I HAVEN’T done a strict comparative count, but June felt like the busiest month we have ever had on Northings, with a seemingly endless stream of reviews added to several features, and all reflecting an intense month of arts activity around the area.

It did rather contradict my gloomy assessment of the effects of the recession on the arts scene last month, but I suspect it will prove to be a particularly productive blip rather than set the pace for the rest of the summer. (I neglected to mention in that survey that the Connect festival in Inverary wasn’t happening this year either, although they do hope to return next year).

It was great to see so much going on, and a great deal of it to a very high standard. I was very impressed with the two NTS Transform projects in Elgin and Thurso (the latter was particularly ambitious) that I had the opportunity to follow in some detail. To see the level of commitment and enthusiasm they got from often initially reluctant or suspicious school groups, and the equally enthusiastic participation of community groups in Thurso, was extremely heartening.

For a variety of reasons we were unable to plant anyone in the NTS Orkney project, Mixter Maxter, and just to round out our neglect of it, neither of our reviewers at the St Magnus Festival was able to see it. It was well-received by the critics (see, for example, Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman), and you can also check out some of the participants’ own blogs and videos at this site.

July is shaping up to be a little less frenetic, although that won’t be the case in Stornoway, where the Hebridean Celtic Festival will unleash its usual good times. The rather more sedate Mendelssohn On Mull festival also occupies its usual slot early in the month.

There is lots of grassroots activity as well. The Feisean programme is well underway around the Highlands & Islands , as are the ceilidh trials, including the Caledonian Ceilidh Trail. The Inverness Highland Games in the Bught Park includes some arts events among the sport.

I can’t say that Homecoming Scotland has impinged a great deal on my own sphere of activity, aside from the Burns 250th Anniversary flurry (much of which would have happened anyway) early in the year and the odd themed commission here and there, but the main event of the programme, The Gathering , takes place in Edinburgh this month, and may raise the profile a bit.

In our lead interview this month, Helen Slater caught up with dancer and choreographer Christine Devaney as she and her collaborators worked on developing a new show during a two-week residence at Eden Court Theatre in June.

We have also instituted a new function on many of the reviews and features, where clicking on the writer’s name in the © credit at the end of the piece will take you to a short biography and picture of the said writer (one or two have chosen to remain anonymous, and some others have not yet got round to it, so if you click and nothing happens, that’s why).

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.