Events strategies
Glasgow
Host of a range of events over the years, both large and small, Glasgow published a new local Events Strategy as they prepare to host a second Commonwealth Games.
Since their year as European Capital of Culture in 1990, Glasgow has built an enviable international reputation for delivering successful events. The city regularly hosts major sporting events, music festivals, artistic and cultural festivals. It balances one-off mega-events with a year-round portfolio of celebrations, commemorations and community events.
In 2014, Glasgow hosted a successful Commonwealth Games which created long-term economic benefits, supported urban regeneration and fostered pride in place. In 2023 they hosted the UCI World Cycling Championships and 2024 World Indoor Athletics Championship, and will host the Commonwealth Games again in 2026. The city’s calendar includes a series of regular events, including the TRSNMT and Merchant City Festivals, Glasgow Film Festival, Glasgow Mela, the World Pipe Band Championships and many others.
In November 2024, Visit Glasgow published an updated events strategy which outlines the city’s vision and strategic priorities for its events sector over the next decade. The strategy is driven primarily by Glasgow City Council, which has over-arching responsibility, but it is Glasgow Life, the city’s lead agency for cultural and sports events, which is responsible for establishing and administering the systems, governance and processes which will support the delivery of the strategy. Successful implementation of the strategy also requires the collaboration and work of the entire events sector, including blue light services, third sector organisations that deliver events, event organisers, suppliers and venues, city, Scottish and UK creative, sporting, tourism, transport, event industry and enterprise agencies, and regulatory bodies that support delivery.
The strategy takes a portfolio approach to Glasgow’s events, meaning that all the events delivered in the city are considered as a collective when achieving the outcomes of the strategy. Local events, mega events, regular sporting fixtures, theatre programming, concerts and publicly-funded events all contribute to the city’s portfolio.
The strategy also aims to collaborate with other events strategies: it is aligned with the Glasgow 2030 Tourism Strategy, Glasgow Economic Strategy 2022-2030, and Glasgow’s Culture Strategy 2024-2030, as well as Scotland’s overarching Event Strategy and the priorities of UK Sport set out in the Gold Framework. This helps ensure a cohesive approach where events deliberately contribute to broader economic, cultural, and social objectives.
Glasgow’s events are expected to deliver a whole host of outcomes, in line with the city’s goals, including: economic return, participation in sport or the arts, celebrating different cultures, city regeneration, sustainability, business sector alignment, media profile, visitation, civic pride and health and wellbeing. They aim for events to be strategic, sustainable, and inclusive, ensuring they not only deliver short-term excitement but also create long-term benefits for residents, businesses, and the city’s global standing.
Cllr Jaqueline McLarenGlasgow is immensely proud of our track record for successfully hosting mega events from Commonwealth Games, to European Championships and COP26. Bringing these events to Glasgow allows us to showcase our vibrant and dynamic city on the global stage. They not only project a positive image of Glasgow, but also contribute significantly to our economic and cultural growth, our pride in place, and social cohesion. As hosts, we very much take a strategic approach to leveraging events for the benefit of our communities. Organisers and partners must provide opportunities for positive change and social inclusion that can continue as a legacy once the intense delivery period of an event has passed.
The Lord Provost of Glasgow
THE GLASGOW APPROACH
To better understand Glasgow’s unique approach to hosting events, we interviewed Billy Garrett. Billy is Director of Culture, Tourism and Events at Glasgow Life, and was involved in the delivery of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2023 UCI World Cycling Championship, and the 2024 World Athletic Indoor Championships.
How have events contributed social and economic benefits?
In this clip, Billy explains Glasgow’s ‘whole city’ approach to choosing events.
Is that an event which is right for this city?
How do you ensure Glasgow’s events reflect the city’s identity and culture?
Here, Billy outlines Glasgow’s ‘festivalisation’ model, which deliberately blurs the boundaries between sport, competition, participation, community engagement, fan-zones, cultural programmes, health and wellbeing initiatives. This approach ensures events reflect the places hosting them, and that residents see them as their own.
How does Glasgow’s events team work alongside Events Scotland?
This segment explores the relationship between Glasgow’s events strategy and Scotland’s events strategy, their different but complimentary roles.
What advice would you give to a city or region on planning effective events?
Here, Billy shares practical advice based on his experience of delivering events in Glasgow.
What is the art of the possible?
CASE STUDY: GLASGOW 2014 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
According to its final evaluation, the Games delivered significant economic benefits, generating an estimated £740 million for Scotland’s economy and supporting around 2,100 jobs. The event attracted over 690,000 visitors, boosting tourism and hospitality sectors.
A strong focus on urban regeneration saw investment in key areas such as the East End, where the Athletes’ Village was later converted into social and affordable housing. It is estimated that event venues built for the 2014 Games generated at least £75m for the local economy each year through tourism.
Social engagement was a key strength, with over 50,000 people applying for volunteer roles and a citywide cultural programme, Festival 2014, reaching communities beyond the sporting venues.
This impact was felt keenly by the people of Glasgow. According to polling Spirit of 2012 conducted for the 10th anniversary in May 2024, around 7 in 10 respondents believed that the 2014 Games left a lasting impact for the host city (69%) and improved civic (71%) and national (75%) pride for its residents that was still being felt a decade later.
The Games strengthened Glasgow’s global reputation as a host city, paving the way for future major events.
But what can event organisers and hosts learn from Glasgow’s success? Several key features stand out in the way Glasgow leveraged the Games to achieve the city’s social and economic outcomes:
Lessons & Advice for Future Event Strategies
- Building physical infrastructure and venues
- Glasgow used funding from the Commonwealth Games to build or improve venues like the Emirates Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome. Further events, such as the UCI World Cycling Championships have utilised these venues and helped improve them further.
- Events strategies should consider using funding for events to make improvements to physical infrastructure, with subsequent events building and improving venues and assets with long-term community benefits which remain in use for elite and grassroots sport and increase capacity to host further events.
- Invest in Regeneration & Community Benefits
- The Games catalysed the regeneration of Glasgow’s East End, improving transport and housing. This has been an aim of subsequent events, including the 2018 European Championships and COP26, and is one of the strategic priorities for the city’s current strategy.
- Event strategies should consider using events as a vehicle for long-term urban renewal and regeneration, ensuring that investment benefits local residents beyond the event itself.
- Prioritise Social Inclusion & Volunteering
- Glasgow’s extensive volunteer programme strengthened civic pride and community engagement, both of which are listed outcomes in the city’s current strategy.
- A portfolio of events which reflects and caters to the wide variety of identities can promote a progressive and welcoming vision of a place and its people.
- Measure Success Beyond Participation Numbers
- Glasgow’s approach to hosting events has shown that impact should not be measured solely by ticket sales or participation figures, but also by long-term improvements in infrastructure, wellbeing, and civic engagement.
- Those developing event strategies should develop clear evaluation frameworks to track legacy outcomes longitudinally across events, with consistent measures.
By embedding these principles, cities and regions can ensure that the events they host build lasting economic, social, and cultural benefits, rather than being one-off spectacles which operate in isolation.
SPIRIT OF 2012 IN GLASGOW
Since 2015 Spirit of 2012 has been working with partners in Scotland to take forward the sporting legacy of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Details of our funding, research and learning can be read here.
In 2024, we funded the Centre for Culture, Sport and Events at the University of the West of Scotland to produce a Playbook for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. The playbook explored how festivals and events could support the realisation of EDI aims through the lens of three Glasgow events of differing scales: the UCI Cycling World Championships, Glasgow Mela and Govanhill International Festival and Carnival.