FESTIVAL
Journey to the East, French Street, Glasgow, today

Saturday sees the last day of Scotland’s premiere performance art and contemporary culture festival centring on “queer, PoC and East Asian artists”. At 3pm, Elisabeth Gunawan will perform an extract from her performance Unforgettable Girl at 103 French Street, followed by a panel discussion at 4pm. And then at 6.30pm Sung Im Her will perform the dance piece The I of the Beholder. 

Wigtown Book Festival, Wigtown
This year’s Wigtown Book Festival draws to a close this weekend with appearances today from the likes of Sally Magnusson, Michael Morpurgo and Abi Elphinstone, whilst tomorrow sees Aasmah Mir, Nigel Planer, Kate Mosse, Josie Long and Peter Ross all travel to Dumfries and Galloway. If you have never been, it is a really welcoming, joyous festival based in “Scotland’s National Book Town” and well worth a visit.

Sonica Surge Festival, The Hidden Gardens, Glasgow, today
This year’s Sonica Surge Festival hosts a day of free gigs at Glasgow’s Hidden Gardens today. Tuba and euphonium duo Dopey Monkey, Dundee’s Be Charlotte and the Glasgow African Balafon Orchestra will all be playing as part of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Hidden Gardens.

CINEMA
Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival, various venues, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling and Inverness, until October 26

The (hopefully short-lived) death of the Filmhouse has not stopped the return of this year’s Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival to the capital on its 10th anniversary. The Odeon in Lothian Road, the French Institute and the Edinburgh Central Library are amongst the venues for this year’s screenings of new and classic Spanish films.  
That said, the festival kicks off today at the Glasgow Film Theatre at 5.45pm with a screening of Silvia Munt’s 1970s drama In the Company of Women, above, which will then screen at the Macrobert in Stirling on Tuesday, the French Institute in Edinburgh next Friday and at the Eden Court cinema in Inverness on Saturday, October 14. 
Other highlights include Javier Bardem in The Good Boss, Alberto Rodriguez’s drama Prison 77 and Carlos Saura’s 1978 classic, 
Raise Ravens. For full details of the programme visit edinburghspanishfilmfestival.com

ART
New Scottish Galleries at the National Galleries, Edinburgh

Today sees the long-awaited opening of the new Scottish galleries at the Mound in Edinburgh as National Galleries Scotland bring together the best of the country’s art in a single location. Works from the likes of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Phoebe Anna Traquair and the Glasgow Boys, as well as Sir Edwin Landseer’s The Monarch of the Glen, will all be on display in a suite of new galleries (main image), specially constructed at the cost of £38.6million. To be fair, it might be busy today and tomorrow, but if you’re off during the week this might make for a great day out.