EVERY now and again I go to a comedy gig that reminds me why I watch and, sometimes, perform stand up.

IT’S because, when it works, there is nothing quite like it, and on Thursday night at Hush it worked superbly. Bruce Fummey has been emceeing stand up gigs across the central belt and beyond for a number of years, and his experience shone out.

Comedian and Guardian columnist Shazia Mirza

He took control of the audience and quickly made them feel at ease with his well-honed banter. Fummey also has something many emcees lack – he is achingly funny, and his come-backs to those foolish or drunk enough to heckle are delivered with lightening speed and unerring accuracy, yet with a gentle humour that always has the audience on his side.

Fummey also runs clubs in Perth and Dundee under the Just Laugh banner, and this allowed him to bring an exceptionally strong line up to the stage at the Hush night club. This was the tenth stand up show that the club has hosted and with its stylish, friendly atmosphere, Hush, is well on the way to establishing a comedy club-style venue in the city, something that many have tried and failed to do before.

The night was opened by John Ross, a laid back Glaswegian comedian with a highly surreal take on life in his home city. Ross quickly had the audience hooked in to his unusual style of clever humour with his dead pan delivery. His comedy was sharp and he constantly wrong footed the audience, surprising them with witty, well delivered lines.

The second act of this very solid line up was Shazia Mirza, a highly accomplished stand up with an international reputation. Mirza, born in Birmingham to Pakistani parents, delivered an outstandingly funny set with unique observations on everything from arranged marriage to her observations of life in London.

A regular writer for the Guardian, her column “Halal comedy? You might as well ask for Halal bacon,” pretty much gives you the flavour of her sharp, polished and breath takingly funny act.

This is a “Woman who talks,” something not too common in someone from her background, and talk she does… incredibly well. Women rarely get the recognition they deserve in the male-dominated world of stand up, but Mirza is clearly someone used to confronting prejudice and she may well overturn a few stereotypes – she is a comedian who should command a wider audience.

Mirza could easily have been the headline act of the night and, after she left the stage, I found myself wondering how the next act could be strong enough to follow her.

Stu Who answered that question emphatically. One of the most experienced stand ups on the Scottish circuit, he had the audience in hysterical laughter from the moment he stepped on to the stage. To call him a “veteran” comedian might suggest he is over the hill like an aging boxer, but that is far from the truth as this “veteran” is still at the top of his game and punches way over his weight.

His observations on Scottish culture were shrewd, unnervingly accurate, and delivered with such impeccable comic timing that you never see them coming.  Who exploded on to the stage and the audience were reeling from the beginning to the end. There is filth, yes, although it is good filth, but more than that this is a comedian with something to say.  There is a depth to his comedy, something rarely seen on stage today.

Stu Who has no time for middle class comedians who use the poor of Scotland’s cities as cannon fodder for their humour.  What he points out is that the time has surely passed for endless Ned jokes about people who live in grinding poverty. It’s time Rab C Nesbitt hung his vest up for good and wandered back to the wine bar where he was born.

On Thursday night Stu Who was a comedian at the very top of his game, searingly funny and provocative and a joy to watch. This was obviously appreciated be the Hush audience who had come to listen and be entertained. Stand up frequently depends as much on the audience as the performer.

Thursday night’s audience played their part well in giving the comedians the support they needed and, in turn, were rewarded by a tremendous show. The line up Fummey brought to the stage at Hush was one that would not have been out of place on any stage in Scotland. At last, Inverness is getting the comedy club it deserves.

© John Burns, 2012

Links

• John Burns

ON A visit to the cinema we usually have more interaction with the person selling us popcorn than we do with those who actually made the film.

SO FOR actor-writer-producer Tim Barrow to stand up in front of an audience and invite feedback on his 2007 film The Inheritance was an act of almost gladiatorial bravery.

The Inheritance crew after the final shoot

The film is a rather gritty tale of two brothers making a journey to the Highlands in the wake of their father’s death. It is a road movie in which the only redeeming presence is majestic scenery. The human characters argue, drink and eat copious amounts of junk food much in the manner we have come to expect from a genre of film identified by film-maker Eleanor Yule as Scottish Miserablism. The palette of emotions is a grim, monochromatic one where expletives and hand to hand combat are the only modes of expression on offer. Love and laughter are in short supply.

Indeed had it not been for Barrow’s bold and engaging presence, the evening could have been overshadowed by a feeling of despondency about the state of the nation; whereby the Scottish image is a grim one drawn within hard, statistical parameters and within which those who do not endure ongoing ill health, addiction problems or a proclivity to violence are rendered invisible.

Barrow remains proud of is debut offering and says he is always happy to see the film in the company of a new audience. He said, “When we make films we are not being like Switzerland by sitting on the fence being neutral. We like to provoke response.”

In The MacPhail Centre, there was fairly unanimous response to the piece which was, indeed, far from neutral. While many despaired of the subject matter, there was admiration for what had been achieved on a shoestring budget of just £5,000.

However, the original response to the film, on the part of prize givers and festival organisers, was so enthusiastic that the core creative team has been able to continue their careers and keep the work coming. Their latest offering, The Space Between, is ,by all accounts, an upbeat love story.

So will all their endeavours be influenced by the audience feedback the team has actively sought since the film was first shown in public? Barrow said, “The practicalities of making a film are such that things have to be clear or extreme. All we are concerned with in the edit suite is finding the best sequence of images in order to tell an engaging story.”

Happily for the more sensitive film fans amongst us, here are signs that optimism in home grown films may be about to make an onscreen comeback. Barrow says, “I admit that our work was a bit rough and raw at first. That aspect of life was one that we kind of had to express but now we are moving on.”

© Jenny McBain, 2012

Links

• The Inheritance

• Friday 16th – Junior workshops – silk paintings of local wild life with Gaelic titles.
• Saturday 17th – Batik workshops – with Mary Styrou London based textile artist 10.00am – 4.00pm
• Sunday 17th – Felt making workshops – with Mary Styrou 10.00am – 4.00pm

Exhibition and demonstrations will take place and will include – The Moray Firth Gansey project – The Wool Shed Aberdeen – Ross Stitch group – Fungus Dyeing – Weaving and spinning – peg loom – sales of prepared fleeces and craft materials.

Contact Sally Wild on 01862 810140 or Judi Sutherland 01862 811898 for more details.

Source: Judi Sutherland

The University of the Highlands and Islands will become a Celtic Connections education partner from 2013.

Speaking about the collaboration, Dr Neil Simco, Dean of UHI’s faculty of arts, humanities and business, said: “I am delighted that the University of the Highlands and Islands is becoming an education partner of Celtic Connections. The partnership makes great sense as many of our courses and research outputs reflect the traditions, culture and heritage of the Highlands and Islands.

“Our work in areas such as Gaelic, Nordic studies, history, fine art, textiles, archaeology, literature and Scottish cultural studies are potential areas for collaboration and our new applied music degree, which will be available from September subject to validation, will also tie in well.”

Celtic Connections’ Director, Donald Shaw, said: “We are pleased to welcome the University of the Highlands and Islands as an education partner for Celtic Connections in 2013. Education is at the heart of the festival and we look forward to working with the university on extending the reach and content of our education programme.”

The University of the Highlands and Islands already has strong links with the festival, with representatives having performed at it in the past. This year will be no exception as an ensemble of its traditional music students and staff prepare to deliver a celebratory concert in honour of the University’s official inauguration.

The event, which takes place from 2pm at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday, will feature 35 students from around the UHI network.

The Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI, North Highland College UHI, Perth College UHI and Lews Castle College UHI students will perform pieces by well-known Scottish composers Anna-Wendy Stevenson and Mark Sheridan.

Details of the University of the Highlands and Islands’ concert are available at www.celticconnections.com

For more information on the University of the Highlands and Islands visit www.uhi.ac.uk

Source: UHI

The 4 day “From Reels to Ragas” tour, which begins on 11 April 2012, is a cross-genre project fusing global and Indian music in a series of exciting concerts and free workshops on the Hebridean islands of Coll, Barra, Harris and Skye. Joining tabla-player Kuljit are Robert Irvine on cello, Jacqueline Shave on violin and Fiona Winning on viola.

Robert Irvine, Artistic Director, Red Note says, “We are so excited to be collaborating with such a world renowned artist as Kuljit, a musician from the very top of his field, and to be given the opportunity to share this fantastic music with the people of the Hebrides.”

‘From Reels to Ragas’ will explore harmony and counterpoint within a raga, which is a traditional form of Indian music with a single-line melodic format; during Indian classical music recitals the raga scale provides a rigid framework within which the performers can improvise. In contrast, Western ‘modes’ and ‘keys’ are usually used for composition, working with musicians in a notational-based context. Kuljit hopes to explore and combine these two worlds without sacrificing the roots of either.

Kuljit Bhamra says, “My recent experimentations with the tabla have driven me to work with an extended number of drums (usually only two) to allow me to pick out simple melodic phrases whilst also playing rhythmically, and I will use these during our performances. I’m excited about working with Red Note and hope that at least some of the performances will attract South Asian audiences too – Bollywood is all about strings!”

In addition to the world premiere of Kuljit’s new work ‘Lost Temples’, this tour announces renowned international violinist Jacqueline Shave as the Leader of Red Note Ensemble. Jacqueline first met Robert Irvine, Red Note’s cellist, in London where they played in a string quartet together for 5 years. Their musical partnership has grown from strength to strength over the years and in 2011 Robert invited Jacqueline to lead and direct Red Note’s work with Gabriel Jackson and their Shaker loops programme.

