an international, biennial festival

A year-round sector support organisation

we exist to position Scotland as the place to create and experience radical performance.

Rooted in Glasgow and working internationally, we provide a crucial support structure and platform for Scotland’s most vital artists, and showcase some of the world’s leading contemporary performance makers.

Where we’re coming from

Take Me Somewhere emerged in response to the closure of The Arches in 2015, a space that shaped a generation of artists and audiences. Take Me Somewhere was founded in 2016 as a focused intervention: to sustain international exchange, support established Scotland-based performance artists to meet their ambitions working and presenting in Scotland and ensure the country remained connected to cutting-edge global practice.

The organisation was founded in 2016 by Jackie Wylie, now Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland. Since 2017 it has been led by Artistic Director LJ Findlay-Walsh. Meet the rest of the team.

L-R: Eve Stainton (2023 Festival); Cade & MacAskill (2021 Digital Festival Edition), 2017 Festival

The Festival

Take Me Somewhere Festival pulsates across the city every two years, bringing transformative performance into theatres, churches, nightclubs, libraries, city streets and unexpected places in between.

The festival presents internationally significant artists alongside Scotland-based practitioners working at the forefront of contemporary performance. We champion artists who are rigorous, risk-taking and formally inventive, artists whose work responds to the complexity of the present moment.

Previous editions have been marked by experimentation, intimacy, and intensity, drawing audiences seeking work that feels urgent, embodied, and alive. Read our curatorial statement.

Browse previous programmes and festival reflections: 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2021 / 2023 / 2025

At the heart of the festival is a desire to connect people, ideas, and possibilities, and create a space for personal and political transformation. We centre diverse voices that speak to the complexities of our globalised world and invite audiences to join us in imagining what a future somewhere could be.

STUDIO SOMEWHERE

Take Me Somewhere operates year-round as a development organisation and international connector.

We invest in artists working at pivotal moments in their careers, supporting ambitious production and meaningful exchange. We act as a portal between Scotland and global performance networks, facilitating collaboration, visibility, and long-term sustainability.

Alongside providing studio time (you can see our previous residents here) our wider Studio Somewhere programme has developed to include skills development and workshop activity, international networks and projects and sector interventions.