Free festival will herald opening of V&A Dundee

T in the Park organisers DF Concerts have been called in to mastermind a free two-day festival for up to 20,000 people on Dundee's waterfront to herald the opening of its £80 million V&A Museum of Design this year.

The Young People's Collective. Picture: Julie Howden

Live music, dance and design elements will all be part of the 3D Festival, which will get under way in Slessor Gardens, the city’s new waterfront park, on the eve of the museum’s long-awaited opening in September.

A team of young people from across the city are working with the promoters, who are also behind the new TRNSMT festival in Glasgow, to create the official opening event.

They will even help choose which acts will perform against the backdrop of Japanese architect Kengo Kuma’s museum, which has already helped see Dundee rated as one of the world’s “hottest destinations” to visit in 2018.

The 3D Festival, which is billed as a signature event in Scotland’s first official Year of Young People, has secured £270,000 worth of backing from national agency EventScotland.

It is hoped upwards of half a million visitors will flock to the new museum, which has been more than a decade in the planning, in its first year. It will showcase hundreds of years of Scottish design heritage as well as host regular temporary exhibitions drawn from the V&A’s archives in London.

The V&A Dundee team has created a “Young People’s Collective,” made up of 16 to 24-year-olds, to work on a manifesto and “co-design” the opening event.

Geoff Ellis, chief executive fof DF Concerts, a company formed in Dundee in 1982, said: “We’re honoured to be working with V&A Dundee on what will be a globally significant event.

“We’re truly excited about unveiling the line-up and details for the opening weekend – this is a very big deal for Scotland and in particular for the regeneration of Dundee, cementing its reputation as a city of design.”

A spokeswoman for V&A Dundee said details of how to secure tickets for the 3D Festival would be announced later in the year, along with plans for public access to the museum on its opening weekend.

Maryam Deeni, a member of, the V&A Dundee Young People’s Collective, said: “This is an opportunity for us to do something great and we want everyone to feel part of it.

“The opening celebrations will show off the new museum and will be a chance to highlight the great things that have been going on in Dundee for a long time. The festival will be a combination of what the city is proud of and the exciting things still to come.”