Jacqueline Shave says, “It felt like coming home playing with ‘Bert’ again, so much so we put on Beethoven Cycle recently on the Isle of Harris and played together at Red Note’s December Noisy Nights at The Traverse, Edinburgh. Having played many ‘grand’ concert halls all over the world, there is nothing that gives me greater pleasure than playing to an intimate group in a relaxed setting. It is a rare thing to have such a natural affinity with another musician, such as Robert, and I am delighted to be able to take up the Leader position in Red Note. I’m hoping to be moving to Glasgow next year and look forward to many musical adventures with the group.”

Jacqueline added, “I’m so looking forward to playing with Kuljit again and to play his new composition. It’s difficult to describe the lyrical beauty of his instrument, and the sounds and atmosphere he creates, but it will be unlike anything else you have heard, quite unique and hypnotic

The ‘From Reels to Ragas’ programme  includes music from all around the world: ‘The Bagpiper’s String Trio’ by Judith Weir, 3 pieces forming a very short instrumental opera based on the life of James Reid, a bagpiper in Prince Charlie’s Jacobite army; ‘Canto’ for solo cello by Giles Swayne, a full-on response to the composer’s experience of African musics, both minimalist and complex in tone; ‘The Stream Flows’ by Bright Sheng, a fresh and richly themed  Chinese folk song followed by a fast country dance; ‘Machair to Myrrh’ by Jacqueline Shave, written for tabla, guitar and violin with a central improvised section, rhapsodic broken chords, inspired by Gnaoua music and ‘Bucolics’ by Witold Lutoslawaski, a folk based attractive and melodic piece, in five movements, lasting just over five minutes.

The ‘From Reels to Ragas’ tour is a cultural and educational event promoting music, social inclusion and participation in the Hebrides; undoubtedly one of Scotland’s most beautiful and captivating locations. Local audiences will have the opportunity to listen to multi-award-winning virtuoso instrumentalists, improvisers and composers in a relaxed, fun, accessible environment. The workshops will enable local communities to discover India’s culture, explore the rhythms and different styles of Indian music and have a go on the tabla, drums and Indian harmonium.

As well as the concerts, Kuljit and the players will lead workshops in the afternoons before each performance for everyone to come and try their hand at mastering Indian rhythms and get a feel for the exciting breadth of music Red Note is bringing.

It is hoped that this tour will inspire and nurture the artistic health of the area, taking participants beyond the sensual enjoyment of music and leave a little bit of Bollywood in its wake!

Tour Dates/Venues/Ticket booking:

Wednesday 11 April – Coll 7.30pm

Arinagour Village Hall; no bookings tickets on the door on the day – £6.00, under 12′s free.

Thursday 12 April – Barra 7.30pm

Castlebay Community Hall; 01871 810047; tickets on the door – £6.00, under 12′s free.

Friday 13 April – Harris 7.30pm

The Mission House; 01859 530 227; tickets on the door £6.00, under 12′s free.

Saturday 14 April – Skye 7.30pm

The Aros Centre; Box Office 01478 613750 – £10.00, under 12′s free.

All Coll, Barra, Harris and Skye workshops are free to all participants, and will take place on the afternoon of the performances. Visit www.rednoteensemble.com

Source: Red Note Ensemble

For his fourth show at the Castle Gallery in Inverness he has produced a number of new paintings more local to area including views of Inverness city, the Cromarty Firth from the Black Isle, Rogie Falls, Glen Affric and beech woods at Cnoc Fyrish.

A change of studio space can often trigger a change in direction with an artist’s work and in Jonathan’s case it has sparked a series of new watercolours of stags. Bill Williams of Artwork writes “a new take on a classic Scottish theme – Highland stags not so much at bay as larger than life in living watercolour.”

Also included in the exhibition will be his much sort after paintings of mountainous scenery which have a great appeal to hill walkers because of their verisimilitude, atmosphere and dramatic use of light and colour. These paintings are the result of many study trips, made in all weathers and throughout all the seasons.  Jonathan is a keen walker and takes his paints, easel and sketchbooks with him into the wilderness.  The resulting studies in oil on board have a dramatic immediacy and will be shown alongside larger scale oil paintings on canvas completed in his studio. A video showing Jonathan working ‘en plein air’ will accompany the show.

The preview to be held on Friday 2^nd March 6.00-8.00pm is open to all and will be attended by the artist and the musician, Gil Anderson who will be providing some appropriately atmospheric guitar music. The exhibition runs until 24 March.

www.castlegallery.co.uk

Source: Castle Gallery

Robins are extremely territorial and don’t ever venture far from their patch, so this is quite an unusual venture for our central character, as he explains.

We hear you are a Yorkshire Robin, why did you decide to fly to Scotland? And how did you find your way?

Well I heard that there were some children in Scotland that would like to hear about my story, so my friends and I thought we’d fly up and share it with you. My story is all about Me and My Place, so we’re on our way up to Your Place to tell it! Also I’ve heard the journey is very beautiful up to Scotland, I’ll be looking down at the scenery on the way.

I’ll be finding my way by my special Red Robin Super Sky Satnav, which is very small and always gets me to the right places on time.

How long are you staying in Scotland? And where are you staying?

I’ll just be staying one night in each place after the show, because the next day I have to fly on to meet some more children somewhere else to share it with. I’m hoping someone will have made a nice nest for me to sleep in, I’ll be tired after flying all that way and doing the show for you – it’s got lots of exciting puppets and acting and singing and snowballs in it. I like a nice rest afterwards!

What do you like to eat and drink?

My very favourite thing to eat is WORMS. In fact I’m hoping that the people who come to see the show might bring some worms with them for me to eat. Do you think they will?

A little bird told me that in Scotland you can get worms deep-fried in batter. I don’ t know if I believe it but I’m willing to try some if it’s true!

Are you bringing some friends with you?

Yes! There’ll be Old No-Feathers, who looks after my garden and gives me bird seed, and sometimes rides on his bike to take letters to people. And Gemma, his grand daughter, who is far away from home but she does make a lot of noise and gets in a bit of a mess. And then there are these very funny birds from Sweden who all turn up in My Garden by mistake. And a Snowman who sings and dances!

When can we see you?

While I am here I’ll be swooping down to:

The Macphail Centre in Ullapool on February 9th,

The Isle of Skye on February 10th,

Paisley Arts Centre February 11th,

Eden Court, Inverness February 12th at 1.30pm and 4.30pm

Eastgate Theatre in Peebles Monday the 13th of February,

The Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh Tuesday the 14th February

Eastwood Park Theatre, Renfrewshire Wednesday February 15th

The Maltings in Berwick Thursday the 16th and

Carlops Village on the 17th of February

The Byre Theatre, St Andrews on February 18th…

Source: Unpacked

A unique Scotland / Québec bilingual co-production that straddles the line between creativity and madness.

“With a strong ensemble cast and remarkable mise-en-scène, ANA offers an imaginative and complex vision of womanhood.” Montreal Arts Uncovered

Following a highly acclaimed world premiere in Québec, ANA, directed by internationally renowned Serge Denoncourt travels to Scotland for its European premiere at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, on Friday 2 March followed by a tour of major Scottish theatres.

ANA is the result of a creative collaboration between Scots playwright Claire Duffy (Scotland) and Pierre Yves Lemieux from Québec. Combining the rhythms of Scots-English with Canadian-French, ANA dissolves barriers between languages and is a vibrant, courageous and innovative piece of theatre.

ANA the power to take all paths and her story leads us through the darkest places on Earth.

“Once upon a time there was a play.

Once upon a time there were two playwrights, two countries, two cultures.

Once upon a time there was a woman, a myth, a lie. To paraphrase Pirandello, a woman who would be ‘one, one hundred thousand, and no one.’

There was history with a capital H and there was a little story, about women and their malaise, on the edge of the abyss.

Once upon a time there was theatre filled with magic: possible and impossible, surreal and disturbing.”  Serge Denoncourt (Director)

ANA was inspired by the Sumerian myth of the goddess Inanna’s descent into the Underworld she embodies the evolution of womankind in her odyssey through the ages.  ANA is a journey through life, beginning with an abandoned child, left on a rock 5000 years ago in Skye. As she travels through time we watch kill, give life, sacrifice, pray, rebel, inspire and create.

ANA begins at roadside fair whose MC doubles for all the male characters in the show. Prominent on stage is a collection of reflective towers, emblematic of ANA’s multiple identities and her capacity to split and split again. Her story travels from the Isle of Skye to eighteenth century France, to turn-of-the-century Vienna, to Québec in the 1960s, Vancouver in the 70s, and finally to the Montreal Metro in the near future. Her journey can be followed on a Google map on the ‘ANA’s story’ section of the show’s website www.stellarquines.com/ana

ANA is an extravaganza, a dark, vivid, vision of an archetypal woman in the throes of myth and history. The talented cast features Selina Boyack, Lisa Gardner and Frances Thorburn from Scotland and Québec actors Catherine Bégin, Alain Goulem, Dominique Leduc and Magalie Lépine-Blondeau.

