06 Mar 2024
By Richard Muir, Deputy Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Last week marked another milestone for Glasgow as an international host city with two significant milestones reinforcing our credentials as a sports and cultural events capital, led by the team at Glasgow Life and their partners.
It was hard not to notice the media coverage generated for the city as it hosted the indoor athletics championship over the weekend, the first time the event has been held in Scotland. It builds upon our track record of delivering athletics events from hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2019 European Indoor Athletics Championship.
With over 650 athletes from more than 130 countries competing over six sold-out sessions, packed into three action-packed days the atmosphere to be nothing short of electric. We welcomed around 30,000 spectators to our city who not only took in the incredible action on the track, but also all our city has to offer.
From the 60m sprint, and 4x100m relay to the shot put and the high jump, we had three days crammed with world class athletics actions to entertain the crowds and really build excitement for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
For Glasgow was hugely exciting to see two local talents in Josh Kerr and of Jemma Reekie collecting medals as part of a very promising cohort of British athletes preparing for the Olympic games.
However, when Glasgow hosts events it is not just about the action in the arena or the stadium. Our focus on accessibility is one of the reasons that the city is so highly regarded for hosting global events. Like the latest Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) heritage exhibition which celebrates over 170 years of indoor track and field athletics history. Held in St Enoch's Centre it is designed to encourage everyone to feel a part of the World Athletics Indoor Championships, whether they have a ticket to attend or not.
The one-month long MOWA exhibition features World Athletics Heritage’s collection of indoor athletics competition artefacts dating from the 1880s. The displays contain clothing, shoes, equipment, trophies, and medals donated by more than 30 world champions and/or record breakers.
Last week also marked 50 years since Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) was founded and the launch of the 20th edition of Glasgow Film Festival. GFT is operated by Glasgow Film, an educational charity which also runs the award-winning Glasgow Film Festival and Glasgow Youth Film Festival and is the lead organisation for Film Hub Scotland. GFT is the city’s original independent arthouse cinema and the home of film in Glasgow. It is funded by Creative Scotland, Screen Scotland and Glasgow City Council.
According to a recent Screen Scotland Report on Economic Impact of Screen Industries Glasgow accounted for the largest share of direct employment and GVA in the screen sector in 2021. In that year, Glasgow accounted for 51.9% of direct employment and 57.3% of direct GVA Glasgow’s screen cluster generated 3,870 FTEs of direct employment and £226.1 million in direct GVA in 2021.
Most of the employment generated within the Glasgow cluster is due to production and development; however, Glasgow also accounts for significant shares of employment in other sub-sectors, particularly TV broadcast, distribution, exhibition and festivals.
Whilst cinemas along with other sectors might be still struggling to recover post Covid, film burns brightly in Glasgow.
Glasgow Film Theatre is back to 96% of pre-pandemic admissions. That means that the film sector is bringing nearly 200,000 people into the centre of Glasgow at a time when the city centre could really use more visitors.
Glasgow is the centre of screen production in Scotland. Glasgow Film Festival 2024 will see significant global screen talent descend on Glasgow with stars such as Viggo Mortensen, Kevin McDonald, Maxine Peak as well as Scottish and Scottish based talent showcased like George Mackay, Tummy Monster, Big Banana Feet. Major Studio Execs including Netflix and Aardman will be here to interact with Scottish based filmmakers.
It will also launch a new 10-year industry vision setting out ambitious ideas for what Glasgow Film Festival can do to help fuel the local independent film industry and better support diverse new filmmaking talent to achieve their career aspirations. This new strategy has been informed by a sector wide survey and with the support their Industry Advisory Board.
At a time when many of our city centre businesses are still struggling due to inflationary pressures and other challenges its positive news to see the city continuing to attract international world class events and festivals which stimulate the local economy and boost the city’s international reputation and profile.
