European Championships 2018 - Scotland and German-based musicians join forces for a UK-first project as part of Festival 2018

Glasgow becomes the first UK city to feature on Mix the City in collaboration with European Championships co-host Berlin

As part of Festival 2018, the cultural programme for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships, Glasgow will become the first UK city to contribute to the British Council online music platform ‘Mix the City’ – an award-winning interactive musical experience connecting music, cities, creativity and people.

Twelve top musicians who are all Glasgow based have been filmed performing at twelve much-loved locations around Glasgow to contribute to the online interactive musical platform.

Mix the City allows anyone anywhere to create their own music videos of cultural capitals by mixing audio-visual samples of local musicians recorded at signature landmarks. Each mix generates a video combining the unique sights and sounds of the urban experience that is specific to that cultural city.

The music line-up for Glasgow’s Mix the City has been curated by Alun Woodward (The Delgados, Chemikal Underground Records) and features notable musicians including Kathryn Joseph, RM Hubbert and Ela Orleans.

Glasgow’s curator Alun Woodward, said: "Curating Mix The City has been a really interesting and enlightening experience. There was a generosity of spirit amongst the musicians who were happy to dodge snow, traffic, seagulls and excited curious children to make something weird and wonderful. The music they created feels unique and soundtracks the flow of a charismatic and innovative city."

The same project is taking place in Berlin, the co-host city for the 2018 European Championships, as part of the cultural programme realised by the Senate of Interior and Sports.

Christian Morin from PopKultur and curator of Mix the City Berlin, said: "The work on Mix the City once again showed how unique and diverse Berlin’s music scene is. East and West-socialisation, Expats, new-Berliners and locals and many artists from a fantastic creative breeding ground. You can hear, feel and see that in Mix the City – the unique Berlin-sound."

When the platform goes live in July, it will be the first time that the two cities have been able to be ‘mixed’ – virtually bringing together the Glasgow and Berlin musicians. Woodward will also make a Curator’s Mix that will be permanently on the Mix the City website.

Scottish musicians filmed in a mix of indoor and outdoor locations to show off the city, including The Barrowlands Ballroom, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and the Necropolis.

German performers include Apparat, Jochen Arbeit (Einstürzende Neubauten), Gemma Ray and the Berlin video snippets feature locations across the city including Karl Marx Strasse and the city’s famous Volksbühne theatre.

A free live event called Mix the City Live will bring the project to life during Festival 2018, with some of the contributing Glasgow and Berlin musicians performing on George Square on Friday 3 August.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "This exciting Festival 2018 project celebrates Glasgow and Scotland’s cultural links with Berlin and Europe through a shared appreciation of music. It’s fantastic to see artists from both Host Cities come together as a result of the first ever European Championships."

Deputy Leader of Glasgow City Council, Cllr David McDonald said: "As a UNESCO City of Music, Glasgow is incredibly proud of its vibrant and world-class musical landscape. As a city, we are bursting with passionate music fans, talented artists and unrivalled venues and it’s fantastic to see this brought together digitally in a UK-first project for Festival 2018, and in partnership with Berlin."

Gabriele Freytag, Senate of Interior and Sports in Berlin, said: "Mix the City provides a perfect opportunity to build a cultural bridge between Berlin and Glasgow, the two Host Cities of the inaugural European Championships. Embedded in the new multi-sports event the project perfectly showcases Berlin’s sporting and musical diversity."

Emmanuel Witzthum, Global Arts Digital Project Manager at the British Council, said: "Our vision for Mix The City was to allow people around the world to discover new cultures by creating musical videos that they can easily share with their friends through social media. It is a wonderful opportunity to create the Mix the City Glasgow/Berlin platform, with Glasgow being the first UK city to be featured on the platform. It is a unique collaboration between two important and vibrant musical hubs, and the first time we will combine more than one city into one experience connecting directly between Glasgow and Berlin through music. We hope that users in Glasgow and Berlin as well as users around the world will enjoy the platforms as much as we enjoyed creating them."

This project is just one of the cultural collaborations between the two host cities, with each collaborative project complementing the sporting and cultural ties that already exist and will develop in the lead up to and during the Championships.

