The programme of events celebrating the 850th anniversary of Glasgow as a city has been released with plenty of action for people to get involved in throughout the entire year.

With only 100 days left until 2025, details of how Glasgow will celebrate its year long birthday have been announced including arts and culture events and funding for annual events to put their own spin on Glasgow 850.

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.”

Countdown to Glasgow 850 celebrations is on (Image: GCC)

Central to the programme is commissioned ‘signature’ activities and events including a three-day music extravaganza, a People’s Palace pop-up exhibition, and a Taste the Place food trail.

However, hometown favourite events which showcase the cities talent are in for a boost of up to £10,000 to get involved in the events.

Internationally renowned festivals such as Glasgow Comedy Festival, Glasgow Film Festival, Piping Live!, and summer favourites including Mela, and Merchant City Festival will each receive the sum from the Glasgow 850 Festival Fund.

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.” 

Summer music festival TRNSMT is also hosting a special Glasgow 850 stage showcasing local performers, as part of the celebrations.

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.

The People’s Palace may currently be closed for refurbishments, but from February next year the public be able to get their fill 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.

READ MORE: 

Food lovers will also have plenty to look forward to as 40 eateries across Glasgow’s thriving dining scene take part in the Taste the Place Food Trail.

The event provides the perfect 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.

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.”

As the city gets closer to the celebrations and the end of 2024, more activities will be announced for young people in particular and communities.

The council will also be launching a volunteer and employability programme in October to get people across the area involved.