This Is June: The Next Generation Steps Up

Hey you!

There's a lot happening in Aberdeen in June, and looking across this month’s programme, it really feels like the city is supporting young artists while they take the lead.

Hundreds are performing, exhibiting and collaborating this month. Gray's School of Art is putting on its 60th degree show. NESCol photography students are filling a new gallery in the Bon Accord Centre. Light the Blue is bringing over a thousand young artists into the city centre. These events aren’t deliberately put on together, but they link up very nicely.

Young people, doing the work, leading the way.

Several events this month are built around genuine collaboration between artists from different disciplines. A sculptor, a filmmaker and a composer have spent years developing a piece rooted in the life of a woman who lived to 114 and spent decades in Aberdeen. The NAFCo fiddle festival opens with local teenagers sharing a stage with visiting musicians from Ireland and Canada. When creating together works, you can't imagine it having been made any other way.

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Aberdeen's comedy scene is having a good month too. Stuart Mitchell, Matt Forde and Austentatious all come to the city within a few weeks of each other, alongside a third edition of Queer Folks' Tales, which has built a big following since it started in 2021.

And Julie Fowlis is finally playing a headline tour of Scotland, stopping off at the Tivoli, twenty-five years into a career that has included the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony and a Disney-Pixar soundtrack. The show is being recorded for a live album, which means Aberdeen audiences will get to be part of something extra special.

That's a great month, isn’t it?

One last thing — we've turned comments on for anyone signed in to POST. We'd love to build more of a community here rather than relying on social media to have these conversations. If you're going to any of these events, let us know what you think. As always, be good to each other.

Chris + Kevin xx

What’s on in June

Maja Zećo: The Attuning Zone

Until 4 Jul | The Worm, Castlegate

Artist-researcher Maja Zećo presents sound, video, performance, print and ephemera rooted in a series of soundwalks at St Fittick's Park in Torry, a site partially earmarked for development as an energy transition zone despite ongoing community opposition.

The work was developed over two years as part of a collaborative project between arts and social sciences, examining how the shift from fossil fuels to renewables unsettles the communities and environments caught in between.

Light the Blue 2026

2–14 Jun | Various venues

Aberdeen Performing Arts' annual festival for and by young people returns across the city centre, with over 1,000 young artists, school pupils and early career creatives involved. This year's theme is "What's your story?", with work exploring memory, identity and what comes next.

Highlights include 500 primary school pupils performing an original piece in Union Terrace Gardens on 12 June, dance theatre work Boys Don't Dance at the Lemon Tree on 6 June, Benedetti Foundation orchestral workshops, a Family Arts Day on 7 June and a closing Big Gig on 14 June.

LTB26: Play Space Installation

2–13 Jun | Music Hall

Ray Downie's interactive sculpture installation fills the Music Hall with works activated entirely by movement and play: a Kinetic Wave Machine, an Inflating Seesaw, a Bottle Marimba and a Modular Music Box among them.

A show that works for anyone willing to engage with it physically. Turn up, join in and be part of the art.

Lunchtime Talk: Celebrating Together: Aberdeen and the RSA at 200

3 Jun | Aberdeen Art Gallery

Lead Curator Shona Elliott explores the Art Gallery's connections with the Royal Scottish Academy as it marks its 200th anniversary. The talk takes in works in the collection by Academicians including Joan Eardley, Alison Watt, Samuel John Peploe, Callum Innes and Joyce Cairns.

The artists featured are also highlighted in a new tour on the Bloomberg Connects digital guide to the gallery. Pay what you can entry.

LTB26: Speakin' Weird

4 Jun | Music Hall Big Sky Studio

A special edition of Speakin' Weird runs at the Music Hall as part of Light the Blue, with an open mic open to poetry, prose, comedy, rap and theatre. Aimed at 18 to 30 year olds, with the evening's theme centred on looking forward and looking back.

Sunday Times bestselling poet Len Pennie, who writes in both Scots and English, headlines. Sign up to perform on the night or head along to listen.

Greyhope Bay Volunteer Litter Pick

4 Jun | Greyhope Bay Centre

A litter pick around the Greyhope Bay Centre and Torry Battery, open to individuals, families and corporate groups. All equipment is provided; just wear sturdy footwear and dress for the weather.

Takes place on the first Thursday of each month, making it a good entry point for anyone curious about the Greyhope Bay project. Booking recommended, drop-ins welcome.

Shazam Presents: Annie Get Your Gun

4–6 Jun | Tivoli Theatre

Irving Berlin's classic musical follows sharpshooter Annie Oakley as she joins Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and falls for rival marksman Frank Butler. Her competitiveness and his wounded pride keep them at arm's length through a series of comic mishaps before things resolve.

Built around some of Berlin's most recognisable songs, including There's No Business Like Show Business, performed by Shazam Productions across three performances including a Saturday matinee.