ANA’s lighting design is by Martin Labreque, stunning video design by Gabriel Coutu-Dumont from Québec and from Scotland the composer/sound design has been created by Philip Pinsky and the costume design by Megan Baker.

ANA is generously supported by Creative Scotland, the British Council, Canada Council for the Arts, conseil des arts et des letters du Québec, Conseil des arts de Montreal, Ministere de la Culture, des Communication, et de la Condition Feminine, Ministere des relations internationals du Québec.

Listings information

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thursday 1 – Saturday 10 March 7.30pm (no performance Mon or Sun); Thu 1 £11/£6, Tue – Thu £15/£11/£6, Fri & Sat £17/£13

Box Office: 0131 228 1404 www.traverse.co.uk; Sign language interpreted performance Thu 8 7.30pm; Audio described performance Thu 8 7.30pm & touch tour at 6.45pm

Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Wednesday 14 March 7.30pm;  £11.25 (£9.25) Under 18s £6

Box Office: 0131 665 2240 www.brunton.co.uk

Gardyne Theatre, Dundee College, Friday 16 March 7.30pm, Saturday 17 March 2.30pm & 7.30pm;  £16/£12 Fri & Sat night, £14 & £10 Saturday matinee

Box Office: 01382 434940 www.gardynetheatre.org.uk

Eden Court, Inverness, Monday 19 & Tuesday 20 March 7.30pm, £12/£10

Box Office: 01463 234 234 www.eden-court.co.uk

Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Thursday 22 – Saturday 24 March 7.45pm, Saturday 24 Matinee 2.30pm, Thu £12/£7, Fri & Sat £15/£12

Box Office: 0141 552 4267 www.tron.co.uk

Source: Stellar Quines & Imago Theatre

Since 2004 Scotland’s national orchestra has been committed to its Out and About programme – annual, week-long residencies in areas of the country which are not frequently visited by a national performing arts organisation. In partnership with Shetland Arts and supported by Creative Scotland; Loganair; TOTAL E&P UK Limited; Capital Solutions; NorthLink Ferries; and Shetland Islands Council, 70 RSNO musicians will journey from the Orchestra’s base in Glasgow to the archipelago and integrate with the local communities by learning, creating and performing music.

The RSNO has been preparing for this trip for well over a year. In 2011 the RSNO commissioned Shetland-born composer and award-winning traditional fiddler Chris Stout to compose a substantial work for orchestra which will serve as the centrepiece of the Orchestra’s Sunday evening concert.

Chris also wrote a motif which has been used as the starting point of a composition and performance project, driven by collaboration between RSNO and Shetland musicians. Four groups from the RSNO visited the Islands last October and made contact with a number of Shetland-based traditional musicians, armed with Chris Stout’s ‘musical kernel’. Since the initial visit the four groups have worked together with Chris in Shetland, in Glasgow and online, producing four distinct works inspired by his original melody.

Award-winning traditional musician and composer Chris Stout: “I’m delighted that the RSNO will be visiting Shetland. It’s a nice feeling to know that the excitement and anticipation felt by the visiting musicians will be shared by the local community. This project allows musicians to share ideas on a huge scale and I’m certain everyone will come out of it feeling energised and fulfilled.

“It is this sense of sharing knowledge which has been the main inspiration behind my piece Tingaholm. Although it exists as a complete work it stays true to the tradition that I have been brought up with. It is open to the interpretation of some of the finest musicians in Shetland, in collaboration with members of the RSNO. I can’t wait to hear the results!”

On Friday 2 March the four ensembles will perform their new works as well as traditional tunes and contributions from the RSNO musicians at separate locations in Shetland’s outer isles, each marking geographic points of the compass; Unst (Baltasound Junior High School), Out Skerries (Skerries Junior High School), Foula (Primary School) and Fair Isle (Primary School). They will perform concerts connected via live video link to each other as well as transmitted live to the Garrison Theatre, Lerwick for the enjoyment of those in Shetland’s capital . The Outer Isles Project starts at 7.30pm and all associated events in the outer isles are free of charge.

The RSNO Brass Quintet will present Bigton Brass Concert, an afternoon programme featuring music by Bizet, Beethoven, Gershwin and Mancini, at Bigton Hall on Saturday from 3.00pm. Also on Saturday is Busta Recital; RSNO Violin Paul Medd will be performing a solo recital in the Long Room of the historic Busta House Hotel on the shore of Busta Voe. Tickets for both events are available from Shetland Box Office.

On Friday RSNO Leader James Clark will provide masterclasses for local young string players before they join the RSNO to perform at St Columba’s Church, Lerwick on Saturday night. Members of the RSNO will also be offering mentoring opportunities to members of the Shetland Community Orchestra.

St Columba’s Church, Lerwick on Saturday 3 March is the venue for the Big Kirk Chamber Concert, with the Orchestra’s Leader James Clark joined by strings, brass and woodwind from the RSNO and local young musicians side-by-side. As part of the programme James will perform Mozart’s First Violin Concerto which he previously performed at 2011’s Edinburgh International Festival to universal critical acclaim. The concert starts at 7.30pm and tickets are available from Shetland Box Office.

The RSNO returns to its symphonic proportions for The Sunday Symphony, on 4 March at the Clickimin Leisure Complex, Lerwick – for the Orchestra’s 21st anniversary since its last full performance in the town. The programme, conducted by Austrian David Danzmayr, includes Britten’s Four Sea Interludes, Sibelius’s Symphony No1 and the world première of Fair Isle-born musician Chris Stout’s Tingaholm.

On Monday 5 March the full force of the visiting musicians will be heard once more, this time for the RSNO’s schools concert Heroes and Rogues. One of the finest presenters and animateurs in the business, Paul Rissmann will guide the young concert-goers through a musical journey, exploring key musical concepts linked to the curriculum. The school groups attending the concert have been preparing for the visit by participating in an online workshop with Paul Rissmann and RSNO musicians using the online community for Scottish schools, Glow.

Two groups of RSNO musicians present specially adapted versions of the Orchestra’s award-winning concert programme for pre-school children, Monster Music, at Brae High School, Clickimin Leisure Complex, Lerwick, Sandwick Junior High School and Mid Yell Community Hall.

Working with Shetland’s Community Mental Health team, members of the Orchestra have devised a tailor-made creative workshop for patients, to be held at the Clickimin Centre on Saturday. RSNO musicians are also catering for those who are unable to attend the RSNO performances, with a number of informal performances planned in residential care homes across the islands during the visit.

Ellen Thomson, Director of Education and Community Partnerships: “Bringing together two fantastic musical traditions was the source of inspiration for the RSNO’s Out and About week in Shetland and I am delighted that we’ve been able to do this in such a creative way. This project brings with it the usual RSNO ingredients, full orchestral concerts, inspirational music making for young people, tailor-made community workshops and small-scale performances as well as collaboration with some of Shetland’s finest musicians.”

Shetland Arts Director Gwilym Gibbons: “This is a hugely ambitious and exciting project and one that has been a long term ambition of Shetland Arts and the RSNO. I am delighted that Shetland Arts and RSNO are working in partnership to bring the orchestra to Shetland. It is very rare for a full symphony orchestra to commit to overcoming the enormous logistical challenge of getting to an island location like ours, let alone head out to our own outer isles of Fair Isle, Outer Skerries, Foula and Unst.”

The RSNO is a national performing company supported by the Scottish Government. In addition to the valuable relationships with Shetland Arts, Creative Scotland, TOTAL E&P UK Limited, Loganair, Capital Solutions, NorthLink Ferries and Youth Music Initiative the RSNO would like to thank the Binks Trust and the Bacher Trust for their generous contributions to the project.

For more information on the activities of the RSNO during Out and About in Shetland go to www.rsno.org.uk or contact Shetland Box Office on 01595 745555 or www.shetlandboxoffice.org

Source: RSNO

The One Step Further investment programme aims to enhance the programmes of existing festivals and events during 2012, with a focus on cultural tourism.

Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive of Creative Scotland, said;

“Scotland is a year-round festival nation, with an exciting programme of world-class events, festivals and culture for all to enjoy.

“Today’s announcement is one step further in attracting more tourists to Scotland to enjoy our rich cultural programme and ensuring that Scotland is recognised as a leading creative nation.

“With exciting additions to festivals such as St Anza, Scotland’s leading poetry festival, which takes on a new photography exhibition and a musician in residence and Piping Live! will bring piping to new audiences and new locations across Scotland.

“Tantallon Castle , set on cliffs on the Firth of Forth, will shine during Lammermuir Festival with a spectacular new music, sound and light event and the 2012 Mountain Bike World Cup will be supported by a showcase of Scottish music, art and design.

“There are over 380 festivals taking place across the country during 2012, all of which can be found in the Guide to Scotland’s Festivals 2012, free with February’s List Magazine.

Grab your copy and you’ll be left with no doubt that Scotland truly is a Festival Nation.”

Mike Cantlay, Chairman of VisitScotland said;

“Scotland is unquestionably one of the most creative countries in the world and these festivals will help showcase that vibrant creativity to new audiences. Our culture is one of our greatest assets and a major draw for visitors – that’s why this programme is so important – it’s providing opportunities for visitors as well as local communities right across Scotland.”

