A WINTER festival celebrating Scotland’s arts, comedy, music and heritage is coming to Stirling for St Andrew’s Day.
Viewers from all over the world can tune into the virtual section of the hybrid Caledonia Festival, while some tickets are still available for the live comedy show being held at the city’s Made in Stirling creative hub.
The inaugural festival, taking place on Tuesday, has been organised by Stirling-based social enterprise Ceangail who plan to run a winter event each year to support the creative arts and showcase their talents to a global audience.
The online show runs from midday until 5pm and features a line-up of artists, including bagpiper Ross Miller and singer/songwriter Emma Dunlop, plus performances from Dunblane theatre group Rubber Chicken.
The festival will be hosted by TV and radio presenters Fat Brestovca and Kathryn Wilson, who will also present a short film – Scotland: Myths, Legends and Stories – which they made during a whirlwind tour of some of Scotland’s iconic locations, including Loch Ness and Edinburgh Castle.
Meanwhile, the live comedy night – at Made in Stirling on King Street – features four comedians and runs from 7pm with tickets costing £15.
Ceangail’s director Matt McGrandles said: “We are trying to establish key events for Stirling and have had enormous success in running the city’s Highland Games. Our aim with the Caledonia Festival is to create an annual St Andrew’s Day event that kickstarts the Winter Festival scene in Scotland by working with and showcasing some amazing grassroots and emerging creative talents.
“We have a fantastic opportunity here to celebrate Scotland’s national day and make St Andrew’s Day as big a celebration as St Patrick’s Day.
“I hope as many people as possible will tune into our virtual event which features a range of brilliant performances and a reflective short film about what makes Scotland great and why we should celebrate St Andrews Day even more!”
The festival will also give Ceangail the opportunity to focus on a social enterprise aim in providing practical learning experiences for young people. McGrandles has been working with a group of students from Wallace High School, with the teenagers benefiting from having learned filming, media and organisational skills in the run-up to the event. The pupils will be involved in a “behind the scenes” project on the day of the festival.
Tickets for both the free virtual event and the live comedy programme can be ordered via the Caledonia Festival website at www.caledoniafest.scot/tickets
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