After a spell in the theatre in London and Cambridge, Michael moved to Edinburgh to head up the world-famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1981. Later he moved to Glasgow to organise the Glasgow Garden Festival (1988) and then co-authored the bid for the European City of Culture. He was Chief Executive of the European Special Olympics in 1990. In 1996 he founded the West End Festival (Glasgow’s biggest community festival), followed by the Merchant City Festival in 2002.