The early morning mists and forecast of rain and gales for the weekend are further reminders – along with the distinct nip in the air – that Autumn is now fairly upon us, with winter not too far away. The ever lurking threat of major spending cuts make it likely to be one of discontent for hard-pressed arts organisations, but there is still plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks – including a major re-vamp of Northings.

If Loopallu marked the end of the summer season of music festivals, there is a festival of a different kind currently ongoing throughout the region, culminating in a day of public events at Eden Court in November. As Stephen Deazley explained to Georgina Coburn in our lead article this month, the Love Music Festival has a strong educational component built into its structure, and will focus on World Music, an area not normally well covered in the Highlands & Islands.

Both Scottish Opera (with their reduced scale Carmen) and Scottish Ballet (with both a main stage triple bill at Eden Court featuring a new work by American choreographer Val Caniparoli and their smaller scale Up Close touring show) are out and about in the region in October, and not only in Inverness.

Orkney has a Storytelling Festival lined up for later in the month, and the Boyle Family are the latest big name contemporary artists to feature in the HICA programme, while the Artist Rooms exhibitions of work by Ed Ruscha (Inverness) and Ian Hamilton Finlay (Stornoway) both run through until November (and Andy Warhol’s work is at Perth Gallery until late October).

The Artist Rooms project is largely a result of the largesse of art dealer Anthony d’Offay, and it may be in the coming painful squeeze on public funding that a more old-fashioned reliance on such private patronage – routine in the USA – will play a bigger role in some areas of the arts than we are used to seeing in this country in recent times.

Northings, meanwhile, is gearing up for the biggest overhaul of the site we have undertaken so far, the results of which we hope to bring you in November, all going well. In the meantime, we will be providing normal service this month, so keep checking back for news and reviews.

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 List, and other publications. He has contributed to numerous reference books, and has written books on jazz and Celtic music.