Art

Bugarin + Castle
Already established talents in their own spheres, artist Angel Cohn Castle and architect Davide Bugarin are the emerging duo set to represent Scotland at the 2026 Venice Biennale. Paying homage to their shared background in Edinburgh’s drag and queer cabaret scenes, their practice incorporates sculptural performance, moving image, sound and costume. Their 2023 film Sore Throat was set against European colonial rule and featured an interactive sound installation that cast the audience as active agents of power and resistance. Their Venice exhibition, which blends Filipino cultural heritage, Scottish archives and queer research, will mark the vibrant return of Scottish contemporary art to the world’s most prestigious art fair. (Evie Glen)

Comedy

Jodie Sloan
Having settled in Edinburgh after a spell in Australia, Canadian musical comic Jodie Sloan impressed this year with her bittersweet Fringe debut Is She Hot?, about the best and worst aspects of releasing a mega-hit viral sketch that got five million views on TikTok. A versatile performer, who jokingly presents herself as ‘the Taylor Swift of comedy’, she blends catchy songs on the ukulele and a breezy disposition, with often surprisingly dark, confessional stand-up. Sharing goofy skits online, she also participates in the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired improv group Tartan Tabletop. About to record and release Is She Hot? as a special, Sloan is also seeking to launch an acting career in the UK and is currently working on her second stand-up hour, promising ‘salacious personal anecdotes while tackling real-world issues’, focusing on altruism, the service industry, kink and ‘living as flawed human in a dichotomous, purist and capitalist world’. (Jay Richardson)

Music

Pistol Daisys
As their name suggests, Glasgow trio Pistol Daisys are a band of contrasts, progressing from the sentimental yearning of early single ‘Saint Glasgow’ to the flinty vampish alt.rock of ‘Honey’ in the space of a year. The band are fronted by the two-pronged vocal assault of Malaysia-born Belly (Beverly Matujal) and Lorna Lynne (Lorna Johnson) who met at a King Tut’s open mic three months after Belly had moved to Glasgow and bonded over a shared love of Fleetwood Mac. Bo’ness-bred drummer/producer Lewis Kelly joined the band after engineering their first session and the shows and singles have flowed ever since. A new year of hard gigging and EP releases stretches before them, ushered in by a Hogmanay support slot with Big Country at the legendary Barrowlands. (Fiona Shepherd)

Theatre

Holly Howden Gilchrist
Holly Howden Gilchrist had yet to graduate from the Royal Conservatoire Of Scotland when she was cast as Catherine in Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge at Tron Theatre early in 2025. By that time, the then 20-year-old had already won both the Donald Dewar Award and the Pauline Knowles Scholarship at RCS. As the daughter of actors Kathryn Howden and Gilly Gilchrist, she comes from a strong pedigree. Since A View From The Bridge, Howden Gilchrist has toured in Sylvia Dow’s play, Blinded By The Light, and appeared in Small Acts Of Love, Frances Poet and Ricky Ross’ piece that was the first production at the re-opened Citizens Theatre. She returns to the Gorbals for the festive production of Beauty And The Beast. Quite a start to what looks like a bright future. (Neil Cooper)

Main picture: Charlotte Cullin.