The Tempilstiks: Dawn EP Launch

5 Jun | Drummonds

Aberdeen four-piece The Tempilstiks celebrate their debut EP with a free show at Drummonds. Genre-fluid with heavy roots, they pull from across rock and beyond, keeping the riffs big while leaving room for unexpected turns.

They're joined by Beneath the Breakwater + The Goatboy + The Leftovers, a bill that leans into melodic metal, grunge and alternative across the night. Free entry, with donations to the bands welcome on the night.

Gray's Degree Show 2026

5–14 Jun | Gray's School of Art, Garthdee

The 60th annual degree show is part of Gray's 140th anniversary year, with around 150 graduating students showing work across fine art, fashion and textiles, communication design, product design, ceramics and jewellery. Many works are available to buy.

The 2026 graphics draw on the very first show's invitation from 1966, designed by Donald Addison, the man behind Aberdeen FC's goalmouth crest. Free entry throughout.

NESCol HND Photography Showcase: The Paul Nicol Award

5–20 Jun | Curated Gallery, Bon Accord Centre

NESCol's HND Photography students exhibit at the Bon Accord Centre's new Curated Gallery, in a show honouring Paul Nicol, a former student who came to photography in his forties after a cancer diagnosis prompted a change in direction. He built a practice spanning film, digital and cyanotype work before his death earlier this year.

The Paul Nicol Award will be presented by his family at the opening, going to the student who has shown the strongest work and commitment to the course. A selection of Paul's own photography is on display alongside the student work.

Elevated Dreams

6 Jun – 10 Jan 2027 | Aberdeen Art Gallery

An interdisciplinary installation and performance by sculptor Cath Keay, filmmaker Emma Bowen and composer Victoria Hume, rooted in the life of Antonia Jabloner, born in Austria in 1908 and brought to the north-east as a wartime refugee. She lived to 114.

The exhibition draws on sketchbook drawings Jabloner produced during long-term confinement in psychiatric care in Aberdeen, titled Plans for Another World, detailing her imagined spaces for creative expression. Free admission.

Bon Accord Baths Summer Fayre

6 Jun | Bon Accord Baths

A free indoor market spread across the Bon Accord Baths building, with local vendors selling crafts, art, bakes, jewellery and ceramics. The Art Deco surroundings are of course part of the appeal, especially if you haven't been inside before.

Fundraising merchandise for the Save Bon Accord Baths campaign is also on sale, offering a chance to pick up something useful while supporting the effort to secure the building's future. Free entry throughout.

LTB26: Cringe

8 Jun | The Lemon Tree

A new play following two outsiders on their first day at secondary school, navigating bullies, social humiliation and the particular cruelty of adolescence. Their unlikely friendship holds until a spiralling incident known only as the Creeping Snake puts one of them at the centre of everything.

Fast-paced and genuinely funny, it takes the miseries of growing up seriously without losing its lightness. Part of the Light the Blue festival.

Julie Fowlis

9 Jun | Tivoli Theatre

Julie Fowlis has been a professional musician for twenty-five years, sung to over a billion people at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony and recorded for Disney-Pixar's Brave. This is, somehow, her first headline tour of Scotland. She's joined by long-term collaborators Kris Drever and Mike McGoldrick.

Every show on the run is being recorded for a live album, which means the setlist will include material that has never appeared on any record. Aberdeen audiences may hear something before it officially exists anywhere.

The Midsummer Beer Happening

11–13 Jun | Baird Park, Stonehaven

A three-day craft beer festival in Stonehaven's Baird Park, with over 150 beers and ciders from UK brewers, north-east street food vendors and live music from local acts across the weekend. Run entirely by volunteers, it has raised over £428,000 for local charities since 2009.

A cycling sportive also returns alongside the main programme, with road and gravel routes taking in Deeside and the Cairn o'Mount. Finishers are rewarded with a festival beer at the finish line.

Stuart Mitchell & Friends: On the Road

11 Jun | Tivoli Theatre

Glasgow comedian Stuart Mitchell brings his Stuart Mitchell & Friends show format to the Tivoli following a sold-out debut UK tour, performing alongside two special guests, with Jim Smith confirmed among them. Two performances on the same day.

Mitchell is the longest-running panellist on BBC Scotland's Breaking the News, and his debut Edinburgh Fringe show Dealt a Bad Hand played to sell-out audiences. He has also built a following of over 100 million views on TikTok.

Kin-spiration

12 Jun | Cheerz

Two inspiring talks for anyone with an interest in the city's creative industries. Laura Sim is an Emmy-winning hair and make-up artist from Ellon who trained at Gray's School of Art before building a career in film and television, with credits including Bridgerton and Alan Bennett's The Choral. Finlay MacAulay is a Scottish casting director working between Tokyo and London with clients including Issey Miyake, Zara and Onitsuka Tiger.

