MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2016: The Glad Cafe

Congratulations to The Glad Cafe who have been nominated in Venue of the Year sponsored by Musicians' Union in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2016. Vote now!

We asked Joe Smillie of The Glad Cafe the following questions.

Tell us about yourself
The Glad Cafe is a Community Interest Company and has been open for just over 4 years now. As a non-profit organisation, The Glad Cafe uses any profits made to fund The Glad Foundation, a space for affordable music tuition for people in the area. We have a cafe space and a separate, designated venue with a high quality PA and lighting rig. We host shows ranging from stripped down singer/songwriter and folk shows to full on experimental band gigs. We have been named the Best Performing Arts Venue at the Sunday Herald's Scottish Culture Awards.

Why are you involved in Scottish music?
We are proud to have hosted some of the best Scottish folk musicians around and are committed to sustaining and developing one of the best things to come out of and represent our country – our music! We hold a popular Thursday night session with some extremely talented young hosts and are proud to have this as a regular highlight of our events programme and we've now started a Slow Session that takes place just before the regular session for beginners!

Any particular career highlights?
We've been lucky to host some fantastic Scottish artists and other musicians of a 'folk' persuasion one of these being Kentucky natives, Joan Shelley with Nathan Salsburg, who has worked with the Scottish Studies department at Glasgow University. They put on a wonderful show here. We've developed a wonderful friendship with Alasdair Roberts since we opened and his collaboration with Rachel Newton, Emily Portman and Lucy Farrell is another act we always enjoy hosting. We also held a 3-day festival this summer with the likes of the amazing Eliza Carthy and her cousin Marry Watterson.

What are your plans for the future?
We're hoping to keep on putting great Scottish and International acts of a really high quality and in the future hold some folk workshops in The Glad Foundation with those that host our session in the cafe, passing down their skills to players young and old.

If you would like to come along to the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards in Dundee’s Caird Hall call the Caird Hall box office on (01382) 434940 or buy online.