WHILE the arguments over the success of Highland 2007 will doubtless rumble on for some time yet, the official end of the designated Year of Highland Culture duly arrived on 12 January in Inverness.

As Fiona Hampton, the director of Highland 2007, notes in our interview this month, the event itself was rather overshadowed by the controversy surrounding its funding, one of a number of such squabbles which punctuated a well-intentioned attempt to raise the profile of the Highlands & Islands and its diverse cultural activities.

Fiona Hampton gives her own views on the project in our interview, and address some of the criticisms which have been directed the way of the event in the past year (and even before that), including in the pages of this journal. A full assessment of the event is currently being carried out through Glasgow University, and that report will be available in the Autumn.

But with Highland 2007 now consigned to history, what comes next? Not being in possession of a crystal ball in good working order, I’m not about to make predictions, but my hope is that the healthy level of activity and creativity we have enjoyed in the region in the time that Northings has been active will not only be maintained but built upon.

When the journal launched back in 2003, I wrote an introductory overview scanning the arts scene in the Highlands and Islands. We felt it was time for both an update of that article, and a fresh look at the subject. My thanks go to Robert Livingston, the Director of HI-Arts, for his new overview, which can be accessed on the Introduction tab in the left-hand menu bar.

The first regular series of profiles we ran in the journal were Venue Profiles, which are still available on site. Again, with several major refurbishments and new venues now up and running since that first series, we felt it was time to begin an updated series of monthly venue profiles – look for the first one on 1 March (no prizes for guessing where we begin).

One other new development we are particularly excited about is the imminent completion of Northings first Podcast. Our initial foray into that burgeoning field will feature poet Rody Gorman reading his Gaelic translations of the songs of Bob Dylan – the print version has proved to be one of our most visited articles, and we feel certain that the audio manifestation will prove an equally big success. Watch for that appearing on the site very soon.

Nairn-based actress Tilda Swinton has been nominated for an Oscar as the Best Supporting Actress for her role in Michael Clayton, which seemed as good an excuse as any to air another of the most popular pieces to have appeared on Northings. Accordingly, our interview with actress from June 2005 will be this month’s From The Archive piece.

It has been a relatively quiet January in these parts (fireworks aside), but the music of the Highlands & Islands has been much in evidence at Celtic Connections in Glasgow. We have covered more concerts than ever before from the event, which finishes on the opening weekend of February – a weekend which will also see the first HI-EX! Comic Exposition take place at Eden Court Theatre (see Georgina Coburn’s interview with the organisers).

We are pleased to provide a link with poet Gerry Loose’s An Ardnamurchan Journal (access the introduction and link via our Weblog button on the left hand menu). Gerry’s wide-ranging investigation of the oak woodlands of Sunart has been enabled by a Creative Scotland Award from the Scottish Arts Council, and we look forward to charting the progress of the project.

From further north, Lewis poet Ian Stephen considers the work of another islander, Shetland’s Robert Alan Jamieson, while Alistair Peebles completes his two-part consideration of the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness. As ever, look out for more features and reviews in the course of 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.