The evening is hosted by Kin, a creative community organisation based in Aberdeen. Spaces are limited, with concessions available for anyone for whom the ticket price is a barrier.

LTB26: The Big Gig

14 Jun | Music Hall

The closing concert of Light the Blue brings together young musicians from across the north-east, with performances from Big Noise Torry, Aberdeen City Music Service, Aberdeenshire Music Service, SC&T Youth, Sound and the Universities Folk & Trad Society.

The evening closes with a collaborative finale bringing all participating organisations together on stage, joined by dancers from Emma Lowson Dance School. A short film by NESCol Film and TV students documenting the rehearsal process also screens on the night. Free, ticketed with option to donate.

The Magic of the Mind

18 Jun | Aberdeen Art Gallery

Researchers and magicians from the University of Aberdeen's School of Psychology, Institute of Medical Sciences and School of Engineering join forces with the Aberdeen Magical Society for an evening moving between psychological science and close-up illusion.

Part of a year-long celebration marking 130 years of the School of Psychology, the oldest psychology department in the UK. Spaces are limited; booking is free.

Matt Forde: Defying Calamity

18 Jun | The Lemon Tree

Political comedian Matt Forde, best known for his work on Spitting Image and a massively popular podcast, brings his biggest tour to date to Aberdeen. The show finds reasons for optimism in the face of political chaos and a difficult year in his personal health.

Sharp, topical and rooted in genuine knowledge of how politics works, it combines impressions, gags and reflection in roughly equal measure.

Queer Folks' Tales

19 Jun | The Lemon Tree

Now in its third Aberdeen edition, Queer Folks' Tales brings together queer storytellers and performers for an evening of funny, moving and occasionally shocking stories about LGBTQ+ lives in Scotland today. Hosted by Turan Ali, with guests Michael Johnson, Jamie McCormick and Texas singer-songwriter Lake Montgomery.

The show has been running at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh since 2021, building a following on the strength of the performers it consistently attracts.

I Am Coming from a Lot

20 Jun | AB10, Chapel Street

An evening of comedy, music and fashion organised by the Mamacita Foundation, with MC Abbey hosting, Princess headlining the comedy set and Graham D performing alongside a fashion showcase from Fashion Art Media Academy.

A four-hour programme that puts performance, style and community on the same bill.

The UnTalent Show

20 Jun | Aberdeen Arts Centre

Ten performers take to the stage having only been told their act a fortnight before the night. Each is assigned a random untalent to prepare, with options including worm charming and a dramatic reading of a work email. No prior stage experience required.

The audience picks the winner on the night. The show is part of the Save Aberdeen Arts Centre campaign, which has raised over £166,000 and was recently shortlisted for Fundraising Campaign of the Year at the National Fundraising Awards.

Aberdeen Highland Games

21 Jun | Hazlehead Park

The Aberdeen Highland Games returns to Hazlehead Park for a full day of traditional events, trade and charity stalls and activities for all ages. Between 8,000 and 15,000 visitors come through the gates annually, making it one of the city's most well-attended summer fixtures.

Tickets are available from today, with discounted prices available until the day before, and on the gate on the day. Free car parking on site.

Legally Blonde

23–27 Jun | His Majesty's Theatre

Amber Davies leads a new touring production as Elle Woods, the fashion-forward optimist who follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School and ends up considerably better at it than he is. Book by Heather Hach, songs by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin.

One of the more reliably good-natured musicals in the touring repertoire, with genuine warmth for its central character running alongside the comedy throughout.

NAFCo Opening Concert

24 Jun | Music Hall

The North Atlantic Fiddle Convention opens with over 100 local young musicians and dancers alongside The Flannery Sisters from Cork, Canadian act Shane Cook & The Woodchippers, and Duncan Chisholm performing with Hamish Napier, Ross Ainslie and Sorren Maclean.

The opening night sets out the festival's range in a single programme: deep roots in tradition, a broad geographical spread, and the next generation sharing the stage with established names.

Austentatious

28 Jun | Tivoli Theatre

Austentatious is an improvised comedy show in which the cast performs a brand new Jane Austen novel suggested entirely by the audience, in period costume with live musical accompaniment. No two shows are the same, and the title comes from whoever shouts loudest on the night.

The revolving cast includes Cariad Lloyd, Joseph Morpurgo, Rachel Parris and Graham Dickson, with the Aberdeen date part of a limited tour.

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie

27 Jun | Tunnels

Edinburgh rock band Goodbye Mr Mackenzie were a significant presence on the late 1980s and early 1990s Scottish scene, charting with their debut album Good Deeds and Dirty Rags and the single The Rattler before record company conflicts curtailed their momentum.

The reunion shows have drawn strong audiences since the band returned, with their Barrowlands date selling out. The Tunnels show is part of a short Scottish run this summer.