One Step Further Investment includes:

Aberdeen

Aberdeen Jazz Festival will expand the scale and reach of the five day event of Scottish, European and international jazz musicians, by developing their digital profile and a marketing programme to increase visitor numbers. (£20,470)

The 8th annual Sound Festival of new music will include a focus on opera. A programme of site specific commissions, masterclasses, discussions and other operatic events will look at how the boundaries of opera can be pushed beyond their current limits, and will seek to inspire more people to enjoy this artform. (£54,106)

Dumfries and Galloway

Wigtown Book Festival takes on a stargazing theme this year as it delivers a series of author talks and activities in conjunction with Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park, an international initiative to bring astronomy tourism to the UK’s least light-polluted region. Book-lovers will also be encouraged to become artists through a new initiative ‘Audience as Artist’. (£17,550)

Edinburgh

Traquair Medieval Fayre will transform into the Traquair Shakespeare Festival, a unique contribution to the World Shakespeare Festival and the Cultural Olympiad, in a celebration of the life and times of Shakespeare with a programme of Shakespeare related productions, workshops and master classes. (£5,000)

The Lammermuir Festival will light up Tantallon Castle in September with a thrilling music, sound and light event to draw new audiences to East Lothian: Beautiful Music, Beautiful Places (Lamp of Lothian Trust – £53,938)

Fife

The streets of St Andrews will be filled with poetry during St Anza, Scotland’s leading poetry festival, as innovative poetry sound installations and panels are erected across the town, and food and drink branded with poetic works inspired by Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink will be found in cafes. The 2012 programme will see poetry webcast from Sweden, and a new photography exhibition and musician in residence. (£12,471)

The 2012 Inside Out festival will see international choreographer Errol White create a dance performance specifically for the festival, a Parkour performance spectacle and an extended musical programme alongside street theatre and strategic tourist marketing for the festival. (Byre Theatre – £38,700)

While chamber music is at the heart of the acclaimed East Neuk Festival, One Step Further will enable it to extend its activities with several new initiatives including a new performance venue; outdoor performances by young musicians from Live Music Now; Pilgrims, an exhibition and labyrinth evoking St Andrews in the middle ages; and Littoral a programme introducing internationally renowned writers inspired by nature and the environment. (£45,000)

Glasgow

Multi-artform festival Behaviour, based at the Arches, will develop a body of off-site work connecting Glasgow’s public spaces and history to the performances allowing the audience to see the city in new and interesting ways. (The Arches – £37,640)

This year’s Merchant City Festival will deliver site specific work linked to city centre transport hubs and routes around Hampden and the Merchant City will operate as a ‘Live Site’ for Olympic ticket holders, encouraging increased visits to the Festival. (Glasgow Life – £30,000)

The week preceding the main festival Glasgow International Piping Festival, Piping Live! will tour historically significant castles and locations across Scotland that have a link with piping to bring this music to new audiences. (Glasgow International Piping Festival – £25,950)

Shetland Highlands & Islands

Award winning Shetland Folk Festival presents the best folk music from around the globe to the local community and visitors alike, investment will allow them to programme high-profile acts for the 2012 festivals attracting even more visitors. (£7,150)

Tiree

Tiree Music Festival, a two-day annual music festival featuring a variety of music and entertainment on the Isle of Tiree, will use the investment to integrate the festival with the community and the existing tourist industry on Tiree, improving marketing to attract more audiences from further afield. (£22,406)

Perthshire

The Callander Jazz & Blues Festival will focus on increasing the number of international performers and establish a show case for emerging musicians. This year emerging musicians will enjoy a youth jazz and blues music workshop and offering Jump-jive dance workshops. (£9,000)

Inverness

The biggest sporting event in the Highlands, the Mountain Bike World Cup, attracts more than 17,000 visitors to Fort William annually. This year spectators will enjoy a showcase of Scottish music, art and design alongside digital workshops. (Rare Management – £50,645)

The Insider Festival 2012 will be a tongue in cheek celebration of the Olympic spirit of yesteryear. This year’s event will see an enhanced musical line-up and development of performance and audience spaces to offer a broader scope of cultural activities, including spoken word, theatrics and crafts and skills workshops. (Backwoods Productions – £9,000)

Source: Creative Scotland

FilmG, MG ALBA’s Gaelic online media shorts competition, has announced the short-listed films for this year’s award ceremony which takes place next month at The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow.

The area in and around Skye has been well represented with many making this year’s short-lists.

‘Fàradh’ directed by Braes resident Dolina Munro has been short-listed in the ‘Best Factual Film’ category – it tells the story of the first Private Finance Initiative in Britain, the Skye Bridge, and people’s reactions towards it.

Two of the films entered by students on Sabhal Mòr Ostaig’s Media Course Students have also been short-listed multiple times:

· ‘Air Cul Gaire’ directed by Stephen MacLeod is a film about the life of a Gingerbread Man, who, after previous success as a TV personality, is now washed-up! The film has been short-listed for the prestigious ‘Best Drama Short’, ‘Best First-time Director’, ‘Best Student Film’, as well as his lead actor Innes Strachan from Breakish, who plays the Gingerbread man, being short-listed for ‘Best Performance’.

· ‘Blas Cianalas’ directed by Cristin MacKenzie has been short-listed for both ‘Best First-time Director’ and the ‘FilmG Theme Award’. The film portrays a young girl studying away from home, who is homesick. At the end we find out how a simple gesture can help bring a smile to her face.

In the 12-17 category, both Portree High School and Plockton High School have made the short-lists and will be invited to attend the awards ceremony in March:

· Plockton’s entry ‘Clisg’ has been short-listed for the ‘FilmG Theme Award’ – the film is about a nutty professor is trying to create a new cleaning product without any success, but monkey arrives on the scene, his helping hand is just what he needs.

· Portree’s film, ‘Am Fear Reic’, has also been short-listed for the ‘FilmG prize for Gaelic’ – it tells the tale Aonghas who has a visit from a door-to-door salesman, and bad memories come back to haunt him.

· Two of the pupils from Portree High School are also up for the ‘Best Performance’ prize in this category with Jamie Campbell for ‘Am Fear Reic’ and Alanah Beaton (winner of this award in 2009) for her role in ‘Thèid no cha Tèid’ both making the final.

The judges were particularly impressed with the entries in the 12-17 categories with producer Morag Stewart commenting: “It was extremely challenging to choose only four films for each shortlist category, especially as there were so many entrants, and having worked with a lot of the schools on media projects, I know how much work would have gone into producing the films. This year’s award ceremony is sure to be an exciting event as each category has some excellent contributions.”

Having received a record 76 entries from all over Scotland and beyond, it was a difficult job for the judges to pick out the best in each category. The jury panel comprised BBC ALBA executives and experienced broadcast industry representatives, including Chris Young, producer of hit Brit movie, ‘The Inbetweeners’ and former ‘River City’ actor turned producer/director, Tony Kearney.

Donald Campbell, chief executive of MG ALBA, said: “We are very excited about this year’s competition having received a record number of entries and a high calibre of short films and imaginative interpretations of this year’s theme ‘On the Threshold ’.

“It is very encouraging that young and old alike embrace this competition from within the Gaelic and non-Gaelic communities both home and abroad, and we would like to encourage as many people as possible to get behind the short-listed finalists by watching the films online.”

All of this year’s FilmG entries and a breakdown of the short-listed films are now available to view on the FilmG website at www.filmg.co.uk

The prestigious awards ceremony will take place at The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow on Friday 9 March 2012, where up-and-coming band ‘Donald MacDonald & the Islands’ will provide live entertainment whilst an array of special guests will be there to present awards.

Source: Media House

Alasdair will begin working with the Festival from February 2012, delivering his first programme in May 2013. He will be the Artistic Director for a minimum of three years. 

Alasdair is an acclaimed composer whose work has been presented and broadcast internationally, with commissions and premieres in recent years with the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Nash Ensemble and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

He is currently Artistic Director of the St Magnus International Festival in the Orkney Islands, and has led many other projects and festivals, including the Northlands Festival in Scotland and Sound Inventors, a national scheme for engaging young people with composition.

He has also worked in theatre, dance, opera and on the concert platform, as well as writing music for television and film.   His appointment follows in Bath International Music Festival’s long tradition of leadership by practising artists, bringing both a particular creative sensibility to the role, and a direct practical understanding of the needs and interests of musicians.

As a composer, Alasdair’s work ranges from large-scale orchestral pieces, to operas performed by local communities, to scores for theatre shows in London’s West End.   He has a passionate commitment to engaging new audiences, and to supporting younger musicians and composers.   Some of his recent projects include an opera in Gaelic for the community on the Isle of Skye, and a large-scale performance of Mozart’s requiem bringing musicians and singers together from all over Scotland.   He also leads the composition course for young professional composers at St Magnus International Festival.

Jane Drabble, Chair of Bath Festivals said “I am delighted to welcome Alasdair to Bath Festivals’ team of superb artistic directors.  He has exactly the skills and experience to build on Joanna MacGregor’s fantastic artistic achievements, as well as to grow the Music Festival’s engagement with our community.”

Alasdair Nicolson, said “I am excited to be joining the team of this wonderful festival and looking forward to starting programming. The city of Bath and its surrounding areas are so rich in history and architecture, and the Festival itself has a long tradition of music old and new. I can’t wait to get started bringing some of these things together as I begin to create the programme for my first festival in 2013.”

Alasdair’s first Bath International Music Festival will take place from 29 May to 9 June 2013, building on the Festival’s strong reputation for the excellence, diversity, innovation and inclusivity of its programme.

