Northern Exposure

ALISTAIR PEEBLES looks at what 2007 holds in store for the arts in Orkney and Shetland

INTRODUCING HIS collection of essays ‘Scotlands of the Mind’ (Luath, 2002), the poet and historian Angus Calder gives us a taste of some of the distinctive cultural flavours that make up the country, including Orkney, “a considerable centre of High Culture,” and Shetland, “closer to Norway than Edinburgh…a post-Norse world of its own?”

If one of the main aims of the book is to debunk some engrained habits of the Scottish mind, another is to claim for this “mongrel” nation the capacity to continue to evolve culturally, and to do so on its own terms. It’s a useful primer, very readable, by a shrewd and reliable author, and its purpose is clear: to orientate our minds towards a sense of the possibilities for our national future.

I didn’t get around to reading ‘Scotlands of the Mind’ until recently. Some months ago I’d been intrigued to hear talk of an idea that appealed to me quite strongly: a follow-on to Scotland’s Year of Highland Culture (the project known to all as Highland 2007).

This would be Scotland’s Year of Island Culture: an idea born in part out of a sense of the difference between Highland and the Islands, in part out of some loose pitching as Highland 2007 took shape, in part out of economic experience that has some aspects that are shared by all islands.

I still see no reason why the Scottish island groups should not strive towards closer contact, seeking ways to work in partnership with one another, as well as with other areas of the country – and with other countries nearby

Transport, for example. This putative Island Year might be 2009, or 2010… My enthusiasm for the idea took a bruising recently when I mentioned it to Fiona Hampton, Project Director for Highland 2007, though I think there’s life in it yet.

Anyway I started reading Calder’s book shortly after having attended a seminar in Caithness at the end of last year, when I began to realise I needed to know more about the shape of things across the Pentland Firth.

The seminar was co-hosted by Caithness Arts and HI~Arts, and it concerned the future for the arts in that particular post-Norse quasi-island. Interesting things may soon be starting to happen there, as they’ve been happening in the islands for years: I hope so.

Surely, I thought, as I read the book, the forthcoming draft Culture Bill would recognise the national importance of these (distant) awakenings and enterprises.

But how do the Bill’s creators imagine this country? Do they know that its cultural geography is changing? That, for example, centres of creative activity of national significance could begin to grow, north of the Central Belt?

At this point in the cultural year, then, I want to describe some of the many delights that will be on the high table of Orkney in the months ahead: many of them included in the listings produced by Highland 2007, and many of those stimulated to some degree by its funding.

I also want to include an account of what’s going to be happening in Shetland, not least because Kenny Mathieson asked me to, but also because it’s a good excuse to travel up there to find out, even if it’s only by phone – such is my expense account (and mine – Ed).

There’s an utterly astonishing number of events, occasions, projects and initiatives taking place in both island groups this year. Again, I wonder why that might be – and where will it all lead?

As far as Orkney is concerned, undoubtedly the major event of 2007 will be the long-anticipated reopening of the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness. The building work is complete, the building “is fantastic”, and the staff are currently in the process of moving back in. The exhibits will be reinstalled in the coming weeks.

Although the date of the relaunch and programme details have still to be announced, the doors will open in the spring. With the gallery’s permanent collection – one that continues to grow in significance nationally and internationally – returning after an extensive UK tour, and new acquisitions to be unveiled at the launch, there is sure to be widespread interest.

On another waterfront, a hundred or so miles north as the whitemaa flies, the new Shetland Museum and Archives will be opening at Hay’s Dock in Lerwick towards the end of May.

Another impressive architectural and cultural statement that makes a bold connection between past and present (and tells the story from the islands’ geological beginnings to the present day), this regenerative enterprise is one that, like the Pier, will help establish an awareness elsewhere in Scotland of the cultural self-confidence and vigour that exists in these parts.

Back to Orkney, and a couple of anniversaries. The St Magnus Festival reaches its 30th this year, the Folk Festival its 25th, and both organisations are in good heart. Both rely on volunteer input, and both are strengthened by it.

A milestone for the St Magnus Festival (22-27 June) is the first performance in Orkney of a symphony by Mahler: the 4th. This will take place on the Sunday night of the Festival, in a programme that includes the Festival Chorus in Elgar’s The Black Knight, with the BBC SSO, conductor Stefan Solyom, and soprano Lisa Milne.

