Aberdeen's Arts and Culture Heats Up This June
Get your Aberdeen culture fix with POST this June, featuring a packed schedule of arts and music events across the city.
Welcome to the newly designed and newly named POST Aberdeen Newsletter. Hopefully, you’ve had the chance to visit our shiny new website and explore. As we mentioned in our first post on the new site, last month involved a lot of coffee and serious streamlining of your POST experience.
The days of juggling multiple sites for our homepage and newsletters are behind us. We’ve chosen Ghost as our platform, which merges the blog and newsletter into one user-friendly spot. We hope you’ll regularly visit to catch up on what is going on around the city. It should be a fun place to hang out.
And so to June.
Aberdeen’s cultural scene is bustling with events this month, featuring street art, music, and art exhibitions. The Granite Graff Skate & Paint Jam looks fun, merging skating with live painting and music performances. Opening the same day, Miles Benzies’ exhibition Airflow at Arkade Gallery offers an in-depth look at his artistic practices, telling the story of his creative evolution.
For those interested in unique shopping experiences, the Alternative Market at Krakatoa showcases a collection of arts, crafts, and unusual items in a great neon-drenched space. The Light the Blue Festival explores the city’s commitment to nurturing young talents through performances and workshops in theatre, music, and dance, demonstrating the community’s support for its young artists.
And of course, the thing we’re looking forward to most is Nuart Aberdeen. Back to transform the city into a public art gallery with works from international artists like Addam Yekutieli, Bahia Shehab, and Hera, making significant contributions to our urban and cultural landscape. The same weekend, Gray’s School of Art’s Degree Show presents innovative projects from final-year students, offering a chance to support emerging artists and purchase original artworks.
Stick with us throughout the month for more. We keep our events list up to date here, and all the latest news is right here.
What else is on in June?
Granite Graff Skate & Paint Jam
Sat 1 Jun - Sunnybank Park
Join Granite Graff for their first Skate & Paint Jam this month! Dive into a day filled with a skating competition and loads of painting spots. With live music from acts like Spineeq, Homegrown Soundsystem, Rabspitz, Jackill, and R O C H A.
Bring some food to grill at the BBQ, purchase some paint for your art projects, and don’t miss out on the giveaways throughout the day. It’s the perfect mix of creativity, music, and outdoor fun!
Miles Benzies Airflow
From Sat 1 Jun - Arkade Gallery
Miles Benzies' inaugural solo exhibition Airflow debuts this Saturday at Arkade Gallery in the Anatomy Rooms. The show presents a diverse array of Benzies' recent work, spanning engraving, textiles, photography, and sound. This exhibition provides a comprehensive view of his artistic evolution, inviting visitors to delve into the depth and diversity of his creative work. Be sure to visit and explore Benzies' unique artistic journey firsthand.
Alternative Market
Tue 4 Jun - Krakatoa
Explore a range of unique items for sale from local businesses, crafters, and artists at Krakatoa. The offerings include a variety of art, crafts, clothing, cakes, prints, bags, jewellery, and accessories.
The vibrant, neon-drenched backdrop of Krakatoa provides the perfect atmosphere for discovering eclectic and unique treasures, making it an ideal spot to find something distinctively special. Whether you're looking for a unique gift or something unique for yourself, get down there and pick up something unique.
Light the Blue Festival
From Tue 4 Jun - Across Aberdeen
Light the Blue consistently offers an impressive mix of theatre, music, dance, workshops, and performances, with a focus on youth involvement from across Aberdeen.
Light the Blue Festival highlights the creative potential of Aberdeen’s youth and demonstrates the community’s strong support for its young artists. With a full schedule of events and activities, the festival is a testament to the lively cultural spirit of Aberdeen, providing a meaningful space for young talents to shine.
Nuart Aberdeen 2024
From Thu 6 Jun - Across Aberdeen
Renowned and emerging street artists from around the world are being lined up to create an exciting new range of artworks. These will include large-scale murals and smaller pieces, transforming Aberdeen's walls and spaces.
