Celtic Connections and is an integral and vibrant part of cultural life in Glasgow, with the economic impact on the city reaching £5.8 million in 2007. The festival actively promotes artistic links and cultural exchange across countries, reinforced by Showcase Scotland which brought 200 music industry delegates from 35 different countries to Scotland looking to book Scottish bands for festivals abroad in 2008. The 2008 festival opened with the Common Ground concert where many of the artists taking part in the event performed together. Donald Shaw, artistic director of the festival, spoke about the future of Celtic Connections as well as the
Celtic Fiddle Festival fiddlers, one Scottish, one Irish might not be appealing to many but if another element could be added it might be of interest. Because of their love for Breton music Kevin and Johnny decided to contact their good friend, Christian Lemaitre, from Brittany. Christian agreed and the Celtic Fiddle Festival was born. It was conceived as a "one-off" tour, an interesting way to showcase the 3 differing styles while at the same time demonstrating the deep historic connections, but the response from audiences was so positive that an album was released from that initial tour and, 20 yrs later, the