FESTIVAL season is upon us again, and while there is plenty to look forward to, the proposed two-day Rock4Life event featuring Status Quo, REM, Sugababes and others planned for Arderseir has now been cancelled entirely due to poor ticket sales, following an initial announcement that the second day would be sacrificed.

'Budget Cuts' by Dave Smith

It is another reminder that such large-scale promotions are a very risky business, and follows in the wake of the demise of both The Outsider and Hydro Connect last year. A more traditional community-related event like the Shetland Folk Festival, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is perhaps a little more insulated from economic vagaries, but it is a major compliment to all concerned that it has thrived so well.

The Traditional Music and Song Association is another recent victim of the financial squeeze, although not yet to the point of demise. The organisation recently announced the necessity of making its paid staff redundant, but still hopes that a renewed bid for Scottish Arts Council funding will be successful.

Meanwhile, the Highland Council’s budget consultation remains open until the end of June 2010, and I would urge anyone involved in or simply interested in the well-being of arts and culture in the Highlands to make their views known.

Comments and responses can be made to the Council through the weblink above, or at Ward Forums in your local Ward. We have also added a comments box – delayed by a technical hitch – to Georgina Coburn’s Speakout article. While this does not feed directly into the Council’s consultation, we’d like to see some debate on the issue.

Many of the proposed cuts could be deeply damaging to the infrastructure and hard-won developments in arts activity in the region. Proposals include the closure of Inverness Museum and Gallery and the ending of funding to Eden Court’s Out of Eden outreach project.

I have said before in this column that the arts cannot expect to escape in budget cuts of the severity that the Council needs to make, but the arts community is certainly entitled – and indeed obliged – to fight its corner at this crucial point in the decision-making process. No use looking on in silence and complaining afterwards.

On a happier note, Right Lines have finally succeeded in the long haul to bring Whisky Kisses to the stage in the version they envisaged, and hit the road with the show this month. The aforementioned Shetland Folk Festival and Fèis Rois’s Adult Fèis in Ullapool see out April and usher in May, while both Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet visit Eden Court.

The Ullapool Book Festival (7-9 May 2010) includes a session with Iain Banks, always good value on these occasions, and Pitlochry Festival Theatre have announced their summer repertory season, which opens on 14 May 2010.

Kenny Mathieson
Commissioning Editor, Northings