20 Summerhall

Edinburgh’s most daring year-round multi-arts space excelled again this year, particularly with a Fringe programme which featured on and off-site productions from Escalator East to Edinburgh, Made in Scotland and Scottish Dance Theatre. Visual arts curator Paul Robertson sadly departed, although in Pickering’s, the space now has its own gin distillery. (David Pollock)

19 Glasgow School of Art

After May’s shocking fire, the outlook for the Glasgow School of Art’s cherished Mackintosh Building looks bright, with restoration funds backed by Brad Pitt and one-time student Peter Capaldi, and the Pheonix Bursary set up to support students who lost work in the blaze. Three of its graduates – Tris Vonna-Michell, Ciara Phillips and eventual winner Duncan Campbell – were up for the Turner Prize too. (Yasmin Sulaiman)

18 Green Door Studios

This all-analogue recording studio is a hub for some of Glasgow’s most exciting acts, from groove-based buccaneers Golden Teacher and Whilst to garage-punks The Amazing Snakeheads. Admirably community-minded, Green Door run courses for unemployed musicians and young people. (Stewart Smith)

17 Alan Cumming

Still delighting as the acerbic Eli Gold on The Good Wife, actor Alan Cumming was a vocal Yes campaigner in this year’s referendum. He’s also reprised his breakout role as Cabaret’s Emcee on Broadway, and put out what’s probably this year’s best memoir, Not My Father’s Son. (Yasmin Sulaiman)

16 East End Social

image: Hudson Mohawke A highlight of the 2014 Cultural Programme, the summer-long East End Social opened up venues and gig spaces in Glasgow’s underused East End to a wide range of artists like Mogwai, Pictish Trail and Hudson Mohawke. Organisers Chemikal Underground also excelled again with releases from The Phantom Band, Holy Mountain, Sound of Yell and more. (David Pollock)

15 Ilan Volkov

As the mastermind of Tectonics Festival and principal guest conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Israeli-born Ilan Volkov has transformed Scotland’s classical music scene by programming challenging contemporary work, involving local musicians and experimenting with performance formats. (Stewart Smith)

14 Generation

image: 'Our Love is Like the Flowers, the Rain, the Sea and the Hours', Martin Boyce Created to tie in with all our significant events in 2014, GENERATION was a nationwide retrospective of Scotland’s finest contemporary artists from the last 25 years. And what a haul it was, with the likes of Douglas Gordon, Martin Boyce, Jim Lambie and Lucy Skaer appearing in excellent group and solo shows. (David Pollock)

13 Glasgow Film Festival

With 2015’s highlights already announced – a celebration of Ingrid Bergman, Australian cinema and nerd culture – the Glasgow Film Festival will hope to match this year’s glories. Pop-up cinema, FrightFest, art and musical elements meant the fastest growing festival in the country is now a genuine force to be reckoned with. (Kirstyn Smith)

12 Katie Paterson

This year Katie Paterson planted a forest in Norway. In 100 years it will provide the paper for an anthology of books, Future Library, comprising stories from 100 authors, the first of which will be Margaret Atwood. She also had a major solo show at the Ingleby Gallery during the Edinburgh Art Festival. (Rachael Cloughton)

11 Ali Smith

It may not be a consolation for the Cambridge-based Invernesian to know that she came a close second in the race for this year’s Booker Prize, but Ali Smith's excellent How to be Both did win ultimate favour from judges on the Saltire and Goldsmiths prize panels. (Brian Donaldson)