Press release -

Mackintosh Festival returns with a sprinkling of Homecoming magic

The Creative Mackintosh Festival 2014 is back for a third year this October with a month-long programme of arts and cultural events celebrating the life and genius of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow’s most famous architect, designerand artist and is part of Homecoming Scotland 2014.

Now in its third year, the festival will run from 1st – 31st October 2014 in Mackintosh venues throughout the city, and further afield, with the addition of several new partner venues to this year’s programme. Attendees to this year’s festival can also enjoy Mackintosh in: Glasgow Women’s Library; Provand’s Lordship; St Mungo Museum of Religious Life & Art; Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, Nitshill; The Glad Café in Shawlands and Lyon & Turnbull, an auction house in the city’s Bath Street.

Visitors are invited to unleash their creativity during the month with a series of exhibitions, talks, tours, music events, kids’ activities, workshops and walks. Many of the events are FREE and appeal to all ages and tastes.

This year’s highlights include:

Unlooking - the key creative commission of this year’s festival.  Created by Alex Rigg and Oceanallover, this is a promenade performance featuring costumes inspired by Mackintosh paintings.  Unlooking is a dramatic and thought-provoking piece which will be performed at six Mackintosh venues including:  Kelvingrove; Scotland Street School Museum; The Hill House and Willow Tea Rooms.  

Mackintosh Architecture at The Hunterian – the first major exhibition devoted to architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.  See over 80 drawings, many never exhibited before, alongside specially commissioned film, models and rarely seen archive material.

Glasgow School of Art Walking Tours – the Glasgow Style & the Glasgow Miracle walking tours will run throughout the month with every ticket purchased supporting The Glasgow School of Art.

The Lighthouse will host its popular evening talks and workshops on Mackintosh and this year’s new event: ‘Lighthouse Late’ in conjunction with The List magazine – an evening of food, drink, music and entertainment.

The Story of House for an Art Lover – visit the House for an insight into its creation as told by four of the most significant contributors including, James Cosgrove and David Leslie and a pop-up restaurant with The Chefs Larder – 20% of the ticket price will be donated to the Mackintosh Building Fire Fund.

Music at Mackintosh Church – a great opportunity to experience sublime classical music in the surroundings of Mackintosh’s only built church.  A series of musical events will take place throughout the month, the highlight being a musical recital from Fergus Hetherington on violin, joined by Frankfurt-based pianist Gavin Brady.

New venues, St Mungo Museum of Religious Art and Provand’s Lordship will host a series of talks and workshops where you can hone your creative skills and there’s an opportunity to see two original Mackintosh drawings - one of Provand’s Lordship - up close. The Glad Café in Shawlands will host a lecture by Roger Bilcliffe, Scotland’s foremost art critic, who will talk about Mackintosh’s life and work in the south of France. Lyon & Turnbull will host talks and events and show furniture, paintings and objects by Mackintosh and his contemporaries from private collections, not generally on display to the public. Mackintosh Stained Glass will be hosted by Linda Cannon, an associate of the British Society of Master Glass Painters at Glasgow City Heritage Trust.

Commenting on the programme, Ian Elder, Chair, Glasgow Mackintosh said: “We are thrilled to be running a month-long programme of arts and cultural events, celebrating the life of Mackintosh in this very special year forGlasgow.  It’s with great pleasure that we have added new venues as this allows us to widen the audience, both on a local and international level.  The Festival offers opportunities to appreciate his buildings, art and design work. Many of the objects are only being displayed during the Festival.” 

Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, said:  “The fire at the Mackintosh Building was a harsh reminder of how loved his designs are and the overwhelming global support for its restoration clearly shows that the international reputation of one of Glasgow’s favourite son remains as strong as ever. Among all his talents, Charles Rennie Mackintosh was an innovator and I’m sure he would be excited to see the wide variety of commissions, creations and events that have been inspired in his name. This year’s programme is a fantastic contribution to the year of Homecoming and will help make sure this is a summer to remember for Glasgow and all of Scotland.”

ENDS

For full information: http://www.glasgowmackintosh.com/festival 

Topics

  • Tourism

Categories

  • homecoming 2014

Regions

  • Scotland

Notes to Editors:

  • Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
  • VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland. 
  • The organisation has three key roles:
  1. To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
  2. To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
  3. To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations
  • VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
  • The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
  • 2014 is the year Scotland welcomes the world, when it hosts the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and more than 800 Homecoming events throughout the country.For more information on Homecoming Scotland 2014, go to www.visitscotland.com
  • The VisitScotland Information Centre network is a unique face-to-face channel engaging with around five million visitors and locals each year. Everyone who uses a VisitScotland Information Centre goes on to spend an additional £5.35, generating over £24 million for Scotland’s economy. 
  • According to a recent Deloitte study, tourism employs 270,000 people in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the industry contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
  • Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
  • For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
  • For information about business tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
  • For more information on VisitScotland’s annual review please go to www.visitscotland.org/about_us/our_focus/annual_report.aspx

Contacts

Chelsea Charles

Press contact Scotland’s Themed Years Communications & Engagement Manager Contact for media enquiries on: Scotland’s Themed Years (i.e. 2018 Year of Young People; 2020 Year of Scotland's Coast and Waters; 2022 Year of Scotland's Stories) 0131 472 2067

Carrie MacWilliam

Press contact Senior Corporate Press Officer - National Contact for media enquiries on: Travel media (Scotland); Year of Young People; UK Marketing; Dundee; Fife; Angus; Perthshire 0131 472 2052

Amelia Whittaker

Press contact Senior Corporate Press Officer - Regional Contact for media enquiries on: South Region; Edinburgh and Lothians; Food and Drink; Scottish Thistle Awards 01750 723806

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