The Skinny Current Issue

This month’s theme, Migrations, was sparked by Refugee Festival Scotland and a desire to explore a programme which reflects what we believed to be the values of the country we live in – one which celebrates diverse experience, connects communities, builds supportive networks. The Scotland that is rightly celebrated for the Kenmure Street protests, and for just generally being interested in hearing about what life is like for different people and cultures. Then we found out halfway through making the issue that the UK’s supposedly left-wing government has drifted into anti-immigration policy making, complete with Enoch Powell-alluding rhetoric, and it started to feel more urgent to reaffirm our position.

In our opening spread, Anahit Behrooz visits Iranian filmmaker Javad Daraei, who welcomes her into his home to discuss his work and experience as part of a global community of refugees. We also meet Esraa Husain, Refugee Festival Scotland’s Programming Fellow, to learn more about what’s in store in this year’s edition.

We talk to Edinburgh-based author (and our former Intersections editor) Katie Goh to hear all about their debut memoir Foreign Fruit, which explores globalisation, colonialism and migration through the medium of the humble orange. Glasgow-based artist Hanna Tuulikki discusses her new sound work for Folkestone Triennial, which explores the song of the marsh warbler, whose call incorporates samples from dozens of different birds encountered on its migratory path between northern Europe and southern Africa. And Ukraine's Alice Haspyd and Scotland's Genevieve Murphy talk about their collaboration for Sonic Interventions, a series of performances and installations of experimental music and sound art, which takes place across Glasgow venues in June.

We meet filmmaker and Beta Band member John Maclean to hear about his second feature, Tornado, a Western set in Scotland whose hero is a Japanese teenager. Duncan Grant, aka CAIN, introduces his debut album Lineage, which draws on his Highland upbringing and bagpiping past to combine Celtic traditions and electronic music.

We take a trip to Govanhill, where the second iteration of community music education programme Big Noise is warming up to perform. Based on Venezuela’s radical El Sistema programme bringing social change through free classical music training, Big Noise started in Stirling’s Raploch before expanding to Scotland’s most diverse neighbourhood in 2013. Intersections closes the Migrations theme with a reflection on Humraaz, a radio show that aims to promote connection amid rising cross-border tension between India and Pakistan.

This issue features not one but two pipers – award-winning composer and small pipes player Malin Lewis is curating a strand in The Queen’s Hall, and we’re collaborating with them on a podcast series to offer an insight into the programme. As summer festival season kicks into gear, we’re most excited about our Pyramid Stage at Kelburn Garden Party, once again curated by our very own Tallah Brash. Read on for a deep dive into this year’s lineup.

We’ve got a Film / Books crossover as film critic Ryan Gilbey talks to us about It Used to Be Witches, his new, very personal study of queer cinema history. Film is also, rightly, extremely excited about the imminent reopening of Edinburgh’s Filmhouse. Theatre explores a new National Theatre Scotland collaboration, The Neighbourhood Variety Show – Sauchiehall Street, part of the ten-year redevelopment plans for one of Glasgow’s central arteries. Design looks forward to Architecture Fringe, bringing a Scotland-wide programme of events and exhibitions emphasising the social and community aspects of building design, and Food takes a trip to Glasgow for some Spain-inspired bites at Corner Shop.

In the middle of the magazine, you’ll find a very special supplement – our annual guide to the Glasgow School of Art Degree Show, an insider’s guide written by non-graduating students taking advantage of their unparalleled access and insight into the nascent artists and designers’ inner workings.

This issue closes with The Skinny On… Snapped Ankles, ahead of their performance at Hidden Door, which returns mid-month to a former paper factory on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Austin Ankles takes a poetic approach to answering the Q&A, with evocative descriptions of picnicking amongst nuclear detritus at Dungeness, and meaning-of-life level quotations from Ursula K. Le Guin.