Feel Me – The Paper Birds Theatre Company | Tour : Oct 2024 – Feb 2025
What makes us feel for another person? Following 4 years of extensive research and development, UK’s leading devising verbatim theatre company presents FEEL ME, an interrogation of empathy which actively measures audiences’ engagement with the theme during the show.
Back by popular demand, a reworked, new version of FEEL ME tours to venues around England in autumn 2024 and winter 2025. Using a mixture of live performance, film, projection, dance and interactive elements, Feel Me explores the different lenses through which we are told, and connect to stories we hear and read about. In Feel Me, worlds unfold from backpacks, and tents are constructed and dismantled again, each scene and location temporary, like a transient teenager in search of safety, acceptance and a new place to call home.
Snow White & The Seven Drag Queens – UK Tour | 04 to 12 January 2025
Mirror, mirror on the wall, come see the naughtiest North East Adult Panto of all!
After two sell out seasons in Geordieland, the North East Adult Pantomime is back – bigger and better than ever – and this time it’s embarking on a very first UK tour! Join an all-star cast including Gogglebox favourite and Queen of the Jungle Scarlett Moffatt, Celebrity Big Brother Winner David Potts, RuPaul’s Drag Race icons Michael Marouli and Tomara Thomas, as well as other drag favourites and special local guest stars at each venue, as the show visits Newcastle, Brighton, Nottingham, London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, and Wolverhampton from the 4th to 12th January 2025.
Moving Cloud: TRIP & Brìghde Chaimbeul with Scottish Dance Theatre at Celtic Connections | 25 January 2025
Scottish Dance Theatre and Celtic Connections once again join forces to present an exhilarating fusion of live music and dance at this year’s festival. Following the success of their collaboration Moving Cloud, which premiered at the Festival in 2023 before touring the UK to sell-out success, this year sees the 12 strong folk ensemble featuring renowned Glasgow band TRIP and award-winning Scottish piper Brìghde Chaimbeul, and Scottish Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director Joan Clevillé create a new short work that will open an unmissable night.
Catriona Price: Routes to Roots with El Guapo | 31 January 2025
Billed Catriona Price: Routes to Roots with El Guapo audiences at the Drygate on 31 January can expect a night of intercultural collaboration between Scotland and Latin America. Showcasing new work created during a musical journey across Mexico and Chile, the show features special guest appearances from El Guapo (Argentina), Pahua (Mexico) and Daniela Millaleo (Chile). The night also features music from Price‘s solo album Hert, as well as the first glimpse of other brand new music. El Guapo will open the performance with tracks from their debut album “Oye Boludo”, welcoming audiences into a world of eclectic melodies, stirring lyrics and explosive arrangements.
Ring Cycle, Regents Opera, London
Cycle one: Sun 9, Tues 11, Thurs 13 and Sun 16 February 2025
Cycle two: Sun 23, Tues 25, Thurs 27 February and Sun 2 March 2025
Regents opera will present the UK’s only performances of opera’s epic undertaking, Wagner’s full Ring Cycle, in 2025. After the immense success of Regents Opera’s first three installments of Wagner’s Ring Cycle – Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Siegfried, the plucky fringe opera company eyes its performances of the final instalment and full Ring Cycle with determination. This innovative production is performed in the round and specifically arranged for a 22-piece orchestra, conducted by Ben Woodward and directed by Caroline Staunton.
Tullie Museum and Gallery | Saturday 15 February
From February next year, visitors to Tullie House will be welcomed into the brilliantly redeveloped entrance space with a new café and shop and an additional exhibition space on the ground-floor, the Carlisle Gallery, which will reveal the hidden histories of this great Border city.
The addition of a cafe and shop provide a new experience for everyone – museum visitors, locals or tourists. Both spaces are designed to completement the museum’s ethos and will feature locally sourced, bespoke products. The museum’s new Carlisle Gallery will showcase the rich and diverse history of Carlisle through the museum’s unique collections. With a focus on local stories, the gallery invites visitors to explore themes such as wild, social, industrial and revolutionary.