Ends

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Hannah Innes, Glasgow 2018 Public Relations Officer, +44 (0)141 287 3472 / +44(0) 7790 813 712 hannah.innes@glasgow.gov.uk

Corrie Campbell, Glasgow 2018 Public Relations Officer, +44(0)141 302 2294 / +77(0)7387 253248 corrie.campbell@glasgow.gov.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

GLASGOW 2018 BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

1. The 2018 European Championships will be staged by the European Federations and the Host Cities of Glasgow and Berlin.

2. The Glasgow 2018 event will be held between 2nd and 12th August and the European Athletics Championships will be between 7th and 12th August in Berlin. Further information is available at www.glasgow2018.com.

3. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the umbrella body for Europe free-to-air channels, will be the broadcast partner for the Championships. There is a potential television audience of around 1.03 billion for the event with many more viewers across multiple digital platforms.

4. More than 3,000 athletes will travel to Scotland as part of a total delegation of around 8,500 including officials, media and others. A further 1,500 athletes will compete in Berlin.

5. Berlin's Olympic Stadium will be the venue for the European Athletics Championships with the road races and race walking events held throughout the city.

6. The European Aquatics Championships will take place at Glasgow's Tollcross International Swimming Centre, with Diving taking place at Edinburgh's Royal Commonwealth Pool, Open Water Swimming being staged at Loch Lomond and Synchronised Swimming at Scotstoun Sports Campus.

7. Four European Cycling Championships will be staged in Glasgow and its metropolitan area. Track, Road, Mountain Bike and BMX will attract 650 of Europe’s top names to the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, the Cathkin Braes Mountain Bike Trails, the streets of Glasgow and the metropolitan area and Glasgow BMX Centre, a new Olympic standard BMX track, is being built in the Knightswood area of the city.

8. The European Golf Team Championships will take place at the Gleneagles PGA Centenary Course in Perth & Kinross. There will be three European Team Golf Championships: Men’s Team Championship, Women’s Team Championship and Mixed Team Championship.

9. The European Artistic Gymnastics Men’s and Women’s Championships will be staged at The SSE Hydro, the venue for the 2015 FIG World Gymnastics Championships.

10. The European Championships for both Rowing and Triathlon will both be staged at Strathclyde Country Park in North Lanarkshire.

11. The Year of Young People 2018 will be the next of the Scottish Government’s series of themed years, following the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology 2017. The Year of Young People (YOYP) will inspire Scotland through its young people aged 8 to 26, celebrating their achievements, valuing their contributions to communities and creating new opportunities for them to shine locally, nationally and globally. Further information on what’s happening and how people can get involved can be found on the new website yoyp2018.scot or @YOYP2018 on Twitter.

12. Glasgow 2018’s official partner level sponsors are Glasgow City Council and Scottish Government. For more information on Glasgow 2018’s full sponsor family, please visit www.glasgow2018.com/championships/about-european-championships/official-sponsors

MIX THE CITY BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Mix the City is an award-winning interactive musical experience connecting music, cities, creativity and people.

It was originally created by the British Council in Israel as a co-production with the digital platform The Space.

Mix the City invites users from all over the world to create their own music videos of cultural capitals by mixing audio-visual samples of local musicians, recorded at signature landmarks.

Mix the City has been created in 13 cities around the world.

It was created by the British Council in collaboration with Flying Object and Roll Studio

The platform has reached more than 2 million users in 210 countries, with users spending an average of 7 minutes on the platform

It is possible to see users reactions to the platform on Tagboard here: https://tagboard.com/mixthecity/214989

Examples of curators mixes: Kutiman for Tel Aviv, Hamburg and Istanbul, Anna Meredith for Chennai, Ghost Poet for Balkans Boxed In for Harare

Mix the City, Glasgow – Artists: Kathryn Joseph, Ela Orleans, Modern Studies, RM Hubbert, Joe Rattray, Petrichor, Richard Youngs, Mairi Morrison, Ilk, Alasdair Roberts, Anoushka Nanguy and Raymond MacDonald.

Künstlerliste Mix the City, Berlin – Artists: Tarwater, Andrra, Ava Bonam, Barbara Morgenstern, Gewalt, Munsha, Black Cracker, Gemma Ray, Missingcatm Jochen Arbeit, Apparat and Masha Qrella.

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