too. To rectify that, the National Museum of Scotland have decided to put on an adults-only…

Highland Wildlife Park Tour

A trip up North courtesy of the Edinburgh Zoo

17 Aug 2010

Fed up with staring at comedians baring their teeth inside hot rooms? You need some fresh air, my friend. Edinburgh Zoo have very sweetly put on a bus to take parties interested in getting out of Edinburgh (an impulse we can kind of understand, by this…

Diwali at the Square

The Hindu Festival of Light in Glasgow

15 Oct 2009

Never mind the dubious sectarianism of Bonfire Night. Come early November, George Square is going to be submerged in light for much more joyful reasons, with a fire, light and dance spectacular in celebration of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light.

Southside Festival

14 May 2009

After a triumphant debut last year, the local festival returns to Queen’s Park for music and festivities, following a Mardi Gras-style parade through the Southside. The programme also features comedy from the local likes of Bruce Morton, live music…

Fool’s paradise

2 Apr 2009

The large scarlet doors marking the entrance to the former Lawson’s Timber retail site on Edinburgh’s Lady Lawson Street look innocuous enough. What the guidebooks don’t tell you is that this is actually a portal to another world. Behind the Big Red…

Hitlist - Kids

19 Feb 2009

Peter Pan - A thrilling new production of the JM Barrie classic, LazyTown Live – The Pirate Adventure Join Sportacus, Baby Loves Disco, That’s Rubbish and Rocking Rascals.

Scotland The Great - Homecoming

22 Jan 2009

Four skinny boys stare up at a mountain. The mountain stares back at them. The hairiest one throws his arms out and roars: ‘Does it not make you proud to be Scottish?’; the prettiest one looks up from his vodka bottle, and hurls back bile. It’s been…

All day hip hop event

31 Jul 2008

Banksy’s subversive street art sells for millions, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre are basically musical royalty and films such as Step Up 2 continue to popularise break-dancing and battling. Hip hop and street culture couldn’t be having more of a moment. Funny…

Scotland: A Changing Nation

3 Jul 2008

‘I don’t want to blow our own trumpet, or anything,’ says Maureen Barrie, standing with her arms spread in front of a blank wall that will shortly be emblazoned with a giant replica of a Tunnock’s Teacake, ‘but we’re a hell of a nation if you think…

Circus Summer School

3 Jul 2008

The Arches’ long-running circus school rolls around again, headed up by the ever-excellent performer, artist and professional buffoon Al Seed (pictured). It’s a week-long intensive course open to anyone between 15 and 25, during which time you’ll train…

Spiders - Eight-legged freak out

15 Nov 2007

A spider fear is an embarrassing thing to admit to. They don’t bite, they don’t sting, they’re almost blind, and yet I find the sight of one running towards me distinctly unsettling. I’d like to be one of those people who scoops them up in her bare…

St Andrew's Day

Various events, Glasgow & Edinburgh

11 Nov 2006

PATRON SAINT CELEBRATION Andrew was not Scottish, and what we know of his life comes from religious texts. Born a Jew in Bethsaida, Galilee, he and his brother Simon Peter were fishermen, and when Jesus came calling, he became one of his first (and…

Antiques Roadshow

18 Sep 2006

Raid the attic and dust off your priceless heirlooms, the BBC’s antique experts are in town! You won’t be allowed in unless you have something to be valued. And no, taking your granny along just because she fancies Michael Aspel, doesn’t count.

Africa in Motion Children's Day

Programme of kids' activities at the film festival aim to strengthen Scottish-African links

28 Oct 2011

With many Scottish schools forging links with Africa, more and more children are learning to appreciate the highs and lows of life on another continent. To that same end, this year’s Africa in Motion (AiM) film festival is offering families a…

Lennoxlove Book Festival

Michael Morpurgo, Alistair Darling, James Naughtie and Julia Donaldson among highlights

17 Oct 2011

Set in the East Lothian woodlands is a five-star luxury accommodation dubbed by Historic Scotland as one of the country’s ‘most ancient and notable houses’. While renowned for its golfing breaks and wedding parties, Lennoxlove (full name: ‘Lennox’s Love…