The Travelling Bookbinder: Iona Driftwood Binding Retreat | 8 – 12 March
The travelling bookbinder is offering an opportunity to escape to the elemental Isle of Iona for a special retreat, creating a unique book with driftwood covers. Iona’s spiritual centre makes this the perfect location. The retreat will offer the chance for some imaginative renewal, with an experienced guide who will lead the process of making a book with wooden covers step by step
London Soundtrack Festival | 19 – 26 March 2025
The capital’s first annual Festival dedicated to celebrating the music of film, TV and games, in association with the BFI, will take place from 19 – 26 March 2025. The programme will feature live performances, panel discussions, in-conversation screenings, composer Q&As and masterclasses with some of the biggest names in film, TV and games music. A retrospective of the work of legendary composer Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings, The Silence of the Lambs) joins events celebrating the work of Hildur Guðnadóttir (Tar, Joker), Anna Meredith (Eighth Grade), Anne Dudley (Poldark, The Full Monty), Harry Gregson-Williams (The Martian), Stephen Barton (Star Trek: Picard, Star Wars: Jedi – Fallen Order, Apex Legends), Natalie Holt (Loki, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Paddington) and Paul Farrer (The Chase, Weakest Link), with more artists to be announced soon
Spring Festival 21 – 29 March
Summer Festival 11 – 27 July
Winter Weekend 21 – 23 November
The Ryedale Festival aims to make North Yorkshire one of the best places in Europe to enjoy and encounter classical music, and to do it with a sense of vision and adventure.
The Festival’s Artists in Residence form the backbone of this fantastically varied programme. Just as importantly, the festival offers opportunities to hundreds of local young people and a platform for emerging talent, as well as breaking new ground The beautiful hills and vales, stunning churches, spectacular stately homes and welcoming local arts centres – form part of the pleasure of a trip to Ryedale Festival. Above all, the festival is a team effort involving thousands of people who all believe in the important and life-enhancing role that music can play in our communities
Edinburgh Science Festival | 5 – 20 April 2025
The Edinburgh Science Festival was the world’s first such festival when it launched in 1989. Today it remains the UK’s largest Science Festival and for 2 weeks each year – centred around the Easter break – offers a range of amazing experiences for all ages, with a programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, performances, screenings and discussions between some of the world’s foremost scientific minds. The next Festival will run Saturday 5 – Sunday 20 April and will explore the challenges of living on a planet with finite resources, through the lenses of science fiction and space exploration, with the theme Spaceship Earth.
‘Live like an astronaut’ in the battle cry of a new movement that urges us to learn from the constraints of living on a space station, or a distant planet, where resources are impossibly constrained and every gram of material and watt of energy is precious. Transferring these principles to life on Earth would radically reduce the pressures we place on natural resources.
Restless Natives: The Musical | 24 April – 28th June, tour venues across Scotland
A new stage musical of the iconic Scottish film Restless Natives will run at Perth Theatre from Thursday 24 April until Saturday 10 May before heading out on tour at selected Scottish venues. Produced and directed by the same team who made the original 1985 film alongside co-producers Perth Theatre, Restless Natives: The Musical sees iconic characters the Clown and the Wolfman ride again in a new full stage musical continuing the enduring legacy of one of the films that paved the way for a boom of Scottish cinema.
Scottish Young Musicians | Culminates in the National Final on 26 May 2024
In only 3 years, Scottish Young Musicians has become the largest and most important national music competition in schools, and now Scotland’s leading festival of music competitions is returning for 2025 to give young people across the country the chance to compete for the titles of Solo Performer of the Year, Ensemble of the Year and Brass Ensemble of the Year.
St Magnus Festival | 20 – 27 June 2025
Set against the backdrop of land, sea, sky, history and heritage, Orkney’s annual celebration of the Arts throws a midsummer spotlight on a magical part of Scotland and delivers a diverse cultural offering to visitors from far and wide and also those who live on the islands. The festival celebrates the new, showcases both the renowned and emerging, and brings a year-round opportunity for participation on stage and behind the scenes as well as creative learning projects for all ages. The Festival also supports a range of courses for emerging professional composers, writers, conductors and singers.
Galway International Arts Festival | 14-27 July 2025
“One of the best performing arts festivals in Europe” (New York Times), Galway International Arts Festival announces its 2025 dates: 14 to 27 July.
A fixture in Ireland’s arts calendar for over 45 years, GIAF is an annual event which, over the 14 days and across more than 30 venues, each year offers its audiences the highest quality Irish and international programme of theatre, music, visual arts, opera, street spectacle, dance, discussion and comedy. Some of the highlights of previous editions include performances from The Flaming Lips, Pixies, Joni Mitchell, The National, Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver, St. Vincent or John Grant and shows from the likes of Cormac McCarthy, Ivo van Hove, David Hockney, Marina Abramovic, Royal Court, New York Theatre Workshop and Circa.
