Arts and Music
Inspiring creativity and expression
Our arts and music activity strengthened Glasgow’s cultural life in 2025/26, supporting artists, audiences and communities to create and enjoy exceptional experiences across the city.
From major international events and live performances to grassroots creative activity in local communities, Glasgow Life’s Arts and Music teams ensured culture remained accessible across the city throughout 2025/26.
More than 550,000 visits to our cultural venues highlighted the continuing importance of arts and music in shaping Glasgow’s reputation as a dynamic, welcoming and creative city – supporting wellbeing, inspiring participation and creating memorable shared experiences for residents and visitors alike.
From local stages to global impact
Glasgow’s Concert Halls staged over 320 performances with nearly 340,000 tickets sold through our Box Office. The diverse programme featured artists from Lily Allen to Robert Plant, alongside a landmark 90th birthday concert for renowned Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.
Our community touring programme brought accessible experiences to neighbourhoods across the city. A largely free programme of family-friendly arts, music, theatre and panto performances animated community venues throughout autumn and winter.
Tramway strengthened its role as an influential hub for the development, production and presentation of contemporary visual art, dance, and performance, working with more than 60 creative companies, programme partners, and some of the most exciting local and global artists.
Shaping Glasgow's cultural future
Alongside a busy performance programme, more than £1 million was invested in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to enhance the audience experience and improve environmental sustainability through a new PA system, solar panels, LED lighting and upgraded Wi-Fi. The venue’s main auditorium was in use for nearly 80% of the year, including more than 80 rehearsal days for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Festivals and cultural events remained central to our work, underlining Glasgow’s status as a UNESCO City of Music and demonstrating the power of the arts, music, creativity and heritage to bring people together across cultures and communities.
Celtic Connections achieved the highest ticket sales in the event’s 33-year history, cementing its reputation as the world’s largest winter festival of traditional, folk and roots music. More than 114,000 attendances were recorded across 300 events, which featured 1,600 artists over 18 days and 25 city venues.
A major milestone was the award of £2.3m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to unlock the next phase of our Sauchiehall Street Culture and Heritage District project. This significant investment recognises the street’s importance to Glasgow’s identity and will support the restoration and animation of key heritage assets, including the McLellan Galleries and Victorian Cameron Memorial Fountain.
Crucially, it also enables continued collaboration with communities and partners to revitalise Sauchiehall Street as a leading cultural and creative destination over the next decade.
Tramway highlights included a major exhibition by renowned Brazilian sculptor Solange Pessoa, her first presentation in a UK institution, followed by the opening of the most ambitious solo exhibition to date by Edinburgh-born artist Rae-Yen Song, continuing the venue’s long-standing support for Glasgow School of Art graduates.
At City Halls and the Old Fruitmarket, we partnered with the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) to host their annual conference in September 2025. Delivered with Creative Scotland and UK Music, the event brought together more than 200 artists, industry professionals and policymakers for two-days of strategic planning that will inform a new Scottish Music Industry Roadmap through to 2030.
Preparations also continued for Glasgow International 2026, Scotland’s biennial festival of contemporary art, including the appointment of new Festival Director Helen Nisbet and the launch of a major programme featuring local and international artists.
Opening doors to the creative industries
Our innovative ILM programme helped city artist Kevin build his confidence and career.
We’re committed to ensuring everyone in Glasgow has the opportunity to participate in the city’s cultural life and creative economy.
Working with Jobs and Business Glasgow, we launched the city’s first Creative Industries Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) placement, offering an eight-month pathway into the creative sector for artists from underrepresented groups.
Between May and December 2025, our Arts and Music team mentored Creative Artist Kevin Brannigan. During his placement, Kevin developed four short stories, drafted a novella with the potential to become his first novel, gained hands-on experience across our cultural venues, and assisted producers with casting for our community touring pantomime.
We spoke to Kevin about the positive impact the programme has had on his confidence, practice and career development.
Putting creativity at the heart of Glasgow’s communities
Three new artist-led projects are exploring climate themes through community participation.
During 2025/26, we launched three new Artists in Communities projects connecting artists and local people across the city to explore the climate emergency through creativity over the next two years.
Supported by Creative Scotland Multi-Year Funding, the programme uses participatory arts to strengthen wellbeing, build social connections and support positive change in communities.
In Garnethill, Join the Dots collective will use performance, food events and growing projects to bring people together. In the East End, artist Ciara Neufeldt will explore seasonal change and climate-conscious living through craft, clay and ceramics. And in Castlemilk, Laura Bradshaw and Murray Wason will transform a vacant shop into a welcoming creative hub, delivering workshops and activity across streets, woodland and river spaces.
Since 2018, our Artists in Communities programme has supported more than 35 artists and collectives to deliver almost 100 projects across Glasgow, engaging over 98,000 participants.
Independent evaluation shows the programme helps broaden access to creativity, particularly for people facing barriers, with participants reporting positive impacts on their confidence and wellbeing.