{"id":412399,"date":"2025-09-10T05:59:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T05:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/412399\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T05:59:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T05:59:28","slug":"student-heads-up-20-events-to-check-out-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/412399\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Heads Up: 20 events to check out this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

Princes St Gardens, Edinburgh, 13-14 Sep<\/p>\n

Start as you mean to go on with this big outdoor party from Scottish clubbing mainstays FLY. The lineup includes &ME, Joy Orbison, KILIMANJARO and Effy; the setting is iconic; there\u2019s loads of afterparties if you want to keep things rolling.\u00a0Photo: Ryan Johnston<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Various venues, Glasgow, 11 Oct<\/p>\n

What better way to get to know the East End than swinging between its various gig venues? The Barrowlands, Saint Luke\u2019s and BAaD host this year\u2019s Tenement Trail, with a lineup packed with great new Scottish bands (look out for Soapbox<\/a>, Cowboy Hunters<\/a> (pictured) and Theo Bleak<\/a>), and headlined by Pale Waves.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Block 414<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Caird Hall, Dundee, 6 Nov<\/p>\n

The annual celebration of Scotland\u2019s best new music is in Dundee this year<\/a>, with an awards ceremony at the Caird Hall on 6 Nov. Even if you don\u2019t make it along, the SAY Award is a great excuse to listen back to some of the great albums released by Scottish artists in the past year \u2013 the 20-strong longlist is released on 25 Sep.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Alan Richardson via SAY Award<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Various venues, Glasgow, 15 Jan – 1 Feb 2026<\/p>\n

Get back from Christmas break and right back at it with Celtic Connections, Glasgow\u2019s annual festival of folk and roots music from around the world. Expect a mix of folk sessions, big gigs and unique collaborations \u2013 it\u2019ll definitely help shake off the cobwebs.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Brendan Waters<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Various venues, 11-29 Mar 2026<\/p>\n

Glasgow Comedy Festival has a bit of everything: previews, touring shows and works-in-progress from big names, and showcases of Scottish comic talent. Early highlights include the new show from Taskmaster\u2019s Bridget Christie, and a chance to see Christopher Macarthur-Boyd\u2019s excellent Fringe show Howling At The Moon<\/a> in the palatial surroundings of the King\u2019s Theatre.\u00a0Photo: curse these eyes<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 28 Mar – 22 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

The cream of the crop from 2025\u2019s art school degree shows come together under the enormous columns of the RSA for the annual New Contemporaries exhibition. Dozens of artists from across the country in one big exhibition, with some late-night parties thrown in for good measure.\u00a0Photo: Julie Howden<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

Various venues across Scotland, 18 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

Over the years, RSD has become an unofficial public holiday for music-lovers. We\u2019re talking big queues for Record Store Day exclusives, pop-up gigs, afterparties, and a genuinely buzzy and lovely atmosphere all day long (helped by the fact that the weather is often suspiciously good for the time of year). Photo:\u00a0Jonny Mowat<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Hawick, Scottish Borders, 30 Apr – 3 May 2026<\/p>\n

Film students \u2013 it\u2019s time for a road trip! Alchemy is one of the UK\u2019s very best festivals of experimental film and artists\u2019 moving image<\/a>, with a warm welcome for anyone who makes the trip south, and a huge programme of screenings and events waiting for you on your arrival.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Sanne Gault for Alchemy Film & Arts<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

2026 Degree Shows
\nAberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, May-Jun<\/p>\n

Graduating art students: it\u2019s your time to shine, and share your work on an undoubtedly big platform. Studying art students: an ideal chance to be nosy and see what your peers are up to. Everyone else: here are some massive, exciting exhibitions to check out and some afters to try and blag your way into. Everyone wins.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Agnes Sharp and Rita Rogers, Sculpture and Environmental Art, GSA Degree Show 2025<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Venues across Glasgow, 5-21 Jun<\/p>\n

The biennial festival of contemporary art will take over the city next June with a mix of big exhibitions, artist-led productions, unique collaborations and one-off events. Keep an eye on GI\u2019s socials for more info.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Wah Yen (2024) by Wei Zhang, copyright Glasgow International and the artist<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Kelburn Castle, near Largs, 2-6 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

Our favourite Scottish music festival, Kelburn offers a real community feel, an absolutely beautiful setting on the west coast, a huge art programme and a selection of great bands, musicians and DJs from across Scotland and beyond. Get your crew together (for your sake, grab at least one person with access to a car) and have a great weekend.\u00a0Photo: Kelburn Garden Party<\/p>\n

\"Nighttime<\/p>\n

The Edinburgh Festivals
\nAugust 2026<\/p>\n

You may have heard of them. The International, Book, Film, Art and Fringe Festivals will all be back next August, offering thousands of shows at venues across the city all month long \u2013 and countless opportunities to get a bit of bar or front-of-house work then spend all the money immediately on \u2018having fun\u2019.\u00a0Photo: Edinburgh University Students’ Association<\/p>\n

And eight more events to look out for…<\/p>\n

Scottish Queer International Film Festival <\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Various venues, Glasgow, 27 Oct – 1 Nov<\/p>\n

Scotland Loves Anime<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0GFT, Glasgow, 31 Oct – 2 Nov; Cameo, Edinburgh, 10-16 Nov<\/p>\n

Lighthouse Radical Book Fair<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh, 6-9 Nov<\/p>\n

Christmas Art Markets<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0Out of the Blue Drill Hall and Fruitmarket, Edinburgh; Kelvingrove and Alchemy Experiment, Glasgow, dates tbc<\/p>\n

Manipulate Arts<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0Venues across Edinburgh, Feb 2026<\/p>\n

Glasgow Film Festival<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0Various venues, 25 Feb – 8 Mar 2026<\/p>\n

Glasgow Short Film Festival<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0Venues across Glasgow, 18-22 Mar 2026<\/p>\n

Sonica<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0Venues across Glasgow, 24 Sep – 4 Oct 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Princes St Gardens, Edinburgh, 13-14 Sep Start as you mean to go on with this big outdoor party…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-412399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115178477540295518","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}