Source: Bath Festivals

Untitled by Rik Hammond

Originally from Hastings in East Sussex, Rik studied Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art and Design in Cornwall. He lived in Hartlepool, in the north east of England, before moving to Orkney in 2004.

Rik, who lives in St Margaret’s Hope, is currently the Orkney World Heritage Site artist in residence, but the drawings in this exhibition are not from that project, as Rik explains:

“The work that I’ve chosen for the show here at the Orkney Museum is a brief snapshot of (mostly small-scale) drawings made between 2010 and 2012.

“I work in a variety of media, and in particular I draw extensively – commonly using fairly traditional materials such as paper, ink and pencil. My drawings are nearly always abstract and often automatic. I enjoy the immediacy and intimacy of working on paper. I rarely title drawings and I routinely work in series.

“I try to draw every day – often starting with a blank sheet of paper (loose or in a drawing book) and little, if any, specific direction in mind, perhaps just the type of pen or pencil I like the idea of starting with.

“For me drawing is an instinctive activity akin to the process of thinking. I tend to approach drawing in an experimental way, often treating it as an automatist exercise. I enjoy it when a drawing feels like it is beginning to direct its own route. Enquiry, chance and experiment tend to be the basis for the decisions I make whilst producing work – although recurring motifs, memories and shapes commonly emerge.”

Recent Drawings by Rik Hammond is on show from February 4 – 25. The Orkney Museum is open Monday – Saturday, 10.30am – 12.30pm, 1.30 – 5pm. Admission is free.

The artist will be at the Orkney Museum on Saturday, February 4, from 10.30am – 12.30pm to talk about his work.

Source: Orkney Islands Council

 The exhibition will be open from 11 February – 16 April 2012, Monday – Saturday 9am – 10pm.

This exhibition by Caroline Dear includes 100 ropes made from 50 different plants from the island of Skye. Traditionally, handmade ropes were used for practical purposes such as thatching roofs but Caroline takes the tradition to new realms of creativity.

Some of the chosen materials are those that were traditionally used for making ropes by hand. Other plants, such as dandelion stems and fern fronds, were chosen to experiment with. The ropes were made nearly every day between 1st February and the 21st June 2011, with their progress logged on a blog http://carolinedear.blogspot.com/. The criteria for choosing specific plants were they it needed to be abundant, the stems could be made into rope without drying or soaking and they needed no preparation.

Caroline Dear says of her work, ‘The specific way in which fragile single plant stems can be entwined to make strong rope can be seen as a metaphor for the universal aspects of our lives. The narrative of our individual lives is a series of linked entwinings, with each other, with the land around us, with past knowledge and with place. These are ordinary plants, of seemingly little significance, yet they form an intricate and indispensable part of the ecology of a particular place. At present, throughout the world, one in five plants are threatened with extinction. These ropes are a fresh thread to link us anew with specific plants and a particular landscape. Our lives are a network of threads, binding, tying and connecting our many individual paths. These ropes are not to fasten the thatch, tether the cow or snare the bird, their function is to connect, link and entwine us to the living world around us.’

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
Slèite
An t-Eilean Sgitheanach
IV44 8RQ
+44 (0) 1471 888000

Source: Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

THE COLOUR and sheer vivacity of this exhibition betrays the young years of those who have made the various pieces of work on show, but the confidence in composition and execution reveals a high degree of skill and talent, and is testament to the work of William Wallace and Stuart Webb, the two principal art teachers at Thurso High School, writes George Gunn.

Ranging from portraiture, still life, collage, masks and what I would call, for want of a better definition, soft sculpture, this exhibition literally runs around the walls of the very fine gallery at Caithness Horizons.

Portrait by Charlotte Gordon, Masks by S1 pupils

As you walk in the stark, beautiful and haunting self portrait in ink by Charlotte Gordon grabs the eye. What is striking about this work is the sheer space the artist leaves in the composition, which lends each line a greater significance. But this work is an island of restraint in a sea of movement. This is epitomised, ironically, by the “still life” series of pastels, of which the study of various fruit and veg and a red teapot by Sammi-Lea Mackenzie displays a sure eye with colour and form.

All the compositions in this series, which occupy an entire wall, are mature compositions, and all display a solid sense of positioning and a strong instinct for aesthetics. In other words, these artists know what looks good. They may be portraits of still objects but they all move and satisfy the eye by their brave definition and their sure use of colour.

There is also a striking collage by various hands of 20 4” x 6” panels which capture various aspects in crayon and paint of the Kylesku, Kessock, Dornoch and Cromarty bridges, and proves that, no matter the age of the artist, the primary function of all art is in providing a new way of seeing. This also applies to how art is seen, and a series of impish masks by S1 and S2 pupils dance in a garish line of off-primary colours; all pinks, azures and yellows: so the viewer is viewed.

Chloe Marks' Dunnet Bay series

Next to this theatrical and cubist reinterpretation of reality is Chloe Marks various studies of Dunnet Bay. Some of these small paintings in acrylic are more successful than others but the most accomplished is probably the most simple, and most deceptive, which is a small painting of Dunnet Beach with a crashing wave in the foreground and Dunnet Head and Dwarick Head in the background, and above them all is a perfectly captured Atlantic sky.

The contrasts in this work are what make it significant. The headlands may be still, but the light, the sky and the ocean are all moving. It may appear very matter of fact to the casual observer but it is extremely difficult to pull off as a painter and certainly one has to admire the execution here, as the artist is still in the 5^th year.

But this is they joy of this exhibition: none of the artists display any fear whatsoever. Where study and talent leave off, sheer exuberance takes over. This is a very busy exhibition and a sheer delight. The strong tradition of visual art in Caithness, one of its many cultural jewels, is shining bright and has a secure future if the work of these Thurso High School pupils is anything to go by.

Mask by Christie-Lee McInnes

This exhibition is the second of its kind and is planned to be an annual event. Go and see it. Forget the artists are technically children – for all artists in a way are children – and let the artwork bring colour to your eye, your heart.

© George Gunn, 2012

Links

• Caithness Horizons

HOW many pieces of wood does a violin contain?

I’M asked this question by violin maker Alan Beavitt when I visit him on his remote croft in Wester Ross. I guess, and I’m wildly wrong. Is your guess any better?

Alan Beavitt made his first violin when he was still at school in South London and now, more than 100 fiddles later, he is one of this country’s most respected violin makers, widely known among big city orchestral string-players but pretty much a secret closer to home. The fact that he lives in a remote corner of the Highlands, a five mile walk from the nearest road end on the peninsula of Scoraig, he says, “adds a little to the mystique”.

Alan Beavitt

Mystique is not something to be taken lightly in the world of stringed-instruments, where it can be worth millions. A Stradivarius violin recently sold for £9.8 million simply because it is part of this antique brand, and the value of such instruments continues to rocket from auction to auction, despite research that shows that, in blind tests, some modern violins sound better than the Cremonan classics.

Alan tells an anecdote about a London dealer. “I needed some money so I took him a violin to see if he would sell it. He said I was one of the best makers in the country and that he would have taken the violin like a shot, if I had been dead!”

He smiles ruefully at the knowledge that his instruments will long outlast him and will probably soar in value once he is no longer around to benefit. It must be the kind of scenario that could persuade someone to fake their own death!

Instead of pursuing his vocation as an instrument maker when he was young, Alan was persuaded to study science. He became a physicist and worked in Australia and England before getting to know someone who lived on Scoraig, visiting them and deciding to give up his career in science for a life of self-sufficiency.

He moved there with his wife and children in 1973 and established himself as a violin maker to supplement their living on the croft.

The view from Alan Beavitt's workshop on Scoraig

Alan is a calm, soft-spoken man, and each of his few words are well-chosen, seeming to result from deep thought. He brings to his work the rare combination of a physicist’s precision with an artist’s flair. In 1984 he won the Facta Britannia (Made in Britain) violin prize, and he remains at the top of his field.

He makes violas as well as violins, and baroque as well as modern instruments, sometimes making what he fancies, other times working to commission. His customers are mostly advanced level students embarking on professional careers, and the only marketing Alan needs to reach them is word of mouth and the recommendation of those who already play his instruments.

They have sold to violinists in Argentina, Australia, Italy, Sweden and Germany, and both classical and folk players seem to like them.

Alan’s workshop is a shed beside a vegetable patch sporting impressive cabbages. Small and orderly, it smells of wood-shavings and is lined with a neat array of tools. In the store-room next door there are stacks of wood blocks, seasoning for several years before being used.

The wood Alan works with is crucial, and when I suggest he must be regularly eyeing up trees as potential raw materials, he gives a wry nod and says, “I’m always on the look out.”

I am surprised to learn that a tree I consider to be a weed is most highly prized: the back and sides of violins are made of sycamore, although not any old tree will do. Around one in a hundred have a particular rippled characteristic in the wood, which polishes up to give a gorgeous pattern of golden stripes. I will never look at a sycamore the same way again!

The front view of one of Alan's violins

The front soundboard is made of European spruce, and Alan says he has enough for the rest of his life, having bought an ideal tree from the Dolomite mountains. He shows me a block of rough, honey-coloured timber and it is hard to credit it can be the source of the delicately curved, shell-thin, lustrous instrument that is his finished product.