The Festival regularly collaborates with leading Irish companies such as Druid, Gate Theatre, Abbey Theatre, Irish National Opera and Landmark Productions. GIAF is also known for producing shows and exhibitions, including Enda Walsh’s critically lauded Rooms series, Max Porter’s Grief is the Thing with Feathers or Ballyturk (co-produced with Landmark Productions), starring Cillian Murphy, Mikel Murfi and Stephen Rea, which won Best Production at the Irish Theatre Awards 2014.
It is located in one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland, Galway County, on Ireland’s stunning Wild Atlantic Way coastal route.
Edinburgh International Festival | 1-24 August 2025
One of the largest annual celebrations of performing arts is back for 2025. This year’s festival is underpinned by the theme ‘The Truth We Seek’, inviting audiences to explore truth in all forms. The first performances announced feature a world premiere and two European premieres: a brand new narrative ballet from Scottish Ballet, Mary Queen of Scots; an international debut for the US-based National Youth Orchestra 2; and the European premiere of Orpheus and Eurydice featuring world class musicians and performers, alongside Australian contemporary circus company Circa.
Edinburgh International Book Festival | 9-24 August
The world’s biggest celebration of the written world returns to the Edinburgh Future Institute this summer, right at the heart of the festival footprint. Every year, the book festival brings together over 500 events with the most exciting writers and thinkers on the planet, igniting imaginations, fostering connection and challenging the status quo. After huge successes in 2024, with over 100 thousand visitors from 55 counties, the Edinburgh International Book Festival is certainly not one to be missed.
Lammermuir Festival | 4 – 15 September 2025
This hugely valued East Lothian festival carefully brings together a programme of incredibly talented musicians, with music that resonates and expands the audience experience in locations across the undulating county between the coast east of Edinburgh and the Lammermuir Hills. The spread across 15 venues also invites those who might not be so familiar with classical music to discover something on their doorsteps, whether in one of the main towns or small villages. This year marks the second year of the two-year audience development and learning initiative developed in collaboration with East Lothian Instrumental Services and with support from Scops Arts Trust which helps to give people access to enjoy and participate in the arts.
Dublin Theatre Festival | September 27 – October 14, 2025
One of Europe’s leading arts festivals and Europe’s oldest specialist theatre festival, Dublin Theatre Festival incorporates theatre, music, dance and family events, as well as artist talks, public discussions and artist development programmes, with performances taking place in venues and locations across the Irish capital and the greater Dublin area.
The Cumnock Tryst | 2 –5 October 2025
The Cumnock Tryst is a meeting place for world-renowned talent to sit alongside local musicians in a celebration of what music is all about. The tryst was founded by world-renowned Scottish composer Sit James MacMillan, who grew up in Cumnock and it has established itself as a festival for and of its local community. After a spectacular 10th anniversary festival in 2024, the 2025 festival will launch with a fantastic performance by The Sixteen at St Johns in Cumnock on 24 May 2025.
The Glasshouse – 20 years of The Glasshouse | Throughout 2025
The Glasshouse International Centre for Music celebrates its milestone 20th year. Since its opening over 14 million minutes of live performances have taken place in its three world-glass spaces for music and 2.7 million music classes have brought people together from toddlers to retirees. To help celebrate its birthday, the organisation will be sharing moments from the last 20 years and plans for its next decade under the theme of ‘Under one iconic roof’. It will also announce two other headline birthday projects to sit alongside November’s success: A Child of Our Time.
The Citizens Theatre | Throughout 2025
The Citizens Theatre finally returns to its iconic Glasgow home, following the highly anticipated completion of redevelopment works on the building. The company originally moved out of its historic home in the Gorbals in June 2018, as work began on the first major redevelopment of the Category B listed building since it began life as a working theatre in 1878. In the years since, the Citizens Theatre has continued to present productions across Glasgow and Scotland in venues, car parks and community centres. Its participation programme has never stopped, including a recent 8-month residency in the Gorbals primary schools. Now the company is preparing to return to its home venue as building works enter their final phase. In Spring 2025, a full programme announcement of shows, beginning from Autumn 2025, is set to be revealed, alongside information on a reopening festival in August 2025.
Edinburgh International Film Festival | Dates TBC
Edinburgh’s International Film Festival will be back for its 78th edition in 2025. EIFF honours 70+ years of film festival history, showcasing the very best talent in filmmaking in a format rooted in a local Scottish context whilst embracing the international diversity of creative expression. The Film Festival encourages general audiences, film fans and industry professionals to make the trip this summer to Edinburgh, which is universally recognised as a place of beauty, history, discovery and adventure. Helmed by Festival Director Paul Ridd and Festival Producer Emma Boa, the team aims to create a world-class showcase for independent film and filmmaking talent.