History
First held in 1993, Glasgay! is now well and truly into its second decade and has expanded to 30 days in 2005 and is now the UK's largest multi-arts festival for LGBT people (and their friends), celebrating the talent and diversity of the Scottish LGBT community (and way beyond) the festival also provides a platform for aspiring artists.
Glasgay! is Scotland's annual celebration of queer culture. The festival was founded in 1993 by Cordelia Ditton and Dominic D'Angelo. The festival's operating company GALA Scotland Ltd was incorporated in 1995. The Company operates from its new base at Rose & Grants, 27-29 Trongate Glasgow G1 5EZ, located in the heart of Glasgow's Merchant City and a growing cultural quarter.
In February 2004 Steven Thomson was appointed Producer of the Glasgay! festival. Since his appointment the festival has grown from a small fortnight long festival of circa 3,000 attenders to a large month long celebration at nearly 20 venues attracting up to 25,000 visitors. He has successfully repositioned the festival as Scotland's annual celebration of queer culture, grown public funding, increased private sponsorship, and diversified the income base. The programme continues to have a strong international flavour and he is currently developing a programme of commissions of new work for the next three years ahead.
From 2005-2011 the Company operated the Q! Gallery, Scotland's first gallery dedicated to queer art and artists. In Autumn 2011 the festival opens its new cafe/deli/performance space, Rose & Grants, a deliberately theatrical small-scale cabaret and performance hub.
The Glasgay festival is presented annually from mid October to mid November. The festival presents a professional programme of top acts and new artists from around the world with events spanning comedy, music, film, theatre, visual art, performance art, literature, club nights, education events,community arts projects.
The programme is balance of high-profile visits from international artists from around the world and established and emergent artists from across the UK. The events take place at venues across Glasgow.
Glasgay is funded by Creative Scotland and Glasgow City Council. The festival also receives commercial sponsorship and occasional grants from trusts and foundations.
The producer, the festival, and the city Glasgow have been given numerous awards since 2005 ... gay.com Top 4th gay destination; Fodors and Frommers top destination of 2006 and the Producer listed as one of top 100 cultural movers and shakers of year (2005, 2006 & 2009) in Scotland.
Read more about this topic: Glasgay! Festival
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