A COLLEAGUE with a better grasp of arithmetic than me (but then, most folks have) pointed out after the September ‘issue’ went on-line that it was in fact the 50th monthly edition of the journal. That seems cause for modest if belated celebration, and is an appropriate launch pad for further development of Northings and the website that we will be cooking up in the coming months.

We begin that process with a new masthead updating the collage of images that greets visitors to the site. As a logistical consequence of loading the new banner, the October issue won’t actually go on-line until Monday afternoon, so apologies to anyone who logged in early that day to check out the new issue and found it had gone AWOL.

We have also teamed up with Scotloads (www.scotloads.co.uk) music download site to add mp3 samples to our music articles (many have been retrospectively applied to material in the archive). Where the function is available, scrolling to the foot of the article should let you see the Scotloads control panel, which will allow you to play 30-second clips of selected tracks or a continuous stream of clips from the entire album. (see Duncan Chisholm article for example).

In last month’s Editorial, I mentioned the misgivings being expressed over the current reorganisation of the Highland Council’s arts team, and suggested it was time for the Council to provide a clear explanation of how the new structure covering hugely enlarged areas will work.

I said then that Northings would be more than happy to provide a platform for any such clarification, and Judi Menabney, the Principal Cultural Officer in the Council’s Education Culture & Sport Service, has taken me up on the offer in an interview this month. Judi argues forcefully that this is a reorganisation rather than a reduction. The proof, of course, will lie in what happens on the ground, and it remains to be seen how the new structure will work in practice once it is in place.

October opens with the Inverness Book Festival, a diverse five-day celebration of books and reading that includes Kenneth White delivering the Neil Gunn Memorial Lecture, and appearances by noted Scottish authors Iain Banks (always good value on these occasions), A L Kennedy and Des Dillon.

Dràma Na h-Alba also runs for five days, but packs even more into a hyper-active programme, including multiple opportunities to see many of the shows. Stuart Brownlee introduces the festival this month, marking a very important new development in Scottish theatre that is likely to attract national attention.

Attracting national attention was one of the main objects of Highland 2007, which now enters its final quarter to acrimonious debate on whether the Common Good Fund in Inverness should be shelling out for more fireworks to see off what many are regarding as more damp squib than skyrocket.

The time for full assessment will come, but it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the successes have been sporadic, and the failings disappointing. The plan to take Highland culture to the rest of Scotland – and beyond – boldly announced by Jack McConnell has not been fulfilled with any conviction.

Junkets to New York for the already established Tartan Week are all very well for the lucky participants, but where was the Highland Theatre venue at the Edinburgh Fringe? Where was the showcase public concert at Celtic Connections?

The answer, of course, is nowhere to be seen, and the reason – no funds. Many will think that these should have been priorities, along with even more generation of new work on the home patch, and would have represented a better fulfilment of the stated aims of the Highland Year of Culture than bought-in festivals and pop stars.

It is a debate that will rumble on, but from the perspective of this chair, Highland 2007 has been a decidedly mixed bag, and has not helped to produce nearly enough genuinely exciting new Highland art. Then again, perhaps it was always going to be that way, given what seemed an improbable remit from the outset.

Our HITN Profile this month features the Dunoon-based Perhilion Theatre Company, while Georgina Coburn talks to visual artist Del Whitticase about his participation in ‘The Other Side of Air – Arts & Spirituality’, a project based in riverside churches in Inverness. As usual, we will be adding more news, reviews and features throughout the month.

Kenny Mathieson
Commissioning Editor, Northings

Kenny Mathieson lives and works in Boat of Garten, Strathspey. He studied American and English Literature at the University of East Anglia, graduating with a BA (First Class) in 1978, and a PhD in 1983. He has been a freelance writer on various arts-related subjects since 1982, and contributes to the Inverness Courier, The Scotsman, The Herald, The List, and other publications. He has contributed to numerous reference books, and has written books on jazz and Celtic music.