This year's lineup includes Addam Yekutieli, Bahia Shehab, and Hera, who will create a mix of large-scale murals and intricate smaller pieces. The festival revitalises Aberdeen’s urban landscape and enriches its cultural heritage.
This year's theme, Living Heritage, delves into the concept of intangible cultural heritage, exploring how traditions and cultural expressions persist and evolve through generations.
Nuart Plus is a huge part of the festival, and this year includes a conversation with 2024 artist Hera, along with a screening of Banksy documentary, The Stolen Girl. Fight Club is back for 2024 and of course the Street Art Conference will be in full swing at Cowdray Hall. The conference closes with Fuck Art, Let's Dance at Spin on Saturday night.
Pitnamoon Live
Fri 7 Jun - Drummonds
Catch Pitnamoon live at Drummonds for their headline show, a celebration marking the end of exams and school. Hailing from Laurencekirk in Kincardineshire, the band features Charlie Baird, Billy McBain, Robbie Smith, and Jamie Watt.
Celebrated by Scotland On Sunday and enjoying airplay on several radio stations, they've sold out shows in Aberdeen and toured with the youth music project Hit The Road. Don't miss this opportunity to see one of Scotland's rising bands as they bring their energetic performance to a great venue.
Grays Degree Show 2024
From Sat 8 Jun - Gray's School of Art
Gray’s Degree Show 2024 is an annual celebration showcasing the talents and achievements of final-year students. The exhibition features disciplines including Painting, Contemporary Art Practice, Fashion and Textiles, Communication Design, Three Dimensional Design, and Photography.
The school is transformed into a vast gallery space, displaying students’ exciting and innovative projects. The event is free to attend, and many of the showcased artefacts and products are available for purchase, offering a great opportunity to support emerging artists and designers.
New Aberdeen Bestiary
From Sat 8 Jun 2024 - Aberdeen Art Gallery
To mark the 50th anniversary of Peacock, Aberdeen's best-known printmaking studio, seven international artists were invited to create prints for the 'New Aberdeen Bestiary'. These prints, unveiled individually over the past three years at The Worm Gallery, are being displayed together for the first time at the Art Gallery. This exhibition celebrates half a century of artistic contributions and showcases the diverse interpretations of the bestiary theme by artists from around the world.
Belmont Cinema Fundraising Launch
Sat 15 Jun - Douglas Hotel
The team working on the revival of Belmont Cinema is inviting you to join them for the public launch of their fundraising campaign. The event will provide updates on the campaign, showcase the new branding and refurbishment designs, and explain how you can help restore Belmont Cinema as a prime film destination in Aberdeen. There will also be an opportunity to meet the team and discuss any questions about the project.
Northern Lens Youth Film Festival
Sun 16 Jun - Lemon Tree
Northern Lens is a new Youth Film Festival part of the Light the Blue Festival. It is hosted by Station House Media Unit and Aberdeen Performing Arts. The festival will spotlight youth filmmaking, especially from the North East, and include screenings of short films, workshops, an industry panel Q&A, a marketplace for local educational opportunities, and networking sessions, all curated by young people.
Treasure Hub Open Day
Sat 22 Jun - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Visit the Aberdeen Treasure Hub this June for their Open Day! Explore where Aberdeen’s impressive collection of artworks and artefacts are stored and maintained. Take part in behind-the-scenes tours, learn about the care of these precious items, and gain a deeper understanding of the community's collection. This is a unique opportunity to see the hidden side of the city's cultural heritage. If you've not visited before...now is your chance!
Between Two Elements
Until Sun 21 Jul - Suttie Arts Space at ARI
Just opened in late May, this is an exhibition featuring the works of Moira Downie from Moray School of Art in Elgin and Esther Helfer from Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen. These artists, winners of GHAT’s annual Degree Show Graduate Exhibition Award, showcase their unique artistic contributions in a display that promises to engage and showcase their considerable talents.
POST
Until Next Month
That's it for this June. Keep checking in on the website and on our social media as we update you throughout the month. Don't forget you can now become a POST supporter for just £3 per month or £30 per year. We rely on generous donations from people like you to keep POST going.
See you next month,
C+K
