Platform in Easterhouse turns 20 with a year of Made in Easterhouse celebrations

Platform, the arts centre at The Bridge in Easterhouse, has spent 2026 celebrating 20 years of participatory arts and community outreach in Glasgow's east end. It first opened its doors in autumn 2006 as part of the award-winning Bridge complex.

To mark the milestone, Platform set itself a bold challenge: supporting, creating and delivering 26 creative projects and live events throughout the year, all under the banner Made in Easterhouse 20:26. Artistic director Matt Addicott said the year has brought visits from owls, roller discos and world-famous comic book illustrators, with films made, cakes eaten and carnivals paraded.

The centrepiece was Made in Easterhouse 2026, a multi-arts festival and birthday party held on Friday 23 October. The line-up mixed live music from Sacred Paws, The Provans and an improvised set from DICK50 featuring L + R.AGGS with comedy and performance from David Sherry, live screen printing with Print Clan and live portrait painting with Project Ability.

Visual art came from Cranhill Arts' Glaswegians, a project in which 22 people from Cranhill and the surrounding area became photographers between 1989 and 1993, capturing nearly 40,000 portraits of fellow citizens. Platform's exhibition is the biggest showing of the photographs in 35 years.

Work made in the building took centre stage too. Monday Night Drama, Platform's drama group for teenagers, presented Yer Da Works At Tesco, while writer Helen Charman has been exploring the Platform archive to ask a deceptively simple question: what is an arts centre for?

Matt Addicott said that in twenty years Platform has hosted art and artists from across the world in Easterhouse and supported communities to watch, participate and collaborate. The festival was co-programmed by performance programmer Eoin McKenzie, who first came to Platform's drama groups as a child when the building opened, and visual arts programmer Margaret McCormick.

Eoin described the festival as a chance to celebrate not just what has happened over two decades, but the particular kind of arts centre Platform has become, and what it might become next.

The celebrations continue through the winter, with Platform's Christmas show, Hansel and Gretel, running from 1 to 24 December alongside weekly classes for adults and young people.

Platform is at The Bridge, Easterhouse, Glasgow. Tickets, classes and the Made in Easterhouse 20:26 programme are at platform-online.co.uk.