Family Fun Music Day

Programme of music events aimed at opening up the Glasgow Concert Halls to younger music-lovers

19 Sep 2011

Mission Impossible-style light beams that play musical notes as you cross them, a giant labyrinth of music and light, and a dark room filled with scary sounds – hardly business as usual at Glasgow’s City Halls. Organised by Svend Brown, director of…

Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival

Annual arts festival returns for biggest year yet

13 Sep 2011

Unless you’ve been gently nestled under some rock for the past several years, you will probably be aware of the annual autumnal arts treat that is the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (SMHAFF). This year’s brochure boasts almost 300 events…

Refugee Week Scotland

The week-long events programme sets its stall, 60 years after the UN Refugee Convention was signed

27 May 2011

We’re huge supporters of Refugee Week – so it’s with a happy heart that we can report it’s back bigger and better than ever before. As well as all the special events, activities and talks, this year’s programme boasts Courage: 60 Years of the UN Refugee…

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011 - sneak preview

Liberace, Finnish a capella groups and iPad fairy tales just some of the coming attractions

23 May 2011

Whether it’s origami genitalia, homosexual deities or political commentary on the Lockerbie bombing, Edinburgh’s Fringe seldom arrives with a whimper but rather a ruddy great roar. June sees the official launch of 2011’s line-up, but we thought we…

Glasgow's new Riverside Museum presents an evolving story of travel and transport – and of the people who use it

17 May 2011

‘One of the first things I thought when I visited the old Museum of Transport,’ says Lawrence Fitzgerald, the man in charge of the project to deliver Glasgow’s first major new museum in almost 30 years, ‘was, "Why isn’t it on the Clyde?"’ It’s a fair…

Scotland's biggest ever Refugee Week celebrates the 60th anniversary of the signing of the UN Refugee Convention

17 May 2011

This year, Scotland’s ever-expanding programme of films, performances, music events, exhibitions and club nights celebrating the contribution that refugees have made to our society is marking a very important anniversary: it’s 60 years since the UN…

Festival of Museums set for nationwide celebration of Scotland’s culture in May 2011

Music, storytelling and period fashion among highlights of new festival

1 May 2011

From the Groam House Museum in Ross-shire and Portsoy Bothy in Banffshire, to the Annan Museum in Dumfries and Galloway, the Festival of Museums features an eclectic and colourful range of concerts, talks, workshops, performances and exhibitions taking…

Easter Revelry event at Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle hosts a weekend of family events this Easter

21 Apr 2011

The Easter Revelry event at Edinburgh Castle takes place on Sat 23 - Mon 25 April, and includes historically-themed activities that'll appeal to all the family. Kramis the wizard will perform magic tricks to amuse and amaze you, while Sir Hugo Sofboiled…

Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival promises a quality homegrown line-up alongside the usual groundbreaking international work

13 Apr 2011

The Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival has always featured quality children’s theatre from both home and abroad. But while international talent has never been in short supply, Scottish-based companies worthy of inclusion were initially thin on the…

No Lights, No Lycra: the dance-in-the-dark craze hits Glasgow

13 Apr 2011

As a wise man once said, you can’t start a fire without a spark. However, now you can go dancing in the dark, as the No Lights, No Lycra craze has finally arrived in Glasgow. Starting in Melbourne in 2009 and spreading worldwide soon after, NLNL is a…

Interview - Janie Nicoll on returning to community arts festival Streetland

The Glasgow-based artist tells us why it matters

28 Mar 2011

At last year’s Streetland festival in Govanhill you could really feel the buzz: from the visual arts to the films and talks being created, worked on or looked at. I was creating artwork for the outside of a building on West Moreland Street but went…

Edinburgh International Science Festival highlights 2011

Lego robotics, mini jungle safaris and wind turbine workshops

24 Mar 2011

Ah. Science. No, not the teensy rapper from the 2005 Big Brother house (we at The List are nothing if not timely), although perhaps it does suffer from a similar image problem. Organisations such as the Glasgow Science Centre and the Edinburgh…

