MNS FESTIVALS! supplement (May21-23)

MUSIC FESTIVALS - MUSIC FESTIVALS - MUSIC FESTIVALS - MUSIC FESTIVALS
Merchant City Festival is back for 2021
Glasgow :: 8-11 July :: www.merchantcityfestival.com
Merchant City
Festival is set to
return this summer,
and will take place
between 8-11 July.
The celebrated Glasgow festival will showcase a long
weekend of entertainment with outdoor arts, circus,
dance and more, brightening up some of Glasgow’s
best-loved streets and in venues in and around the
Merchant City area of the city.
An Opening Carnival celebration, inspired by Baroque
Venetian themes, will open the festival in style on
Thursday 8 July with pop-up performances in a
variety of places. The full programme will be
announced in the following weeks.
The 2021 festival will be slightly different to previous
years to ensure compliance with current Public Health
guidelines. All events during the festival will continue
to be free to attend however due to current
restrictions, several of the programmed events will
need to be pre-booked online to ensure numbers are
managed in the safest way.
To mark the launch of the 2021 edition, Merchant City
retailers and restaurants are being invited to apply to
the festival’s Get Involved Fund which offers a £500
grant to businesses operating in the area to join in
the festival atmosphere and organise some
entertainment and cultural activity within or outside
their premises during the event.
Premises who are existing licence holders are also
being invited to apply to extend their licenced outdoor
areas for the duration of the festival so that food and
drink provision will be readily available across the
festival site. There will be no markets or additional
food and drink provisions aside from what is already
in operation in the Merchant City this year.
Councillor David McDonald, Chair of Glasgow
Life said: “We can’t wait to welcome the return of
Merchant City Festival this summer. It is such a warm
and welcoming event and with restrictions starting to
lift and light appearing at the end of this difficult year
we look forward to sharing the programme of
engaging and celebratory events with you over the
coming weeks. The local retailers, restaurant and bars
EVENTS FREE but TICKETED (available soon) @ www.merchantcityfestival.com
within Merchant City are an integral part of the
festival every year and I do encourage as many as
possible to sign up to the Get Involved Fund so we
can help facilitate them being an even bigger part of
what is set to be a feel-good and exciting long
weekend of culture and fun.”
Lorenzo Mele, Merchant City Festival Executive
Producer, said: Although the festival offering won’t
be the same as previous years, the programme will
continue to be centred around a rich cultural
experience, with community at its heart. The Festival
will celebrate the best from Scotland and the UK in
outdoor performance, covering circus, dance,
carnival, music, outdoor theatre and cabaret. While it
will look and feel different from previous years, it will
still surprise and delight as familiar streets and spaces
are transformed by performances and excitement.
The Festival will continue to support the local
businesses in the Merchant City, working closely with
them to present performances and encourage a safe
return to the cultural heart of the city. We will also
continue to explore the difficult history of the area
with its roots in the Transatlantic Slave trade and
British colonialism.”
www.merchantcityfestival.com
www.twitter.com/MerchCityFest
www.facebook.com/MerchantCityFestival
www.ticketsglasgow.com
www.bethnielsenshapman.com
www.fallenangelsclub.com
facebook @ www.facebook.com/The-Fallen-Angels-Club-149553931728736
twitter @ www.twitter.com/KevoMorris
email your festival news to alastair.musicnewsscotland@gmail.com