1 LOCKDOWN has thrown a spotlight on our mental health, which makes the Scottish Mental Health Arts festival particularly well timed. The festival encompasses a range of online events from tomorrow until May 23. The event investigates the theme of “Normality”, inspired by a wave of media stories during the pandemic about the so-called “new normal’’. The festival also includes three short films exploring how our daily lives and mental health are influenced by sexuality, neurodiversity, body image and long-term health conditions. There is a Zoom Q&A session with the filmmakers at 5pm on Friday. Find out more at mhfestival.com.
2 IF you are anything like me the pandemic and lockdown has made you long for sweaty nights dancing to the most banging of tunes. We might still be some way off a return to the dancefloor, but an amazing exhibition at V&A Dundee celebrates the heady delights of the dance scene. Night Fever: Designing Club Culture delves into the iconic clubs of New York, Paris, Manchester, London and Berlin – and also includes an exclusive section concentrating on Scotland’s club scene. At V&A Dundee until January 9, 2022.
3 FANCY taking a physical and emotional journey, walking through the heart of modern Glasgow? That’s what is promised by Ghosts, a one-hour immersive experience offered by the National Theatre of Scotland. You can take part at whatever time suits you. Download an app (£4.99), plug in your headphones and a young man leads you through the streets of Glasgow’s Merchant City, exploring the myth of the collective amnesia of slavery and racialised wealth, of empire and identity. The project was developed over the last seven years by lead artist Adura Onashile and was inspired by adverts placed in newspapers for the capture of escaped enslaved people in Glasgow and Scotland throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The event runs until Sunday, May 9.
4 THE Spirit Of Speyside Whisky Festival has been running all week but you have a last chance to toast its many delights on its closing day today. The festival has included more than 60 virtual events using a world-leading, interactive platform.
Virtual events today include tours of Craigellachie and Tamnavulin Distilleries and The Dram Queen’s Musical drams, offering good drams, good music and good company. More information can be found at spiritofspeyside.com.
5 JIM Lambie isn’t just a brilliant artist, he has great taste in music, is adept behind the decks and is an all-round top guy. A graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, he was shortlisted for the 2005 Turner Prize. His latest solo exhibition Buttercup is being hosted by the Modern Instutute in Glasgow’s Aird’s Lane and Bricks Space galleries until May 22.
6 ABOUT Shetland Springs, the Edinburgh Tradfest’s second specially commissioned new online show, focuses on the Shetland fiddle tradition. It gathers together four of Shetland’s finest – Margaret Robertson (Edinburgh Military Tattoo), Chris Stout (Fiddlers’ Bid), Ross Couper (Peatbog Faeries) and the show’s curator Catriona Macdonald (String Sisters). The show can be streamed from Edinburgh tradfest.com until May 10.
7 NATIONAL readers will, of course, be thinking of little else this week other than the Scottish election. Kirsty Wark is fronting the BBC coverage from Edinburgh, co-hosting a BBC One Show with Huw Edwards. There will also be a dedicated results service on BBC One Scotland. STV coverage will be in the hands of John MacKay, Rona Dougall and Bernard Ponsonby from Glasgow.
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