Auction of Pleasures

1 Sep 2010

Do you like pina coladas? And getting lost in the rain? Well, Glasgow Women’s Library might not be able to help you there, but they can probably find anything else to suit you. In order to help finance their move to new premises in the Mitchell Library…

World Pipe Band Championships

Highland games, taste of Scotland, and dancing on the Glasgow Green

12 Aug 2010

Look at this happy bunch of pipers. Would you believe they’re actually Canadian? Simon Fraser University’s bagpipe squad won last year’s world championship title: teams from as far afield as New Zealand, Pakistan and, er, Paisley keep their eyes (and…

BAFTA Young Games Designers Workshops

12 Aug 2010

A unique opportunity for 12–16-year-olds to work with experts on the planning, design and creation of video games. Participants will have the chance to get a head start on their entries for the BAFTA Young Games Designers competition, which is open…

The Festival of the Imagination

A huge, groundbreaking new festival for the people of North Glasgow.

6 Aug 2010

Big tops. Gigs. Silent discos. Theatre shows. Circus workshops. Ballroom dancing, sequinned bicycles and a ‘tented village of dreams’. And no, we’re not talking about Edinburgh. The Festival of the Imagination, the biggest ever arts event to be held in…

The Forest Café celebrates tenth birthday

Volunteer-run café is a true original in Edinburgh

5 Aug 2010

The Forest Café’s tenth birthday, happening mostly on Saturday 14 August, but spreading its shambolic, joyous tentacles throughout the rest of the month, is one of those true causes for celebration. That an entirely volunteer-run, hippy-hearted…

Seafood theme to East Lothian’s 3 Harbours Arts Festival 2010

20 May 2010

Kirstin Innes finds out why East Lothian’s 3 Harbours Arts Festival has a whole new fishy wing

It’s 00-Funtime – James Bond Special

28 Apr 2010

It’s the first birthday of the bafflingly high-tech and utterly zany interactive game show/pub quiz hybrid and they’re celebrating in style with a Bond themed version of the night. Register at www.its-funtime.com The Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Sat 1 May.

Edinburgh's Ecofusion one-day festival conducts an environmental health check

22 Apr 2010

It seems you can’t turn the page of a newspaper these days without climate change and environmental woes jumping off the page. More difficult, often, is knowing what you can do on your own doorstep, should you fancy doing your bit for the cause. Enter…

The Fourth Dimension

22 Apr 2010

Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth seldom does things by halves and this latest adventure looks set to be no different. From the exotic smells of the rainforest to snow falling in an alpine blizzard, Dynamic Earth’s latest expedition, 4Adventure, aims to bring…

Glasgow International - Happenings and performances

16 Apr 2010

Whether reflecting or informing current art world vogues, the plethora of events and performances in the Glasgow International programme assures an energy that will distinguish it from the conventional biennial format. Presenting mock symposiums…

Ceilidh Culture Street Fair

31 Mar 2010

Edinburgh’s annual showcase of music, song, dance and storytelling widens its remit for this 4-day street fair boasting Scottish food, drink, crafts, fashion, music and more near to the castle. See music and around town listings for listings of other…

NTS history and Gutter magazine latest National Library of Scotland events

1 Feb 2010

Eagle-eyed readers of the Around Town listings may have already noticed that change is afoot at the National Library of Scotland. Over the last few months, there have been an increasing number of interesting, well thought-out, exciting and downright…

Social Science - the adults-only evening at Glasgow Science Centre

1 Feb 2010

It’s adults-only evening Social Science at the Glasgow Science Centre again, and appropriately for the date, this month the focus is all on the science of attraction: what attracts certain people to each other, why particular dance moves have certain…

Have meat, can eat

20 Jan 2010

Just when you thought it was safe to crack open your haggis... BURNS IS BACK. Yes, no sooner has the Year of Homecoming been safely consigned to the tartan time capsule than Burns Night 2010 rolls around, with the usual mix of traditional suppers…

Social Science at Glasgow Science Centre

Let’s get physics, y'all!

