KATIE LAING reports on the aims and aspirations of the Scottish Government’s latest focus event, The Year of Scotland’s Islands

IT’S to be a celebration of all that’s special about our culture, people and places – and with the flagship events now decided, the Year of Scotland’s Islands is hotting up.

Scotland’s Islands is a programme of festivals, events, exhibitions and other activities being held under one banner to showcase the vibrant culture and creativity throughout these more remote areas of Scotland, as well as their quality produce and natural beauty. It began in April and will run for 12 months, with events being held throughout all the inhabited islands off Scotland.

K T Tunstall is one of the headliners at the Hebridean Celtic Festival

Six Scottish local authorities with island communities are working together on the project, with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar being the lead authority. Joining the Western Isles are Highland, Shetland, Orkney, North Ayrshire and Argyll and Bute, with other stakeholders including Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Event Scotland, Visit Scotland and the European Regional Development Fund.

Regular meetings are held by telephone or video conferencing with a small team of staff at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar providing the administrative support.

Now the flagship events have been decided, it will be full steam ahead in staging the programme, which includes events in a myriad of categories including music, performing arts, heritage, arts and crafts, writing and publishing, food and drink and sport and outdoor.

One of the main events in the Scotland’s Islands calendar is the Hebridean Celtic Festival, being held in Stornoway in July. Other flagship events include a drama production of The Tempest at the St Magnus International Festival in Orkney next month, the Feisean BLAS festival in Skye and the Small Isles in September, and a storytelling festival at the end of October, which will involve storytelling events in a range of locations throughout the islands.

Details of the programme for the festival, An Island Odyssey: Scotland and Old Europe, are due to be published on the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s website early in September.

Flagship funding has also gone to The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney, the Tobar an Dualchais  collaborative recoding project, the ATLAS community arts project in Skye and the Camanachd Association’s shinty final, as well as the Tall Ships regatta.

Flagship funding for the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness

These are only the flagship events, though. More than 150 events, exhibitions and activities will take place as part of the Scotland’s Islands year. While most will be hosted on one of the country’s 42 inhabited islands, some will be held on the mainland or even as far afield as New York. No place is out of bounds, provided it has an island link.

The website (see link below) has a comprehensive list of what’s on and is easy to search, with options of selecting events by region, dates and keywords, meaning a would-be island-hopper can put together a personal itinerary to suit their particular interests.

A pot of more than £1.3million has been put aside for the programme, with 45 per cent of that coming from Europe. The rest came from the local authorities, HIE and Event Scotland.

Scotland’s Islands is one of the Scottish government’s ‘focus’ years, which are aimed at highlighting some of the country’s great assets. The focus years aim build on the success of Homecoming 2009, which generated an additional £53.7m for the economy, and began last year with Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink.

Murdo Mackay, development manager at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, is among those leading the project from the Western Isles.

He explained: “The project is a series of island events across all of Scotland’s islands, as many of them as possible. The aim is to put the spotlight on island events, island culture and inter-island activities.”

There is a big area to cover, from Shetland down to Arran and Cumbrae in Ayrshire.

Murdo said: “It’s of value to the islands, definitely, and it’s hoped that there will be a legacy of raising the profile of island events and opportunities that visitors have on the islands. I’m hoping it will increase awareness, boost visitor numbers and hopefully have a continuing legacy in that it will continue to increase visitor numbers to the area.”

New and already-established events both come under the banner of Scotland’s Islands – but for long-running events to have been awarded funding they must have incorporated “something different” in their offering this year to mark the occasion.

The Hebridean Celtic Festival, for example – a huge draw every summer – is putting on a second stage for the first time this year, to mark Scotland’s Islands. The second stage will host singers and musicians with an island connection, including The Open Day Rotation, Saltfishforty and The Boy Who Trapped The Sun.

There will also be a distinct ‘Scotland’s Islands’ theme throughout the entire festival, with more of a focus this year on Scottish Celtic musicians, including headliner KT Tunstall and fellow Scots stars Eddi Reader and the Peatbog Faeries.

Festival director Caroline MacLennan said: “The second stage has always been an aspiration for us and we were fortunate to secure the funding from Scotland’s Islands.”

She said Scotland’s Islands brought “another dimension to the programme”, adding: “It increases the variety and the scope and the scale and makes the festival that much more appealing for both visiting and local festival-goers.

“It’s going to make a huge difference to the festival but it’s good to have a focus on Scotland’s islands, and it can only help to promote the remoter areas of rural Scotland and draw attention to what we do – not just the festival but the wider area. We are just grateful that we’ve got their support and we’re really looking forward to a great  festival.”

Scotland’s Islands events so far – which included the Celtic Media Festival in Stornoway in April – have had a good response.

Murdo said: “We’ve had quite good feedback on the way it’s going. It looks like it’s going to be a busy tourism year for Scotland’s islands, anyway. The reports we’re getting are that it’s looking quite lively.”

© Katie Laing, 2011

Links

• Scotland’s Islands 2011