First faces of festival 2018 unveiled

Glasgow 2018 European Championships invests £750,000 in Scotland's cultural brilliance.

The 34 individual artists and organisations awarded their share of £750,000 have been announced today, Friday 1 December, as the first faces of an inclusive and innovative programme of dance, film, music, visual art, theatre and literature taking place in Scotland next year as part of Festival 2018.

Glasgow 2018 - the biggest sporting event to take place in Scotland since the best ever Commonwealth Games - will unite sport and culture throughout the Championships from 2 to 12 August 2018.

Festival 2018 will run alongside the sporting action and into many parts of Scotland, to offer an exciting cultural experience to residents and the thousands of athletes, visitors and media who will be in Scotland for the first-ever European Championships next August.

The fund

The fund is one of many strands of cultural investment that will create Festival 2018 and celebrate Scotland's cultural brilliance. 

The 34 supported projects represent 10 different artforms, 19 direct celebrations of the Year of the Young People, artists and performers aged between 10 and 87 years old and a broad range of cultural expressions for audiences across Scotland.

The Festival Fund portfolio includes; acclaimed percussionist Colin Currie working with Children's Classic Concerts; Turner Prize nominated artist Janice Kerbel working with synchronised swimmers from across Scotland; engaging outdoor performances such as Mischief La Bas and a pop up opera tour from Scottish Opera for families, will follow the sport across the 12 sporting venues including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, North Lanarkshire, Perth & Kinross.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and Major Events Fiona Hyslop and Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council Councillor David McDonald met representatives from four of the successful projects - Scottish Ballet, Oceanallover, Ignite Theatre and young musicians involved in the Children's Classic Concerts.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop said: "Festival 2018 offers an excellent platform to strengthen connections at home and internationally. Today's unveiling reflects the ambition of the Festival 2018 Fund - to support an inclusive programme of artists and organisations across Scotland who will showcase Scotland's talent and international reputation for cultural brilliance by creating new and vibrant experiences for visitors and those who live here.

"As we look towards 2018 I'm particularly pleased to see investment in fresh talent involving young people - another shared celebration between Glasgow 2018 and the Year of Young People.

"Glasgow 2018 will bring the best of Europe's athletes to Glasgow and Scotland and Festival 2018 will bring everyone - visitors and residents together - in a one large-scale celebration of our culture and famous warm welcome."

Depute Leader Cllr David McDonald said: "The diversity of projects being supported by the Festival 2018 Fund will make sure there is something for everyone. It's fantastic that locally-driven grassroots projects will be produced alongside large-scale international initiatives to create part of next year's action-packed programme.

"Co-hosting the inaugural European Championships with Berlin will yet again shine a light on the city to European and international audiences and the scale, ambition and innovation behind each of the Festival Fund projects shows us just why world class arts and cultural activity is at home in Scotland.

"Communities and visitors can expect to be entertained by an exciting range of performances that span the spectrum of spectacular art forms."

George Square will be the beating heart of Festival 2018 and the images, atmosphere and performances captured have the potential to reach a potential TV audience of up to 1.03 billion people. 

2018 Top facts

The 2018 European Championships will be staged by the European Federations and the Host Cities of Glasgow and Berlin.

The Glasgow 2018 event will be held between 2nd and 12th August and the European Athletics Championships will be between 7th and 12th August in Berlin. Further information is available at Glasgow 2018