19 Nov 2009

There are certain ‘childish’ ways of being that we’re encouraged to leave behind when we grow up. Throwing tantrums in the street, for example, or scratching yourself there in public. Unfortunately, just simply playing, and indulging a wide-eyed sense…

Halloween Guide: M - S

Yet more spooky goings-on

16 Oct 2009

M is for Movies Perhaps only rivalled by the upsurge in the plastic horn industry around 31 Oct, the annual economic boost for the horror film industry ensures that, every Halloween, there is a fresh crop of dismembered corpse-filled flicks to satisfy…

Halloween Guide: T - Z

Our final tricks and treats

16 Oct 2009

T is for Tours It’s the eve of Halloween and you’re feeling a bit like an overgrown trick or treater – excited, but not sure what a sophisticated adult like yourself should be doing to celebrate. Chapping on strangers’ doors and singing for sugar…

Glasgow Zombie Walk

Colin Armstrong explains the big idea behind his day out for the undead

16 Oct 2009

Colin Armstrong is a man with a dream, a dream to see a large group of mindless, dribbling corpses slowly wandering through Glasgow’s West End. Not everyone’s cup of tea perhaps, but for zombie movie fans this special Halloween crossover from B-movie to…

Benedict Allen interview

Talking with the TV adventurer before his lecture tour of Scotland

2 Oct 2009

Having a conversation with Benedict Allen is what I imagine chatting to Indiana Jones is like. After all, not many people, when telling you what they did in the year after university, will suddenly, cheerfully diverge into the following anecdote…

An Evening With Kevin Smith

The cult director talks to Glasgow

2 Oct 2009

Silent Bob only ever speaks when he has something to say, so you can be sure that this evening in the company of his alter ego Kevin Smith will be full of meaningfully-chosen words. One of the only celebrity voices of sense in the recent Polanski…

The Glasgow festival experience

After Edinburgh it's time for Twestival, Trongate and the Merchant City Festival

3 Sep 2009

It is a truth universally acknowledged that August is dead time in Glasgow. The rest of the year is a different story, of course, and September means the gloves are off, with so many massed gatherings of the city’s creatives that they’re in danger of…

The Breast Cancer Care Fashion Show

Stories told by those who've lived through, and are living with, breast cancer

3 Sep 2009

The seventh annual Breast Cancer Care Fashion Show takes to the catwalks this fortnight. This year, however, the emphasis is on raising awareness as well as funds. Each of the 20 models, female and male, ranging in age from twentysomethings to…

Glasgow homegrown events round-up

23 Jul 2009

So, apparently there’s this … festival thing, happening in Edinburgh? Whatever. While the gallons of international acts pouring into the Capital at the beginning of August do traditionally tend to hog the headlines at this time of year, with loads of…

Creativity vs Destruction: Stories of Iraqi Art

9 Jul 2009

The closing event of this year’s excellently curated Reel Iraq festival, this exhibition explores not only major artworks coming out of Iraq, but also the tribulations and obstacles that artists from that country have to go through in order to create…

West side story

25 Jun 2009

For decades, the West End has meant one thing to non-WEndies: Byres Road, and while that esteemed thoroughfare is still geographically pivotal, its tributary roads have formed little communities of their own, each with an increasingly distinctive…

Pride Scotia

25 Jun 2009

Scotland’s bi-annual LGBT celebration, Pride Scotia is returning to the capital with its usual array of provocative and outrageous happenings. Revellers are asked to assemble at noon on Sat 27 Jun at the City Chambers for speeches from local politicians…

It’s Funtime

25 Jun 2009

The Bongo is coming over all Roy Walker with a razzmatazz game show/pub quiz hybrid. Compere Wilson and his glamorous assistant Betty are on hand to lead your team through the perilous rounds of Tower of Strength, Make & Do and Filleted Film before the…

Refugee Week Scotland 2009 - Fugee la la

11 Jun 2009

Given the recent increase in profile of the BNP across Scotland, the timing and focus of this year’s country-wide Refugee Week are particularly prescient. This year, the multi-artform festival which aims to raise awareness of the issues facing and…

What goes around - Orbital

28 May 2009

Orbital were pioneers in the world of dance music, with brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll epitomising up the sound of the illegal rave scene with their marrying of ambient and techno, but perhaps more significantly they managed to turn this music – until…

