My 10 favourite arts events that are not the Edinburgh Festival

The Herald Scotland

11-08-2025

Tolbooth, Stirling, until September 27
Returning for its eighth year, the Stirling Photography Festival is home to four exhibitions and a series of talks, as well as the launch of the Stirling 900 commemorative photobook. The highlight this year is undoubtedly an exhibition by Ron O'Donnell whose exhibition will be the first in the city of his birth (he's a Raploch boy). It takes in everything from his street photography of the 1970s to the constructed imagery with which he made his name.
The festival will also display the work of Simon Murphy (once of this parish), whose documentary work in Govanhill over the last 16 years will be on show at the Macrobert Arts Centre until mid-September, and Jennifer Charlton, winner of the MPB Scottish Portrait Award last year. Her portrait work will be on display at the Barracks Conference Centre in Stirling until September 24. Images from the Stirling 900 photography book will also be on show at the Church of the Holy Rude. For more details of exhibitions and events visit stirlingphotographyfestival.co.uk
Big City, 2025
Bandstand & Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, August 16
Short notice, I know, but concluding this year's Summer Nights run of gigs at Kelvingrove Bandstand in Glasgow, the annual Big City festival brings together a line-up of indie acts for your delectation. Irish drone folksters Lankum are the headliners, with support from Gruff Rhys, Snapped Ankles and Prolapse amongst others. Mogwai will also be on hand with a DJ set at the QMU.
Piping Live! Various venues, Glasgow, August 16
In fact, it's a busy weekend in Glasgow. The 22nd edition of Glasgow's international piping festival has been occupying Glasgow Green, the National Piping Centre in Otago Street, Kelvingrove Museum, Buchanan Street, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, St Luke's over the last few days. You may have noticed. (There was even a cheeky trip along the M8 to the Scots Guards Club in Edinburgh for An Evening of International Piping with the Eagle Pipers Society).
But it all culminates in the World Pipe Band Championships on Glasgow Green on Saturday, August 16. To make the most of it, an early start is required. Hope you have your sandwiches ready. For more details visit pipinglive.co.uk
Piping Live! (Image: Gordon Terris)
Proise Mhuile, Tobermory Beach, August 17, 3pm-8pm
And further afield, Mull's annual Pride gathering takes place this weekend, with face painting and music on Tobermory Beach on Sunday, followed by a 'loud and proud' family disco at An Tobar between 6pm and 8pm. Wear your rainbow colours with pride.
Paula Rego, Visions of English Literature
Dick Institute, Kilmarnock, until September 27
Day trip to Ayrshire? Why not pop over to Kilmarnock to take in this touring exhibition from London's Hayward Gallery. A gather-up of the work of the great Portuguese painter and illustrator, it concentrates on her printmaking and in particular her work illustrating literary works Peter Pan and Jane Eyre, as well as nursery rhymes, all made across a decade of the artist's life. There will also be personal artefacts from Rego's life, many of which have never been seen before in public. Rego who died at the age of 87 in 2022 is one of the great storytellers of modern art, her work at times a bruising account of female lives under male subjection. She painted female rage with acute tenderness. One of the great 20th-century artists, male or female.
Cinemasters, Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, various dates
Glasgow Film Theatre's regular Cinemasters retrospective slot sees a significant shift of gears in August as the cinema says farewell to body horror provocateur David Cronenberg and hello to comedy king Rob Reiner. Or so you might think. But you could say his adaptation of Stephen King's thriller Misery, which screens on August 16 and August 19, might be a case of anything Cronenberg can do … (hat bit with Kathy Bates and a sledgehammer! Urgh. Is it the best adaptation of a Stephen King novel? Feel free to discuss, (though I might opt for Dolores Claiborne myself. Kathy Bates is in that one too).
Anyway, there will be laughs too. Reiner's masterpiece This Is Spinal Tap is scheduled for August 24 and August 27. Turn it up to 11.
Mull of Kintyre Music Festival
Various venues, Campbeltown, August 20-24
Going strong since 1993 (Capercaillie were the first headliners way back then), the MoK Festival returns, with Skerryvore and the Karen Matheson Band topping the bill. There will be live sessions in bars, family entertainment, musical workshops, historical walks, distillery tours and a fusion of Scots and Irish music. For more details, visit mokfest.com
Karen Matheson (Image: Gordon Terris)
Edge Festival
Lillardsedge Park, Jedburgh, August 30 & 31
Listen, you can't please everyone, right? The fact that the Saturday night headliner at this year's Edge Festival is Olly Murs might not appeal to some of us (I'm sure he's a lovely bloke, but he's also the epitome of that dread phrase 'light entertainment'). Still, festivals are always a pick-and-mix. If you're not keen on Olly you can at least enjoy Sister Sledge, fronted by Kathy Sledge herself. The Saturday bill also includes Skipinnish and an afternoon appearance from Newton Faulkner.
Sunday, meanwhile, sees Travis headline, with support from Nathan Carter, Vengaboys and the Bay City Rollers (pretty much all bases ticked there).
The Great Gatsby (Image: Derby Theatre)
The Great Gatsby
Pitlochry Theatre, Pitlochry, until September 25
F Scott Fitzgerald's much lauded novel - we can all agree it's one of the great works of literature of the 20th century, can't we? - is now 100 years old and by all accounts Elizabeth Newman's adaptation for the stage does it justice. There's a grand set, actor-musicians performing a spot of jazz and Oraine Johnson playing Jay Gatsby. Our own Neil Cooper gave it a four-star review.
International Garden Photographer of the Year 18
Verdant Works, Dundee, until September 8
The annual garden photography exhibition has returned to Dundee for a third year and can be seen at Verdant Works. A showcase of the best in contemporary garden photography, it would make a good double bill with the V&A's ongoing Garden Futures exhibition down at the river.