The Visit
Showcase Scotland Expo promotes Scottish music and artists at the The Visit event in Scotland.
SHOWCASE SCOTLAND EXPO will present the ninth physical edition of The Visit between the 9th and 12th of September 2024 bringing delegates from England to Scotland.
For the second time we were partnering with Eastgate Theatre in Peebles as well as returning to one of our favourite locations, The Tolbooth, Stirling.
The Showcase forms part of an export strategy for Scottish artists, which has been developed by Showcase Scotland Expo Limited and our Steering Group.
The Showcase Scotland Expo Panel selected 21 artists to perform. Each artist will perform for 30 minutes at the Visit 2024.
The selected artists for this event are:
Amy Laurenson, Assynt, Birdvox, Chloe Matharu, Dlù, Eabhal, Firelight Trio, Gnoss, Hannah Rarity, HEISK, Heron Valley, Iona Fyfe, Iona Lane, Jemima & the Fuse, Joy Dunlop, Kim Carnie, Malin Lewis, Project SMOK, Ryan Young, Sarah Markey
About
The Visit is an event which invites individuals from the target territories identified by our Steering Group to visit Scotland. We take them to different parts of the country to soak up the history and culture and showcase the artists in distinct and special venues.
In 2014 The Visit was produced for the US and Canada with agents, record labels, festivals and venues being targeted to spend five days in Scotland experiencing our music and culture. We took them to Paisley (including the 850 year old Paisley Abbey), the Isle of Mull and Edinburgh, with 20 artists showcasing across the weekend. The results in 2014 were phenomenal and 7 artists secured agency deals with at least 280 individual bookings being secured to date for artists. Note we are still analysing results as many of the bookings are still being finalised for the summer and autumn of 2015 and we expect this figure to significantly increase.
In 2015 we invited delegates mainly from France but also the North of Spain and Benelux, with 18 artists showcasing in Paisley, Stirling and Edinburgh.
Importantly the Visit presents an opportunity for participating venues to also benefit from the activities both financially and by gaining exposure to both artists and industry participants. The presence of delegates bring economic benefit to each area through spend on hotels, restaurants and wider tourism benefits. Many of our delegates either extend their stay in Scotland or elect to return at a later date.
The Visit 2016 saw delegates coming from Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Catalonia, Sweden and Italy to spend time in Glasgow and Stirling. They had the opportunity to network with key members of the Scottish music industry at a dinner & Civic reception. They enjoyed a bespoke Glasgow Music City Tour around some of the key sites in the city’s musical history. En route to Stirling they visited the Auchentoshan Distillery and enjoyed the spectacular sights of Loch Lomond as well as sampling Scottish cuisine in Callander. Once in Stirling there was a ghost tour, a visit to Stirling Castle and a whisky tasting masterclass.
For The Visit 2017 we once again focused on North America and attracted the largest number of delegates we have ever had. They saw showcase performances from the 22 bands selected by the Showcase Scotland Expo Steering Group. Once again we teamed up with Trad TV who filmed throughout the event. Click on the link at the bottom of the page to go to their site. We spread the performances over 4 venues which were the Town Hall, Arts Centre and Abbey in Paisley and the Tolbooth Theatre in Stirling.
The Visit 2018 was held for Australia, New Zealand and China and was based in Perth. Performances were in Perth Theatre, Belhaven Brewery, Queen’s Hall Edinburgh and Glenturret Distillery. The delegates also had the opportunity to sample the wares at the brewery and the distillery both of which were very popular.
The sixth edition of The Visit took place between the 16th and 19th of September 2019 in Scotland. The Visit was supported by Belhaven Brewery, Creative Scotland, Glenturret Distillery, Help Musicians UK, Horsecross Arts, PRS for Music Foundation and Perth and Kinross Council. The Visit in 2019 brought together the music industries of Southern Europe for the first time at this event. Agents, festivals venues, record labels, managers and media were invited to attend as delegates with a view to booking or reviewing Scottish artists.
We had to cancel The Visit in 2020 and that eventually took place in May 2022. Instead we ran the Virtual Visit 2020 on the original dates 0f 18-21 May. We teamed up with Tradtv to bring a sample of the Visit to the delegates who were due to attend as well as many of the previous Visit delegates.
The seventh edition of The Visit took place in Inverness, Clashmore, Lyth and Orkney in May 2022. As well as partnering with Eden Court and Lyth Arts Centre we joined up with Orkney Folk Festival for a truly unique edition of the event.
The eighth edition of The Visit took place in April 2023 in Perth and Peebles with delegates from USA & Canada (and one Australian).