Everything's Gone Green - Coloursfest'09

28 May 2009

These straitened times seem to be treacherous ones for festivals, but the last thing we need to get us in the mood for summer fun is a story about another call-off. How about a bit of feelgood news instead? ‘We’re already up 700 ticket sales on where we…

Fete accomplis - The West End Festival

28 May 2009

The West End Festival, which has been going since 1996, is a community festival in the proper sense of the word, running free workshops and concerts, hosting events that involve local businesses and generally inviting residents to celebrate the various…

Capital - Edinburgh Festivals

28 May 2009

Not for nothing has Edinburgh garnered a reputation for producing some of the finest festivals in the world. Although Manchester and Melbourne are coming hot on its heels, the Fringe continues to dominate the festival calendar as the self-styled…

Small Wonder - The Wee Chill

28 May 2009

So, what’s The Wee Chill then? The Wee Chill is a small, relaxed festival that takes place in the atmospheric environs of the Glasshouse in Glasgow’s Queens Park. This one-day party is an official precursor to The Big Chill, which is, as the name…

5 Literary Festivals

28 May 2009

FEKP (Festival of the European Short Story) Expand your horizons at this laid-back, youthful and polylingual Croatian festival happening in and around the cafes, nightclubs and bars of Zagreb, often finishing up with a riotous night of gigging, and…

Reel Iraq

14 May 2009

The point of Charlie Brooker’s excellent Newswipe series, which ended recently, seemed to be that, far from being an honest and agenda-free information source, the news is just as much a constructed text as, say, a novel or a film. And for most people…

In the loop - Glasgow Subway Festival

14 May 2009

It’s every commuter’s nightmare, being stuck in a carriage with a talker. The sort of person who simply won’t respect your need to privacy in a public place; who wants to ask you questions, or worse, tell you all about their life. Or worse. Try and…

Show Scotland

30 Apr 2009

BANK HOLIDAY FUN Museums and stately homes can be lively places during the day, but at night they’re pretty much dead – quite literally in the case of Pollok House. On Saturday 2 May, the halls of the popular Glasgow residence will be crawling with…

Big in Falkirk

30 Apr 2009

While Edinburgh and Glasgow’s various festivals get bigger and starrier every year and T in the Park hoovers up exclusive rights to Scottish dates on any band with even the possibility to make headlines, one not-so-little festival in the Central Belt…

20 Years On: Remembering the Anti-Poll Tax Demonstrations

16 Apr 2009

Margaret Thatcher liked to call it the community charge. To the rest of us it was the poll tax – one of the most universally loathed tax reforms ever to pass through the House of Commons. To commemorate 20 years since the introduction of the poll tax…

Behaviour

2 Apr 2009

Theatre, it’s fair to say, suffers from an image problem. Despite being an utterly flexible and inventive art form, most people still associate ‘theatre’ with a red plush seat and the passive consumption of a story for two hours (perhaps pausing briefly…

Puppet Animation Festival

2 Apr 2009

PREVIEW FESTIVAL Tall oaks from little acorns grow, and the Puppet Animation Festival has grown into quite an oak. From humble beginnings at the Netherbow Theatre in Edinburgh, the Festival has spread its seeds to cover the entire country. In 1984…

Darwin and Evolution

2 Apr 2009

As part of Darwin 200 (a dual celebration of the 200th anniversary of the naturalist's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his groundbreaking and controversial On the Origin of Species), Kelvingrove have a new exhibition opening this…

Place Project

19 Mar 2009

The biggest difference between Edinburgh and Glasgow’s cultural scenes can be located right down at the grassroots. While Glasgow has a plethora of places like Mono, The Arches, CCA and the Art School – centralised hubs where emergent artists, musicians…

LGBT Arts Festival Weekend

19 Mar 2009

CREATIVE FESTIVAL LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing, Edinburgh, Fri 20–Sun 22 Mar Scotland’s capital can lay proud boast to being the only city in the UK to have its own dedicated health and wellbeing centre for LGBT folks, which runs…