Glasgow Mela draws in huge crowd

Thousands of festival goers enjoyed a day of free music and arts as the 2025 Glasgow Mela attracted a huge crowd to Kelvingrove Park.

Despite a rainy start, the sun made an appearance and so did the crowds, with more than 21,000 people treated to performances by local and international acts on Sunday 22 June.

Performers including Gtown Desi, Saloni and Maya Lakhani starred as Scotland’s biggest South Asian festival of music, dance and arts once again drew in visitors from near and far.

The Mela is delivered by Glasgow Life, the charity which leads culture, events and active living in Glasgow, and is the largest of its kind in Scotland.

Festivalgoers also sampled food from around the world and tried a mix of sports including archery, tennis, pickleball, kabaddi and volleyball.

During the event, Kelvingrove Bandstand held panel discussions and workshops, with topics covering health and wellbeing through the arts, music and memory, and South Asian artists in experimental practices.

The bandstand also staged a collaboration with Glasgow Life Museums’ Intercultural Youth Group to support the Scottish-Asian Creative Artists’ Network’s aim to raise and discuss key issues within and for South Asian communities through the Mela.

The Mela means ‘gathering’ in Sanskrit and is a South Asian celebration of Glasgow’s diverse communities which aims to promote local artists and their rich cultural heritage.

Glasgow’s first Mela was held in 1990, when the city was named European City of Culture. The city’s Mela was initially an indoor celebration at the then newly opened Tramway and has since become a massive outdoor event which draws in tens of thousands of visitors and hundreds of artists and performers from around the world.

The Glasgow Mela was one of seven successful Creative Scotland Multi-Year Funding 2025-28 applications made by Glasgow Life.

Creative Scotland confirmed on 30 January 2025 it has awarded the Mela £50,000 for 2025-26. In total, the event will benefit from £169,100 of Creative Scotland funding over the next three years.