On the violin he is currently playing, he has made the chin rest from box wood, the bridge is maple and the finger board and pegs are ebony. When Alan talks about ebony he makes a point of saying that it is a tropical wood that is not in short supply, contrasting it with pernambuco, a tropical hardwood used for bows, which is now rare. These things matter.

Each piece of wood is shaped with utter precision and working to this kind of accuracy with a living material requires a remarkable amount of time. “If someone wanted a violin urgently,” Alan says, “I could make one for them in a couple of months.”

His total production is around 4 instruments per year, although he admits to not working full-time, being diverted by the garden and livestock. “It’s a pretty time-consuming place to live,” he says.

Once the time required to make a fiddle becomes clear, the price tag of £5,000 seems remarkably good value. The sheer work involved in constructing a violin is brought home by another anecdote, which is also an instructive story about the relationship between instrument makers and their players.

In 2008, he and eleven other makers were brought together at the RSAMD in Glasgow (now the Conservatoire), and together they made a violin. Working flat out, it took them a full week. They did it in full view in the refectory, as a kind of performance, in order to give the students a chance to see what is involved in making their instruments.

“We did it for our expenses and for the fun of it, and I was surprised to find that I was by far the best player among the makers. Some of them can play a bit, but others not at all.”

It is in fact quite rare for makers to be good players, but for Alan, being able to play his instruments is an important aspect of the process. He plays both folk and classical and has just formed an amateur string quartet with three other Highland players.

So is instrument making an art or craft? “Both,” he says. “And there is science involved as well.” Alan has pioneered understanding of how humidity influences violins and has published the science of ‘humidity cycling’, the result of painstaking research into the range and sequence of moisture levels a new instrument requires to go through in order for the wood to settle into its final state.

So he brings to bear his physicist’s knowledge of acoustics and humidity cycling, with a craftsman’s skill in precision woodwork. “I’m pretty consistent these days,” he says, with typical understatement. “I try to learn something from everything I make. I don’t vary the instrument acoustically, but I do make aesthetic changes with each violin.”

There is more than simple skill involved in making these instruments. A Beavitt violin is an exquisite object to hold: glowing, taut, its burnished curves catching the light and highlighting the grain of the minutely detailed wood. “Making it beautiful is a kind of art, I think,” he says.

By the way, altogether the art of violin-making involves 78 pieces of wood. How close were you?

© Mandy Haggith, 2012

Links

• Alan Beavitt
• Mandy Haggith
• Mandy Haggith’s Blog

EVEN the normally reliable Eden Court could only muster two stage shows in the whole of January, and one of those was the end of the run of their annual panto.

At least in terms of things to go and see, the opening month of the Year of Creative Scotland has been a bit of a damp squib, although I have no doubt that artists and art workers across the region have been planning and working, and things are also starting to hot up on the events front as we move into February.

Dàimh are among the headliners for Celtic Connections' Big Top in Skye in March

The advent of the Year of Creative Scotland brought a couple of interesting responses to my January editorial. Those who feel concern that such events tend to focus on high-profile one-offs rather than genuinely nurturing the crucial infrastructure and ongoing support for arts activity in the region won’t have been much cheered by the initial announcement of funding for the First In A Lifetime awards.

There are some exciting projects to look forward to, but while many of them run through the year, they can’t really be seen as infrastructure-based – at best they will hook in people new to the arts who might want to continue their interest or involvement, and there is no arguing the merits of that.

They don’t, however, address the issues of building a better funding structure and facilities for the arts here, and with further losses likely in the months ahead, that remains a critical concern.

Despite Andrew Dixon’s assertion that “from the Highlands to the Borders, Scotland is a rich tapestry of thriving and vibrant creative communities” at the announcement of this year’s Creative Places awards, the Highlands & Islands actually missed out completely, with only Huntly getting one of the two special awards. This year at least, it paid to be a community south of the Highland line – we’ll have to raise our game for next year.

Lest we forget, as well as The Year of Creative Scotland, we are still in the Year of Scotland’s Islands as well, which runs until March, and is still flagging up events around our shores. Those events will include Celtic Connections’ first venture to the north with their Big Top event in Skye in March, with Rosanne Cash, Michael McGoldrick Band, Dàimh and Mànran among the headliners. Celtic Connections itself is still in full swing in Glasgow, and runs until 5 February.

Kenny Mathieson

Editor

© Kenny Mathieson, 2012

Take One Action links audiences, movies, campaigners and communities to inspire shared responses to issues of global concern.  All film screenings are followed by discussions with experts on subjects ranging from climate change to poverty, providing insight into the actions ordinary people can take to make a difference.

Palm D’or winning British filmmaker and Festival patron, Ken Loach said: “These are fantastic films, and Take One Action’s focus on empowering local audiences to engage with global and environmental issues through them is unique in the UK.”

Programme and Events Manager, Abbe Robinson, said: “The Take One Action Film Festival tour is a fantastic opportunity for these critically acclaimed films to be seen outside Edinburgh and Glasgow, and we are really excited to be presenting them to new audiences across Scotland.”

Films

On the bill are five inspiring, world-class, films including Even The Rain, penned by Glasgow-based screenwriter and Take One Action Film Festival patron, Paul Laverty. Hailed by the Hollywood Reporter as “Intensely moving… at once subtle and shattering”, Even the Rain stars Gael Garcia Bernal as Sebastian, a filmmaker caught up in Bolivia’s mass protests of spring 2000 against the government’s decision to privatise the national water company. As Sebastian vainly tries to tell the story of Columbus’ colonisation of the new world, his cast and crew get drawn into a contemporary version of events, blurring the boundary between past and present, fiction and reality.

The hit documentary Blood in the Mobile takes investigative journalist Frank Poulsen on a very personal journey linking the minerals we find in our mobile phone and computers with the civil war in Congo, responsible for the deaths of millions of people.  Reaching the dangerous and normally inaccessible Bisie mine area of the DRC, Poulsen’s extraordinary journey reveals child labourers in death-defying conditions, before he returns home to ask his phone company, Nokia, the largest in the world, just what they are doing to halt the cycle of poverty and conflict.

American documentary, Homegrown, tells the true story of a family living ‘off the grid’ on an organic urban homestead in the heart of Pasadena City, California.  On less than a quarter of an acre, they harvest over 6000 pounds of produce every year, feeding themselves and their friends, making their own biodiesel, and harnessing solar power for pretty much everything else.  An inspiring example to those of us who feel that modern city life can limit the possibilities for changing the way we live and what we consume.

Described by Greenpeace as “a rare gem among climate change movies”,

Briar March’s multi award winning film, There Once Was An Island, is a beautiful and moving account of the effects of climate change. Exploring the fate of Takku, a unique Pacific Island community facing the first devastating effects of climate change, the cameras follow the islanders as they make the crucial decision whether to stay in their idyllic, but fated home, or move to a new and unfamiliar land, leaving their culture and language behind forever.

Take One Action films don’t just tell incredible stories from far flung corners of the globe.  The Daily Mail called Scottish filmmaker Anthony Baxter’s film, You’ve Been Trumped “an explosive documentary”. The film was the winner of this year’s Take One Action Film Festival Audience Award, and is proving to be a runaway success at film festivals all over the world.  Funny, inspiring and shocking in equal measures, this David and Goliath story for the 21st century, follows a group of proud Scottish homeowners as they take on billionaire celebrity tycoon Donald Trump who buys up one of Scotland’s last wilderness areas to build an enormous golf resort.

Tour dates and venues

Fri 17^th Feb            Macrobert Centre, Stirling             Even The Rain

Sat 18^th Feb            Ashfield Village Hall, Dunblane                     There Once was an Island

Sat 18^th Feb            Ashfield Village Hall, Dunblane                     Even The Rain

Mon 20^th Feb            Macrobert Centre, Stirling             Homegrown

Tues 21^st Feb             Rob Roy Visiter Centre, Callander            You’ve Been Trumped

Wed 22^nd Feb            Comrie Village Hall, Comrie             You’ve Been Trumped

Thur 23^rd Feb            Belmont Picturehouse, Aberdeen            Even The Rain

Fri 24^th Feb            Woodend Barn, Banchory                     Homegrown

Sat 25^th Feb            Tullynessle & Forbes Hall, Alford            Blood In the Mobile

Mon 27^th Feb            Eden Court, Inverness                                  Blood In the Mobile

Tues 28^th Feb            The Little Theatre, Nairn               Even The Rain

Wed 29^th Feb            The Old Brewery, Cromarty                     Homegrown

Thurs 1^st Mar            Macphail Centre, Ullapool                       You’ve Been Trumped

Fri 2^nd Mar            An Lanntair, Stornaway, Lewis               You’ve Been Trumped

Sat 3^rd Mar            Duirnish Media Club, Dunvegan            There Once Was an Island

Sat 3^rd Mar            Duirnish Media Club, Dunvegan            You’ve Been Trumped

The Take One Action Film Festival tour is supported by The Co-operative, Creative Scotland, and ethical film distributor Dogwoof.

We have 3 pairs of FREE TICKETS available for each event for Co-operative members – members can email tickets@takeoneaction.org.uk quoting their co-op membership number and the film/venue they would like to attend.

www.takeoneaction.org.uk

Source: Take One Action Film Festival

Mary Ann Kennedy will host the event from the Grand Hall in Glasgow City Halls which is taking place during the Celtic Connections Festival, Glasgow on Sunday 5th February.

