HIGHLAND 2007 moves into its final phase, although it’s not quite over with the passing of the year. The last hurrah will come on the weekend of 11-12 January, culminating with Highland Lights ~ Solais na Gaidhealtachd, which they promise will provide a spectacular final flourish back where it began exactly a year earlier in Inverness.

Highland 2007 itself has had a mixed reception. In January, Northings will carry the thoughts of Fiona Hampton, the director of H2007, in an article we plan to post ahead of the final weekend festivities. Our new blogging facility will give you the chance to have your own say, and the post-mortem will doubtless continue well after the last firework has fizzled out on Kessock Bridge.

Mind you, you haven’t exactly flocked to use the aforesaid new blogging facility we introduced on last month’s Editorial. I can’t entirely believe that no one out there reading Northings has any views at all on the new Eden Court – perhaps you are all just a bit too shy to step up and be first?

In any case, and since it is the season to be generous, we’ll have another go – let us have your thoughts on the new Eden Court complex, or indeed on anything relevant to Highland arts using the facility below.

We hope to eventually extend this facility to many more articles and reviews. Blogs will be moderated, and we won’t run them if they include foul or abusive language or personal attacks on individuals (and the process may lead to delays in your comments going on-line, so please be patient). Otherwise, the floor will be yours, so please have your say.

As a notably busy year starts to go a little quieter (but only a little) in the Highlands & Islands over the next couple of months, the annual extravaganza that is Celtic Connections hoves into view in Glasgow with another massive three-week programme. Sue Wilson caught up with artistic consultant (that’s director in all but name) Donald Shaw in our main interview this month.

Red Shoes Theatre in Elgin provide our final HITN Profile of the year, and also of the series, although, as with all the material on Northings, all of the profiles remain accessible via the Archive.

As is our habit at this time, we are treating the current Northings as a ‘double issue’, and there will be no formal changeover on 1 January. We will be posting new material until mid-December, and will resume normal service from around 8 January, although fans of Dave Smith’s excellent ArtToons – the subject of a fine exhibition at the Ironworks during Dràma Na h-Alba – should check in from 1 January for his latest contribution.

My thanks go to all of the reviewers and contributors who have helped to expand Northings even further this year, and to all of you who have visited the site, and continue to do so in gratifying numbers. We will be aiming to develop Northings further in the coming year, and look forward to a more interactive relationship with the readership – once you start using the blogs, that is.

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.