Culture and cuisine are on the menu as main Glasgow 850 programme announced

With just 100 days to go until Glasgow starts its yearlong birthday celebration, details have been announced on what people can get involved in throughout 2025.

Central to the programme, the commissioned, 'signature' activities including a three- day music extravaganza, People's Palace pop-up exhibition and Taste the Place food trail, are the foundations of an exciting line-up next year, offering opportunities for people across the city to participate in Glasgow 850.

These events will be enhanced at the beginning of the year by St. Mungo and Celtic Connections activity. A civic programme of events will also be hosted by the Lord Provost of Glasgow celebrating Glasgow's famous faces and community champions, and a number of partnerships with businesses will add to the experience for visitors and citizens alike.

In addition, the new Glasgow 850 Festival Fund is supporting established and popular city events to enhance their programmes and their reach in local areas. This fund highlights the incredible talent hailing from Glasgow, but also brings together communities to experience the Glasgow 850 celebrations.

To date, 10 organisations have received a variety of awards of up to £10,000 from the fund to bring their own Glasgow 850 touch to their existing offerings next year. This includes internationally renowned festivals such as Glasgow Comedy Festival, Glasgow Film, Piping Live!, and summer favourites including Mela, Merchant City Festival and TRNSMT, which will have a special Glasgow 850 stage showcasing local performers.

In honour of the city's status as UNESCO City of Music, awarded in 2008, the Clyde Chorus will see a number of venues along the banks of the River Clyde, including the SEC Armadillo, host a variety of performers. The celebration stretches the whole musical spectrum, from contemporary to classical, pop to rock, and everything in between. Being held over a three-day period at the end of May, some events will be ticketed, but free to attend.

With the refurbishment of the People's Palace currently underway closing the venue, from February, city residents and visitors will still be able to see some of the social history museum's treasures. A pop-up exhibition and touring photographic exhibition is planned, showing how Glaswegians of the past lived and worked.

In April, Taste the Place, in partnership with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, provides the opportunity for locals and visitors to learn more about the history of Glasgow's hospitality scene and the influence new flavours have brought to the city over the years.

The self-guided, digital, trail will give people the chance to enjoy stories and experiences shared by locals and businesses who have been serving up authentic dishes for generations or have recently made Glasgow their home and brought with them their traditional cuisines.

Partnering with more than 40 eateries from across Glasgow, this unique experience takes food lovers on a cultural and cuisine heritage journey.

Cllr Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said; "Glasgow 850 is a big milestone in our city's journey I'm really looking forward to next year where we can come together through a variety of special events and activities to honour our history, culture, spirit, and people.

"This curated programme, which will be added to throughout the year, with activity in all 23 wards of the city, gives us a reason to celebrate what makes Glasgow unique and explore how we see our future. It's also a chance to share our stories about the place we love and the place we call home."

Finlay MacDonald, Artistic Director of Piping Live!, said; "Glasgow has played a significant role in shaping the piping tradition since the industrial revolution. The city is the home for piping's centre of excellence - The National Piping Centre - as well as the stage for piping's most important annual events - Piping Live! and the World Pipe Band Championships - creating the world's biggest week of piping each year.

"We are delighted to be part of this yearlong programme, celebrating Glasgow's 850 years. Through our events in 2025, we want Glasgow's citizens to feel connected to the city's piping history and have ownership of this piece of our culture as part of the city's heritage and future." 

Eddie Kim, owner of Gomo Kimchi and the popular Kimchi Deli and Poetry Library, located in Govanhill, said; "I came to Glasgow for love, with a fervent desire to forge my own narrative, but also to be in conversation with my Korean family's immigrant story and diaspora. I'm looking forward to being part of the Glasgow 850 celebrations and sharing my food, and my story, with others in the city."

To support and complement the programme of activities next year, a Glasgow 850 volunteer and employability programme will be launched in October.  More activities particularly, for young people and communities, will be announced in January, as the yearlong programme gets underway.

Throughout 2025 Glasgow will mark its 850^th birthday by delivering, with partners, a yearlong, citywide, programme that celebrates and reflects on our recent past, our present and future. The programme of signature events and community-based activities is being curated in a way that lets all those with a connection to Glasgow, at home and abroad, get involved to tell their stories, honouring     our rich heritage, reflecting on our transformational growth, and inspiring ambitious change for the city's next fifty years. Marking this milestone acknowledges the contributions of generations who have shaped the city, gives a platform to grow a shared sense of belonging and invites people to guide our future. It also helps raise Glasgow's profile on the global stage and encourage visitors to explore our unique city. For more information visit glasgow850.com

Full list of phase 1 Glasgow 850 Festival Fund recipients includes: