Mary Brennan

How many people does it take to have a light-bulb moment like Glasgow's BuzzCut festival - now about to plunge into its fourth season, and its second programme based in Govan's Pearce Institute? Cast an eye over the five days of the 2015 event, with its roster of 60 performances, selected from a febrile mix of established artists and aspirational newbies, and then let your jaw drop just a little bit more: BuzzCut is the vision-made-actual of just two twenty-somethings, Nick Anderson and Rosana Cade.

When Cade laughs, and says "it's all put together round our kitchen table, actually" she's telling the truth. Ever since the pair of them decided that - in the sudden enforced absence of Nikki Milican's radical New Territories festival - they should fly an encouraging flag for Live Art, they've organised BuzzCut from whatever bit of a table they could rest a laptop. The state of the art they produce is already on the edge, taking risks and challenging conventional methodologies. It's somehow appropriate that Cade and Anderson square up to the logistics of curating and then staging their increasingly ambitious programme with a similar degree of brinkmanship.

It's not that either of them have a lot of free time on their hands. As performers themselves, the recent months have been busy with rehearsing work, showing work and travelling to venues at home and abroad. Moreover, they're both involved in the forthcoming Behaviour season at the Arches. Perhaps, though, the intensity of their commitment to BuzzCut sustains because they're active participants with hands-on experience of what it takes - and also what it means, in terms of creative development - to have work seen by more than just your friends or local fans.

"We were totally overwhelmed by the number of applications that came in when we had our open call for submissions," says Anderson. "And we were really moved, and humbled, by the range of artists who were willing to take part. We make it very clear what we can, and can't offer them. We can cover travel costs, give them a free lunch every day, document their work and provide accommodation - we have willing volunteers all across Glasgow who are ready to offer house room to visiting artists. What we can't do, is give anyone a fee. That's just not possible on the funding we've been given."

He's referring to the £15,000 award from Creative Scotland (CS), a first for BuzzCut although, both Anderson and Cade are quick to point out that they did get funding from CS in 2014 for "public engagement" projects in Govan. That money helped set up the MopTops, a youth group recruited from local teenagers. Last year, they were much in evidence throughout the festival - hard to miss, in their customised t-shirts - but this year, they're part of the programme. "They've been making a video trailer for BuzzCut as well" chips in Cade. "They're going to be Nick and me - we're heading over with some of our clothes for them, but I'm not insisting they shave any hair off!"

The kids from Govan are performing alongside nternationally-acclaimed professionals that include Nic Green, Richard Layzell, Karen Christopher (of Goat Island reknown) and Jamie McMurry.

Could that be the same radical McMurry who exploded onto the Glasgow scene in Nikki Milican's ground-breaking National Review of Live Art in 2007, and then again in 2010? Anderson positively beams. It is.

"We're not paying his fare from America," she hastens to add. "He's going to be in the UK, and was really keen to be in BuzzCut. He actually helped support us financially in 2012, when we were starting out and had no proper funding. He couldn't make it over then, but he's kept in touch. For us, this kind of interest in what we do confirms our own instincts that BuzzCut is all about a nourishment of artistic practice, and about community. That community is also all our volunteers, all the people who make Pearce Institute into a venue for us. It's also the audience and it's also very much about Govan."

And now, it's also about the ten artists who will, post-BuzzCut, head off to the Highlands for a mentoring residency led by Richard Layzell. Cade recalls how the morning-after BuzzCut ends has always felt a total downer. "We always felt there were loose ends. Feedback that didn't get shared, especially among the new artists or those who were showing works-in-progress. Now, thanks to the Jerwood Foundation (who awarded them £10,000 for this residency project) we can continue those dialogues, and then in August, the artists will be part of the Forest Fringe showcase in Edinburgh." It's a mighty endeavour, so full of wise ambitions and constructive support - dreamt up by a couple of visionaries at a kitchen table. Buzzin'? Believe it.

Details of BuzzCut 2015 are on glasgowbuzzcut.wordpress.com. Events are unticketed. Proceeds from a Pay-what-You-Can scheme will go to the artists.