Immediately afterwards, in a reprise of a recent Wigmore Hall bluesbuster event, Lisa will hotfoot it from the Picky Centre to the Festival club to perform songs by one of her musical heroines, Janis Joplin, accompanied by players from Concerto Caledonia. It’s that kind of Festival.

Further highlights can be found on the Festival’s web pages. For the moment, I’ll just mention one other first, which is the inaugural St Magnus Composers’ Course, led by Alasdair Nicolson, and due to run alongside the well-established Conductors’ Course.

The initiative reflects an attitude of exploration on the part of the organisation – expanding the potential that’s held by the place and the people beyond the familiar six-day midsummer slot.

Orkney Folk Festival programme details (24-27 May) should be available next month. The recent presentation to Johnny Mowat of the Award for Services to the Industry at the Scots Trad Music Awards in Fort William was a very well-deserved recognition of the time and energy he has put into this event over the years.

Just as the St Magnus Festival has benefited from Highland 2007/Orkney Community Programme funding for its ‘Jump Start’ project, combining sport and dance, the Folk Festival is planning not just a commemorative CD, but a first-ever ‘Island Hop’ as part of their 2007 programme.

This will involve taking a boatful of musicians round the Orkney North Isles, allowing all the island communities, rather than just one or two, to be part of the Festival.

Orkney’s older cousin, the Shetland Folk Festival – which was last year listed at number 8 by the Rough Guide to Scotland in the country’s top 40 visitor attractions – takes place between 4–6 May this year.

For one year only it’s one day shorter. The organisers are laying on extra events to compensate, and normal service will be resumed next year. Good, by the way, to see Lazy Boy Chair carrying the Orkney flag (do we have a new one yet…?) up to Shetland this year, as they did recently to Celtic Connections where they earned themselves a Danny Award. What a music there is in these Northern Isles (and Kris Drever, another Orcadian, has just won the prestigious Rising Star award at the BBC2 Folk Awards – Ed).

As a further example of that, and an indication of its rootedness, the Thomas Fraser Memorial Festival, which began in memory of that remarkable Burra man in 2002, continues to grow from strength to strength, as does international interest in Fraser’s music.

The 2007 festival – “the fastest selling ticket in Shetland” – takes place in Hamnavoe in Burra from 8-10 November.

Shetland Arts, the dynamic new agency that replaced Shetland Arts Trust last year will shortly be confirming its programme for 2007. Under the directorship of Gwylim Gibbons, and now chaired by Donald Murray, the organisation will continue its work of promoting the arts in Shetland, with the newest initiative being the creation of a film festival, Screenplay, which will take place alongside the book festival, Wordplay, from the 7-9 September.

There will be the usual year-round programme of exhibitions at the Bonhoga Gallery, craft residencies and musical events such as Fiddle Frenzy, the Guitar Festival and a range of other performances and workshops, these events being held in addition to their regular support for arts development in the county throughout the year.

The inaugural George Mackay Brown Writing Fellowship, with Pam Beasant, is now underway in Orkney. One of three pARTners projects in the county, this fellowship is founded on a sense of the possibilities for writing development that has emerged through the experience of previous fellowships.

It’s also a significant statement of the islands’ regard for the work of George Mackay Brown and for their wider literary heritage, and the organisers plan to ensure it continues into the future.

The GMB Fellowship is also an indication of the beneficial impact that strategic arts development has had in the county in recent years, with the project being managed by the Island Council’s Arts Development Officer, Clare Gee, and stimulated by the existence of Orkney Arts Forum, a community planning and consultative group that includes artform, arts agency and local council representatives meeting regularly to help steer arts development effectively.

It was very welcome to hear recently that the Development Officer’s post has been extended for a further two years. The recent publication of Orkney’s Arts Strategy, “Developing Orkney through the Arts” was a major milestone.

I mentioned that three pARTners projects were happening in Orkney at present. The other 12-month residencies are at Papdale Primary School in Kirkwall, where Christil Trumpet have been working since June 2006, and the Pier Arts Centre, whose residency in collaboration with Orkney Auction Mart was awarded to photographer Rebecca Marr.

