2014: the next year of culture

Back in 1990, Glasgow held the title of European City of Culture and became the first city in the UK to adopt the approach of using the arts as a catalyst for urban regeneration.

It will be a hard act to follow. Events in that year ranged from the world-famous Bolshoi Opera and performances by Frank Sinatra and Luciano Pavarotti to the Big Day music festival, while a highly visible legacy remains today in the form of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

But organisers hope the 2014 Commonwealth Games cultural festival, which is being backed by £14 million of funding, will boost the city's image, build on the arts infrastructure and widen access to cultural events.

Culture 2014 will start this year, while Festival 2014 will run at the same time as the Games, from July 19 to August 3.

Dr Bridget McConnell, director of ceremonies, culture and Queen's Baton Relay at Glasgow 2014 and chief executive of Glasgow Life, told the Sunday Herald it would be the biggest concentrated cultural programme in the city since 1990.

"You will really get a sense of it when you are in the city. I'm afraid [it won't be possible] if you want to do some shopping and pretend the Games aren't happening," she said.

"If you come to Glasgow and you are not interested in sport, or you don't have tickets, you can still come into the city and have a real buzz and sense of not just friendliness but great things happening."

The full programme will not be announced until April next year, but events scheduled to take place across the country range from a daily live satirical comedy theatre show poking fun at the Games to actor Tam Dean Burn, far right, cycling across Scotland performing readings of all of the works of children's author and Gruffalo creator, Julia Donaldson.

A number of artists and companies will be involved, including Scottish Opera, author Louise Welsh, the Citizens Theatre, and Barrowland Ballet.

McConnell also revealed that the Generation exhibition – which will celebrate contemporary art at more than 50 venues in Scotland from June to October next year – will highlight Glasgow's Turner Prize success, with winners Douglas Gordon (1996), Simon Starling (2005), Richard Wright (2009), Susan Philipsz (2010) and Martin Boyce (2011).

"It is the first-ever retrospective in this country of that incredible phenomenon of five Turner Prize winners from Glasgow," she said. "Thirty per cent of all Turner Prize winner nominees have come from Glasgow.

"It is amazing we have never had this major retrospective – that becomes nationally and internationally significant."

According to a city council assessment of Glasgow's European City of Culture year, nearly 3500 public events took place in 1990, leading to a 40% increased in attendances for theatres, museums and galleries. Tourism increased by 81% compared with four years previously.

McConnell said: "I think one of the real outcomes of 1990 was learning you have to plan for legacy, it doesn't just happen by accident.

"One of the things we are determined to do from the Games is to make sure we not only showcase Scottish artists and engage Commonwealth artists, but build skills, support local infrastructures and organisations.

"It is also about repositioning the city internationally, really letting the world know Glasgow is an events city, there are amazing things happening."

Neil Butler, artistic director of UZ Arts, who has directed major events including Glasgow's Hogmanay, said the cultural programme was vital as it would define the city in the eyes of the world.

"When you are watching people running on a racetrack or cycling in a velodrome and doing all these things they could be anywhere in the world," he said.

"It is when you see the cultural programme that surrounds it, that is the way that we can show what Glasgow and Scotland really mean culturally."

Butler said he was waiting to hear more details of the programme to get a better sense of the "direction and shape" of the Commonwealth Games cultural festival, but added that the initial details had revealed some "exciting work".

In 2002, the Commonwealth Games changed the profile of Manchester, with £670m of private and public investment in the city and 18 million people visiting north-west England that year.

Helen Palmer, director of cultural tourism consultancy Creative Tourist, was involved in setting up the accompanying cultural programme, Cultureshock, which ran from March to July 2002.

She pointed to Manchester International Festival and Manchester Literature Festival as examples of events which had developed as a result of the programme.

"It enabled us to link to all sorts of organisations across the Commonwealth," she added. "Some of the organisations that made those connections still have relationships with Commonwealth partners.

"We did have a crossover between arts and sports attendance. It demonstrated there were new audiences for venues and it did attract visitors from outside the city and the region."

She added: "It has given us a collective confidence – delivering not just the cultural programme but a hugely successful Commonwealth Games."

Meanwhile, the London Olympic Games last year also heralded a huge cultural festival, with 500 events held across the UK as part of a £127m four-year arts programme to celebrate the sporting occasion.

Leading arts consultant Anne Bonnar, of Bonnar Keenlyside, who was transition director for Creative Scotland when it was formed from the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, said such events had a "hugely positive impact" on getting people engaged in arts.

"It breaks down the barriers, it puts different work in different places and quite often work is free," she said.

"One of the really useful statistics was that around 12% of people in London took part in things they wouldn't have taken part in otherwise and they tried something different. That is pretty amazing."