Milton Music Festival 2019
There’s great things happening at this year’s Milton Music Festival . Huge thanks to the team behind the scenes for taking time out to tell us more about the festival and the project.
How did the festival come about and how much work has been involved in pulling it together?
Milton Music Festival was started by Milton Arts Project based in the community of Milton, North Glasgow. The project was started about 10 years ago by local people with the aim of providing space and opportunity to get involved in art. We’ve run a free weekly music workshop (Milton Music Sessions) for adults for the last 6 years, from this we started putting on smaller community gigs, which evolved into the Milton Music Festival. There are about 20 people who attend the weekly music sessions and we all work together to put the festival on, learning as we go. Milton Music Festival is very small but over the last 2 years it’s been a fantastic day of music with great vibes all round, all this for £10. We do get feedback from folks who are surprised that there is a festival running in Milton, most people have a view of what Milton is so it’s nice to prove some folks wrong. Aye, it’s a housing scheme but that doesn’t mean we can’t have our own music festival.
What are you looking forward to in this year’s festival?
We think the lineup is looking really exciting for this year’s festival. Kyle Falconer (The View) alongside The Girobabies and amazing folk artist Lori Watson. We are also looking forward to The Dirty Suits, who are a local band that have just reformed, a hometown gig always brings its own energy! Throughout the day we have about 14 other local acts performing and it’s great to hear the diverse talent from our own community. The music starts at midday and doesn’t stop until 11pm.
Could you could talk us through what else happens at the project?
Since the project started a lot of great stuff has happened and it’s encouraging to see how things can develop if given enough time and support. As well as the adult music class we also run a weekly youth music project (The Racket) and a community choir which is for all ages and abilities. We’ve also built a small recording studio/rehearsal space (The Boiler Room) in our building and from this we run a record label (MAP 75 Records), our aim is to simply record and release great local music. Here’s some of the music we have worked on over the last wee while:
Any plans for the future, anything you’re excited about?
Our aim is to just keep doing what we are doing, providing the space and time for folks to get involved in music and art. Milton Arts Project is a little example of what can be achieved in communities if given the right time, space and support to grow. Good things can happen.
Milton Music Sessions (Adult music class)
Thursdays 10am
Milton Community Choir
Mondays 7.15pm (starts on 19th Aug)
Milton Music Festival (14th Sept)
The Racket (Youth music project) Mondays 4pm (starts in September)