Six Cities
From 17 May - 3 June 2007 the six cities of Scotland - Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Stirling - hosted the country's first nationwide international design festival. Developed by The Lighthouse in partnership with a number of city organisations, the Six Cities Design Festival presented over 300 events in the form of three inter-related strands: Public, Learning and Design into Business.
The long term aims of the Festival were:
- To promote the role of design in developing new products, processes and services
- To engage the general public in the six cities in design through a broad-based public programme, celebrating international design and Scottish design
- To position the Six Cities Design Festival as a major design event, both nationally and internationally, encouraging participation and engagement
- To create a platform for developing Scottish talent; and to promote design as a strategic business tool
With an investment of £3 million from the Scottish Government in its events and activities, the Festival set out not only to demonstrate that design will have a big impact on Scotland's future economic performance, but also to celebrate design as a cultural activity - making the difference between loss and profit, but also making the difference between the ordinary and the inspirational.
The Six Cities Design Festival created close links with local communities and businesses, creating events unique to each city. The Festival proved that the citizens of Scotland's cities are making the most of design as a powerful tool for change. And they are having plenty of fun in the process.