BBC ALBA’s programme ‘BBC Radio Scotland Neach-Ciùil Traidiseanta Òg 2012 : BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2012’ will be broadcast on Monday 6th February 2012 from 9 – 11pm as the finalists perform for 15 minutes in a concert setting for the coveted title. Performances can be accompanied by a professional traditional musician of their choice, from a group provided.

This year’s finalists include:

• Alistair Ogilvy from Strathblane for song – Alistair’s main instrument is his voice, focusing on Scots song. He was a finalist in the 2011 Young Trad Award and since then his career has gone from strength to strength. He is about to make a CD and has just completed the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland’s (TMSA) Young Champions tour around Scotland and he’s been busy performing in Scotland alongside Alan Reid, Jim Malcolm and Heidi Talbot.
• Kirsty Watt from Lewis for song – Kirsty has always lived on the Isle of Lewis where traditional music has always been part of her life with her closest and main influence for Gaelic singing being her beloved grandmother. She has taught Kirsty some of the most beautiful and lyrical songs that she now so loves singing. In 2010 Kirsty was Young Musician of the Year in Stornoway.
• Catriona Price from Orkney for fiddle – Catriona is at the forefront of the new wave of young talent emerging from Orkney’s traditional music scene. Having taken up the fiddle at the age of seven, Catriona was taught by Douglas Montgomery (Saltfishforty, The Chair). She graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2010 and is currently studying for a Masters Degree at the Royal Academy of Music. She also began writing tunes at an early age with several now included in tune books and recorded by musicians around the world and perfroms regularly with duo Twelfth Day.
• Katie Boyle from Glasgow for fiddle – Katie graduated with a first class masters in Irish traditional music performance from the Irish Academy of Music and Dance in 2008 where she tutored in fiddle from 2008 to 2010. Her main influences traverse the traditional fiddle idiom – from her native Scotland to her ancestral Donegal. She is a previous All Scotland, All Britain and All Ireland Champion and has toured extensively in the UK, Ireland and across North America and Europe playing with acclaimed artists including Bobby McFerrin, Donal Lunny and Dick Gaughan.
• Roisin-Anne Hughes from Glasgow for fiddle – Roisin-Ann learnt to play music at the Irish Minstrels branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann in St Roch’s from the age of five. Her greatest influence is Frank McArdle, the musical director responsible for a long line of talented musicians coming from St Roch’s. Roisin-Ann has been Scottish Fiddle Champion 11 times, British Fiddle Champion five times as well as three times All Ireland Mouth Organ Champion. At Celtic Connections 2011 her band Yuptae, with whom she plays accordion, won a Danny Kyle Award and since then have performed at many events around Scotland.
• Rona Wilkie from Oban for fiddle and song – having grown up in a musical family, Rona was introduced to traditional music early and trained in both Highland fiddle style and classical music, and became interested in singing when she attended Gaelic medium primary school. Rona led fiddle group Gizzen Briggs for several years which performed at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in front of the Queen and the First Minister. She has taught at several fiddle camps in the USA and has played alongside many wonderful musicians such as April Verch, Brian Wicklund and Brad Leftwich in cross-genre performances. Rona is currently studying for a Masters degree at Newcastle University and, with the performance aspect, aims to fuse Highland music with that of the Americas, drawing particularly on Appalachian melodies.

The winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2012 will be awarded a recording session with BBC Scotland, performance at the Scots Trad Music Awards, one year’s membership of Musicians Union, and all finalists get one year’s membership of the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland (TMSA) plus the opportunity to take part in the TMSA’s annual Young Trad Tour.

‘BBC Radio Scotland Neach-Ciùil Traidiseanta Òg 2012 : BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2012’ will be broadcast on BBC ALBA on Monday 6th February 2012 from 9 – 11pm and repeated on Friday 10th February at 10pm.

Source: BBC ALBA

This event will celebrate Martyn’s life and his many achievements both on and off stage. It is hoped that many colleagues from Martyn`s 43 years ‘in the business’ will be able to attend and participate in this celebration, which will feature contributions in the form of tributes, anecdotes, reminiscences, some filmed material and possibly a short musical performance. As well as reflecting the public face of one of Scotland`s most popular actors, Martyn`s family will also contribute to the event, sharing their memories of a much loved brother, uncle and cousin.

Although entrance to this event will be free, admission will be by ticket only. Please note that tickets will be only available from 12noon on Wednesday 8th February onwards and can only be obtained by phone from PFT`s Box Office on 01796 484626.

It is expected that many hundreds of people will want to make a contribution to this event and whilst such contributions are most welcome, it will be impossible for every tribute or memory to be included. Anyone wanting to make a contribution, either in person at the event, or in writing for someone else to deliver, should contact Pitlochry Festival Theatre by e-mail on admin@pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com . Alternatively, you can post your memories of Martyn on PFT’s facebook page.

PFT has also announced that it will be dedicating its 2012 Summer Season to the memory of Martyn James, who appeared on the Pitlochry stage on more occasions than any other actor in the theatre’s 61 year history.

Source: Pitlochry Festival Theatre

There’s plenty who will not need reminding of the hug party on Shetland this week – Up Helly Aa is the annual street festival supported by all kinds of activities running through to the end of the week. But this month is bursting with entertainment across all Scotland’s Islands – and if you’ve been keeping up with the likes of the Pulse, The Daily Record and The Sunday Times in the last week or so you’ll have seen confirmation of just how well people do entertainment on the islands.

Up Helly Aa
31 Jan 2012, Shetland Mainland

This is just the big day itself. It involves a series of marches and visitations, culminating in torch lit procession and Galley burning. There’s stand-up comedy, folk music and hours of performing acts and dancing in halls throughout the evening and early morning. This truly is a day you will never forget!

‘Auto Portraits’ and ‘Traces, Elements, Atmosphere’
7 Jan 2012 – 5 Feb 2012, Shetland Mainland

Once you’ve recovered, things to do include this striking exhibition of work by two artists at Lerwick’s stunning modern Museum and Archives.

Stand Up Comedy with Josie Long
4 Feb 2012, Mull

Just a short ferry hop across the sound. “Josie Long’s new show couldn’t be any better. It’s honest, intelligent, funny, and it’s exactly what Britain needs right now… Josie Long is poised to become the most important voice in British comedy” The Skinny*****

Papay Gyro Nights 2012 Art Festival
6 – 13 Feb 2012, Papa Westray, Orkney

An international contemporary art festival, originating from the ancient Papay tradition of the Night of The Gyros. An extraordinary week-long programme begins with a fire lit procession and includes theatre, video, film, workshops and a book launch.

Concert with Mike McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle
14 Feb 2012, Skye

Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle are three members of the acclaimed Transatlantic Sessions. With Mike and John McCusker having just finished a tour with Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler, it’s a rare chance to see three of the world’s finest musicians share a stage together.

Sally Magnusson’s Talk – ‘From Harris Tweed to Electric Cars – The Extraordinary History of Pee’
21 Feb 2012, Lewis

We’ll let broadcaster and journalist Sally Magnusson tell the stories that explain this, ahem, interesting title.

Rachel Sermanni with Special Guests
24 Feb 2012, Skye and 25 Feb 2012, Lewis

After months of anticipation, 20-year-old singer-songwriter Rachel Sermanni unleashes her debut ‘Black Currents’ EP on January 30th. Check-out the track “Breath Easy” on Joe Whiley’s January 24th Radio 2 show. A concert NOT to be missed!

Arran Bike Club Night Rides
2, 9, 16, 23 Feb 2012, Arran

Mountain Bike runs are off-road as much as possible, using forest tracks and single-track. Anyone is welcome to join, young or old, fit or not so fit – nobody gets left behind! This is a whole other way to see and sense the island landscape. Rides finish at around 8.30 or 9.00 pm. Just visiting? Hire your bikes locally…

Contact:
Scotland’s Islands,c/o Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Development Department, Sandwick Road, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, HS1 2BW
Tel: 01851 822693
Email: info@scotlandsislands.com
Web: http://www.scotlandsislands.com/

ONE of the characteristics of Jamie Harrison’s shows for Glasgow’s Vox Motus is his illusionist’s eye for stagecraft.

AWAY from the company, he has worked as a magician, and you can see in his shows, which he co-directs with Candice Edmunds, a love of stage trickery. Only now, however, has the company put magic centre stage. The Infamous Brothers Davenport not only features a set of mystifying tricks – a table that seems to be weightless, a violin that plays itself – but it is also about magic.

Vox Motus's The Infamous Brothers Davenport

In 19th-century America, the Brothers Davenport were two real-life illusionists who cashed in on the craze for spiritualism. With their “spirit cabinet” they toured to the UK, letting audiences believe they had a fast-track to the dead. They were the Derren Browns of the day, playing on people’s psychological weaknesses as well as on their love of a mystifying illusion.

In the hands of playwright Peter Arnott, in this co-production with Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum, the brothers go on a rags-to-riches journey from back-woods obscurity in rural America to theatrical fame with an act that seems to offer more than end-of-the-pier thrills. Arnott keeps our own sense of scepticism at bay by suggesting one of the brothers, Willie, is genuinely haunted by the ghost of their teenage sister, whose traumatic death was brought on by an abusive father. Played with wide-eyed charm by Scott Fletcher, Willie Davenport really believes he can communicate with the dead.

