Culture of Oban

The Corran Halls theatre acts as a venue for community events, local and touring entertainers, and touring companies such as Scottish Opera.

The town had a two-screen cinema which was closed in early 2010. Thanks to a local community initiative, and supported by a number of famous names, it was reopened in August 2012 as the Phoenix Cinema. Oban has itself been used as a backdrop to several films including Ring of Bright Water and Morvern Callar.

The Oban War and Peace Museum advances the education of present and future generations by collecting, maintaining, conserving and exhibiting items of historical and cultural interest relating to the Oban area in peacetime and during the war years. A museum also operates within Oban Distillery, just behind the main seafront. The distillation of whisky in Oban predates the town: whisky has been produced on the site since 1794. The Hope MacDougall collection  is a unique record of the working and domestic lives of people in Scotland.

Music is central to Gaelic culture, and there is lively interest in the town. In the 2010 Pipe Band season, the local Oban High School Pipe Band, led by piping legend Angus MacColl, were successful in winning the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, the Cowal Games competition, and the Champion of Champions for the year in the novice-juvenile grade. The town also boasts a successful senior pipe band. The local Gaelic choir competes regularly and successfully in the Mod.

During the 2011 Guy Fawkes Night, Oban became briefly infamous for its fireworks display, which became a worldwide news and online hit when £6,000 of display fireworks were ignited all at once due to a computer error. The display, which was