Surely not that time already? (Oh yes it is!). Uh-huh, Christmas is fast approaching, the Panto season is upon us, and apart from that, the arts scene takes a bit of a breather and puts its (metaphorical) feet up for a week or two.

The Arts Journal will take advantage of a seasonal lull and have its own break for a couple of weeks over the festivities, but we will leave you with some goodies between now and Christmas, and there will be new material going online again from the second week in January, so don’t wait until February before you check back in.

Our thanks to all of you who voted for the Journal in the Traditional Music Awards, although since I’m writing this just before the Awards ceremony, I don’t know for sure that any of you did … I will be reporting on the occasion, though, so I hope you haven’t embarrassed me.

January means Celtic Connections, and this year’s opening concert will feature a new commission spearheaded by the great Fred Morrison (see our interview with him). Our Band Profile looks at Bachué and The Unusual Suspects, and we have a new interview with Karen Matheson as well this month, with more Celtic-connected material coming up.

Peter Urpeth reports on the ‘Salm’ project in Lewis, we have interviews with Nicola Daley – Cinders in the Eden Court panto – and Andy Cannon, the Artistic Director of Wee Stories Theatre, and an intriguing contribution to the National Anthem debate from Robert Davidson. And more to come.

Finally, we say a tearful goodbye to Catriona Paul, our film reviewer on the Arts Journal, who is off to America for the first half of 2005. Our thanks go to Catriona for the excellent job she has done in the film seat, and we look forward to working with her again in the not too distant future.

In the meantime, we are delighted that distinguished film critic Allan Hunter has agreed to take over film reviewing duties for the Journal in January.

Time, then, to offer seasons greetings (when it finally arrives) from the Arts Journal team, and wish you all a happy and prosperous 2005.

Kenny Mathieson
Commissioning Editor