Luminate Festival 2014

From Luminate

Luminate is an important element in Scotland’s events calendar, going from strength to strength following the outstanding success of the past two festivals. This year’s wide ranging programme will again embrace the length and breadth of Scotland hosting dance, drama, music, visual arts and outreach events that celebrate creativity, share stories, and explore what ageing means to all of us.

Major performances of the festival include a tour of Love Letters Straight from Your Heart by Uninvited Guests, an event that is somewhere between a wedding reception, a wake and a radio dedication show – so let’s raise our glasses! Also touring is Let Me Stay, a tender and unique exploration of Alzheimer’s by Julie McNamara who shares a lifetime of love as seen through the eyes of her mother. At Summerhall audiences are invited to engage with the intriguing and uncrowned Queen of 1950s Soho in Still Life: An Audience with Henrietta Moraes, created and performed by Sue MacLaine, and taking the form of a life drawing class. Vanishing Point’s Tomorrow at Tramway is also part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, and John Byrne’s new version of Colquhoun and MacBryde will be at the Tron Theatre as part of Glasgay!

Changing Room - an interactive installation work by Denise Zygadlo and Jo Hodges

Dance continues to play an important role in the Luminate programme. J O U R N E Y, created by Belgian choreographer Koen De Preter and featuring two dancers who bridge the gap between young and old. Performed at Woodend Barn, J O U R N E Y is also part of DanceLive. Company Chordelia’s Dance Derby tells the story of the dance marathons of 1930s American depression, directed and choreographed by Kally Lloyd-Jones; and grande-dame of anarchic dance Liz Aggiss is The English Channel can be seen at the Lemon Tree.

The spoken word is a major element of this year’s festival around Scotland, with events from Sutherland in partnership with the Portskerra International Storytelling Festival, to Feis an Linn gu Linn: Generations, a bilingual event in Lochmaddy in North Uist. Near Inverness, Writing Your Life at Moniack Mhor Writers Centre is a creative writing workshop exploring ways of recording your life, and in Dundee join poet Paula Jennings as she reads from her forthcoming collection Under a Spell Place: Voicing Dementia.

Advanced Style & The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved my Life  - Documentary screening at Catstrand

In visual arts, Colin Gray: a journey with his parents through love, life and death is a selection of works documenting his 34-year collaborative journey with his parents, and includes a preview of new work from Do Us Part and talks at North Edinburgh Arts Centre and Stills. Peerie Boxes in Shetland is an exhibition of trinket boxes collected by 80-year-old Laura, and curated by artists Clair Adlington and Kristi Tait. In Glasgow, A Place to Sit is an exhibition at CCA of textiles by people diagnosed with dementia working with artist Deirdre Nelson, and in Livingston, It’s the People that Make the Place is an intergenerational art project working in mixed media.

For full programme listings or to download a copy of the Luminate brochure visit the website here