As part of the Highland 2007/ Orkney Community Fund project, the Pier will also begin work on an archive for the renowned local film-maker Margaret Tait (1918-1999).

Soulisquoy Printmakers, of Kirkwall, mark their 25th anniversary this year with a year-long programme of work that features the use of their refurbished Columbian letter press. A further initiative in the visual arts in Orkney is the proposal to establish an Orkney Visual Arts Group.

Stimulated by contact with representatives from the Shetland artists group Veer North at the HI~Arts Visual Arts Gathering in Ullapool, this organisation aims to open up new opportunities for local artists. Veer North are currently preparing responses to invitations to exhibit in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Scotland.

Enough for now, almost… Of the twenty community organisations whose representatives met Fiona Hampton in Kirkwall recently to learn about the bigger Highland 2007 picture, and about marketing their events, those I’ve not mentioned already in relation to the arts include the following.

Orkney Science Festival, Orkney Arts Society (visual arts commission for a local care home), Orkney Traditional Dance Association (Orkney Ceilidh Weekend, 13-15 April), Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre (public art installation), Orkney Camerata (Orkney Roots Concert), the Holm Community Association (Totem Pole), and Orkney Arts Forum (commission to set dialect poetry to music for choir and local orchestra).

Other Shetland events that deserve more space than this overview will allow include: the Johnsmas Foy (15-24 June), which overlaps with Flavour of Shetland (21-24 June), and the Bergen-Shetland Races (20-25 June); the Shetland Blues Festival (31 August–2 September); and the Accordian and Fiddle festival (11-15 October).

Throughout 2007, the Shetland Centre for the Creative Industries will host a project, entitled ‘Maelstrom’ and supported by Highland 2007, that will combine a series of events, exhibitions, workshops, concerts and educational activities, focusing on music and textiles. Their fourth annual vocal festival takes place in the spring.

From Orkney, in addition, I’ll mention briefly the UHI-Millennium Institute’s archaeology-based ESSENCE project, their Centre for Nordic Studies, and the establishment of a postgraduate MA in Highlands and Islands Literature.

Orkney Museums’ exhibition of paintings by Stanley Cursiter ‘Looking Back’, will run from April to September in Kirkwall. The 9th ‘Salon du Livre Insulaire’ at Ouessant in Brittany during August this year, will feature writing from and about the Scottish islands, including of course both Shetland and Orkney. The Orkney SCDA starts in a few weeks time.

More about these projects and others later, but finally I want to raise the question of what all this activity says about the Northern Isles nowadays. Why is it happening? Where’s it all going to lead?

I think many more people should be asking those questions, and that many more people should have a clear sense of just how much is taking place in these neighbour islands. And, to come back to what I was saying at the start – what, following Highland 2007, about an Islands 2009, 2010… Surely there’s a need?

As I said earlier, Fiona Hampton was unreceptive to the idea. I think the reason for this is that, when she says Highland 2007 is not just about 2007, but about the future well beyond this year, she really does mean it. And in that context, it doesn’t make sense to have a year of island culture, or indeed a year of loch, peninsula or mountain culture.

One-offs are not what this whole project is about, and that’s heartening to hear. Further, Highland 2007’s emphasis on publicity and marketing, if it means ensuring the wider world knows what’s happening hereabouts, is a welcome opportunity.

But even if Highland 2007 does indeed create a legacy “that will continue on after 2007, significantly contributing towards the benefit of the region in social and economic terms”, and the Islands share in that, I still see no reason why the Scottish island groups should not strive towards closer contact, seeking ways to work in partnership with one another, as well as with other areas of the country – and with other countries nearby.

It’s begun to happen between Orkney and Shetland (and Shetland, Faroe and Iceland) in terms of writing development, it’s beginning to happen in the visual arts, and it’s long been part of the traditional music scene.

I hope the Executive’s current draft route marker, the Culture (Scotland) Bill, does indeed take account of Scotland’s changing cultural geography. That’s a nea
pair of brackets, by the way, in the document’s title. Neat and tidy. Somehow not quite like the mind we read about in Angus Calder’s book. But whatever the Bill’s constraints, as part of the process of “generational change”, it’s the actual country that in the end will point the way ahead.

Alistair Peebles is Chair of Orkney Arts Forum

© Alistair Peebles, 2007