Celtic Connections 2023
The internationally renowned festival is set to celebrate its 30th anniversary this January with an ambitious and eclectic programme of music that will be showcased between Thursday 19th January - Sunday 5th February 2023.
Celtic Connections Launches 30th Anniversary Festival
Celtic Connections, the home of world-class music, one-off collaborations, and genre-defying spectacles, is set to celebrate its 30th anniversary this January. The internationally renowned festival will mark this milestone with an ambitious and eclectic programme of music that will be showcased between Thursday 19th January – Sunday 5th February 2023.
The 30th Anniversary will be a pinnacle moment for the festival as it recognises the advancements and achievements of the last thirty years and all that organisers have overcome to bring people together in a defining cultural celebration. It will also acknowledge and celebrate the resilience of the Scottish music scene, and the live entertainment industry, in the face of adversity.
It would be fair to say that there was a sense of apprehension for that very first festival back in 1994 – many questioned the idea of celebrating Scotland’s folk music on such a large scale during the dark month of January.
However, against the odds the first festival was hailed a huge success, staging 66 events across one venue and welcoming 27,000 attendees. Celtic Connections, which is delivered through Glasgow Life with funding from Glasgow City Council, is now internationally recognised as a world-class event and has grown to over 300 events across 30 stages, with an annual attendance figure of over 110,000.
With the global pandemic hitting in 2020, the festival team re-evaluated their output and were one of the first events to put on a completely digital-first festival, where organisers created unique content from specially commissioned projects and performances that were filmed across many of Glasgow’s much-loved venues. This unique footage culminated in 30 specially commissioned projects and performances available to view across a period of 19 days. Over 27,000 tickets and passes were sold for the online festival and viewers from over 60 countries tuned in.
Donald Shaw, Creative Producer for Celtic Connections, said: “Our 30th anniversary is a hugely important moment for the festival, especially considering the last couple of years. We will, of course, be paying homage to the musicians, bands and artists who have contributed, supported and inspired the festival over the last three decades, but importantly this is also a moment to look to the future. The last two years have been incredibly tough for so many musicians and the live entertainment industry in general, so Celtic Connections 2023 is an opportunity to commemorate how far the festival and the Scottish music scene has come, and to also celebrate the fact that we are still here.
