Get creative with a host of events
Scotland gets set to be the perfect stage
THERE has been a creative explosion since the world started to open up again after Covid restrictions.
People have really missed the opportunity to enjoy unique, immersive experiences showcasing the diverse range of talents we have in Scotland.
Now that we can all live life to the fullest again, it’s wonderful to witness a creative boom and make plans to visit the shows, exhibitions, and events we’ve all missed so much.
One of the exciting new events taking place this year is UNBOXED, billed as a unique celebration of all our creativity taking place in 2022.
It’s a nationwide project but the main commission in Scotland is Dandelion, an ambitious creative programme that follows the arc of the growing season from April to September.
Dandelion is bringing together artists, makers, scientists, performers and technologists to present events across Scotland from our remote islands to great cities.
There will be the chance to visit 13 specially created unexpected gardens at sites across Scotland, or see the Cubes of Perpetual Light – miniature vertical farms growing hundreds of seedlings under LED lights accompanied by specially commissioned music, which take centre stage at two music and food festivals in Glasgow 17-19 June, and Inverness 2 – 4 September.
You can also participate by sowing, growing and sharing your own produce.
The programme will end with hundreds of community harvest festivals across Scotland in Autumn.
This is also the Year of Stories. Stories are a vital part of Scotland’s culture, and every community has a different tale to tell.
You can look forward to events by local and national organisations, community groups, museums, heritage sites and other visitor attractions with storytelling at the heart.
You’ll also have the chance to experience the diversity of stories that Scotland has inspired by visiting the locations from your favourite books, films and songs – from icons to emerging voices, local legends to tales of the natural world.
Tales of the Gaels, Picts, Vikings and Jacobites will be showcased alongside stories of contemporary communities in a schedule of more than 100 events confirmed so far.
Look out for exhibitions, festivals and creative writing workshops among other events for all ages as we celebrate the special place stories have in our hearts.
If we’re celebrating the best of Scottish culture, nothing showcases Scotland’s important rural and agricultural identity better than the iconic Royal Highland Show, which is returning on 23-26 June for its 200th anniversary year.
This is a masterclass in the best of Scottish food, farming and rural life highlighting the traditions that have underpinned our rural backbone for generations.
It will be taking place towards the end of June at Ingliston, Edinburgh.
This year also sees the return of The Big Top – when famous names in popular music will return to the Royal Highland Centre, reviving some of the favourite sounds going back to the 1970s.
Scotland’s biggest promoters, DF Concerts, have revealed plans to stage three weekends of 8000-capacity shows in the kind of tent normally seen at full-scale musical festivals.
Biffy Clyro, Snow Patrol, Madness and Fatboy Slim are just some of the headliners to be confirmed for The Big Top shows, which will run up to and during the Royal Highland Show.
This year, also sees the 75th anniversary year of Edinburgh’s first festivals.
After two years without the full-scale events, expect a joyous return with a packed programme covering 11 festivals across the year.
It starts with the
Science Festival this month, the International Children’s Festival (May 7-15), the Edinburgh International Festival (August 5-28), the Fringe Festival (August 5-29) and many more.