His brother Ira, played by real-life sibling Ryan Fletcher, is altogether more hard-headed. He’s a showman with no scruples about exploiting his audience’s gullibility. And it is not only his Victorian audience that is prepared to be taken in. We may like to think of ourselves as modern-minded rationalists, but we too can never quite shake off the belief that something unknown is lurking inside the spirit cabinet.

Edmunds and Harrison play on this by inviting half-a-dozen audience members onto the stage, kitting them out in period clothing and asking them to inspect the stage equipment just as Derren Brown does with his studio audience today. It means as well as the back-story about the Davenports’ journey, the show thrills and mystifies us with Victorian illusions, leaving half a doubt that some of it maybe genuinely magic.

It is this flamboyant aspect of the show, compered by a suitably loquacious Gavin Mitchell and overseen by Anita Vettesse as a bereaved Victorian lady, that distinguishes ‘The Infamous Brothers Davenport’. The auditorium doors slam shut and we all hold hands as if for a séance, merrily joining in the highly theatrical fun of it all.

Despite Arnott’s presence as a writer, however, the play shares with some previous Vox Motus productions a certain aimlessness in the narrative. We’re too familiar with the idea of a showbiz family being driven by a tyrannical father to be surprised by it, and we get the idea about the brothers having differing perspectives long before the story plays out.

So while these scenes add a haunting dimension to the stage act, it is the stage act itself that creates the most dynamic part of the evening. Still, it’s all done with enough wit and technical flare to make it an enjoyably distinctive night out.

© Francis McLachlan, 2012

Links

Vox Motus

This week’s programme focuses on an ATLAS project which took place in Portree High School as part of the Bàta Brèagha/Bonnie Boat project in 2011. It features a fascinating broadcast created by third year students in workshops with Hector MacInnes and Leighton Jones. There is also an ATLAS update and news about arts and cultural events, locally, nationally and internationally.

Tune in to 106.2 & 102.7FM in the Skye & Lochalsh area, or go and listen online at: www.cuillinfm.co.uk

Find out more about ATLAS by following on Facebook and Twitter, links are below:

• http://www.facebook.com/atlasartpeopleplace
• https://twitter.com/skyeatlas

Source: ATLAS

We are looking for a Gaelic-speaker to take a central role in a production which will be rehearsed in Lancashire from 5^th June 2012, and then tour the Islands and Highlands until September (subject to funding).

Horse + Bamboo were founded in 1978 and are one of the UKs leading touring companies. We have a long history of touring throughout Scotland and the islands as well as the rest of the UK and Europe.

www.horseandbamboo.org

Dealine for applications 5^th February 2012.

Please contact Esther Ferry-Kennington at esther@horseandbambo.org for further details or call 01706 242 945 to discuss the post further.

YOU probably heard the fuss kicked up by fans of the Smiths in the run-up to Christmas.

THEY were outraged with department store John Lewis for using one of the indie band’s finest songs, ‘Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’, as the soundtrack to an advert. What greater insult than using a song of heartbreaking yearning as a way to get people to buy things?

The Captain's Collection (photo Andrew Wilson)

If Smiths fans were up in arms, just think how Jacobite sympathisers must have felt about Captain Simon Fraser. The early-19th century soldier and musicologist thought he was doing the world a service by anthologising the great Scottish folk music from the period 1715–45. Given how many of those tunes are played in ceilidhs to this day, you can see he had a point.

Rather more problematic, however, was the way he treated these songs. Eager to make his fortune, he was determined to keep in with the pro-Union Scottish establishment of his day, a class whose romanticisation of the Highlands did not extend to a tolerance of rebel songs. If ever he came across a politically sensitive lyric, he stripped the piece back to its melody alone.

“It is not my business to publish such sentiments,” he says in Hamish MacDonald’s play. “I seek to improve not to debase.”

It means there’s a fierce dramatic idea at the heart of The Captain’s Collection, the play that launched the Inverness-based Dogstar Theatre Company in 1999 and is now being revived by the same team for a Highlands and Islands tour in May. The story of a man who has two songs, “one in his heart and one in his mouth,” has rich potential to explore the schism inside that man and the struggle of a nation to be at one with itself. What’s odd is the way this idea drifts in and out of view in a script that’s more inclined to describe the conflict than have it played out before us.

More interesting is the play’s ceilidh-like structure. There are some odd juxtapositions (scenes written in the past tense running alongside others written in the present and others still, sounding like they’ve been copied straight from a history book), but in Alison Peebles’ fluid production, there is a lively eclecticism, as monologue gives way to ballad, storytelling, puppetry and dance.

It’s purposefully performed by Matthew Zajac as Fraser and Alyth McCormack as his various friends and adversaries, with Jonny Hardie on fiddle and Ingrid Henderson on keyboard and harp. The sweetness of the singing, the freshness of the playing and the inventiveness of the staging go a considerable way to compensating for a play that doesn’t give teeth to its own powerful conceit.

© Mark Fisher, 2012

Links

• Dogstar Theatre
• Mark Fisher

Presentation of cheque to RNLI on 28 Jan 2012 (Photo credits from right to left: John Nicolson (crew) Myra Urquhart (Chair Lifeboat Fundraisers Skye & Raasay), Emma Nicolson (ATLAS), Audrey Ellis, Carol Nicolson, Roma MacRae.)

As part of their year of Scotland’s Islands event, ATLAS arts invited people to get involved with artist Deirdre Nelson’s FISH EXCHANGE knitting project to raise funds for the RNLI.

On the 10th of September 2011, ATLAS organised a ‘knitted fish auction’ in the Gathering Hall in Portree to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Association (RNLI) as part of the Bàta Brèagha / Bonnie Boat event. The event was well attended with lively banter provided by Anne Martin and Alistair Danter auctioneers resulting in generous bidding for the carefully crafted catch. The total amount raised was £500, with and a further £209 through sales at Isle of Skye Crafts, Over the Rainbow, the Isle of Skye Baking Company and Anchor Sea Foods.

Emma Nicolson, Director of ATLAS said… ‘We are thrilled at the result; we wanted to involve the community in a project that would contribute to a cause close to their heart and link with history of netting, knitting and fishing. The response was over whelming, through the power of social networking we received fish from as far away as South Africa and Ireland. One visually impaired 90 year old lady from Wiltshire knitted over a dozen fish because the RNLI was her late husband’s favourite charity. It is wonderful that so many people locally and elsewhere supported the cause and in such a beautifully creative way.’

ATLAS was established in 2010 to generate innovative and ambitious visual arts projects in Skye and Lochalsh. ATLAS is a platform for the creation of projects which are not fixed by, or to, a permanent gallery space. ATLAS aspires to generate vibrant contemporary art practice in the context of Skye and Lochalsh through high quality projects, incorporating educational work and involvement from the community in a variety of forms, and placing this work within a local, national and international context.

ATLAS is funded by Creative Scotland and supported by HI-Arts.

To learn more about ATLAS’s work go to www.atlasarts.org.uk. You can also follow ATLAS on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/atlasartpeopleplace and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skyeatlas

Source: ATLAS

This event will be a gathering around the theme of the cliffs of Hoy, with an award winning film, an exhibition opening and a choir!

Head for the heights of Hoy -

The Long Hope film Showing:
Professional rock climber Dave MacLeod will tell the story of his first free ascent of the famous Long Hope route on St John’s Head. Dave spent three summers visiting Hoy and attempting the climb which was documented in a new film. Dave will talk about his adventures on St John’s Head and then present the film which has already been picking up awards in mountain film festivals around the world.

The Long Hope route now stands as one of the most difficult rock climbs of it’s type in the world. St John’s Head has recently been nominated as one of the world’s top ten ocean views by the National Geographic.

The man who never was a boy:
The Old Man of Hoy exhibition opens, celebrating Hoy’s most famous resident. This exhibition will be an on-going show and people are invited to add to the collection of material about the Old Man and hitting the high notes, The Stromabank Pub Choir will be singing – for the first time- a new composition celebrating the Old Man of Hoy.

Refreshments will be provided.

Join the Hoy heritage e-newsletter by visiting www.hoyheritage.co.uk and clicking the subscribe button under ‘follow us’

For any further information please contact hoyheritage@btinternet.com or call on 01856 850459

For those traveling from the mainland – travel couldn’t be easier, catch the 5.45pm boat from Stromness Pier to Moaness Pier in Hoy. The journey is a half hour ferry ride (passenger ferry, no cars) and Hoy Kirk is a short lift or 20 mins walk from the boat. The organisers will get you back down to the pier in time for the 10 o’clock boat back to Stromness.

This event is funded by the Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme. The Friends of Hoy Kirk heritage project has been funded by LEADER, Heritage Lottery Fund, Orkney Islands Council Community Development Fund, The Hoy Trust and Graemsay, Hoy and Walls Community Council.

Source: Rebecca Marr

Inverness Bothy Song and Storytelling Club is taking place upstairs at La Tortilla Asassina, Castle Street, Inverness on Thursday 2nd February 2012 at 8:30pm (then the first Thursday every month).

It will be hosted by Brian Ó hEadhra and George Livingstone, and Bob Pegg will be the guest. 

No entry fee; donations kindly accepted.

Go along and join in the craic. A guest performer and local artists will be performing every month.

Links:

• www.brianoheadhra.com
• www.youtube.com/anamcommunications

Source: Bob Pegg

Film Submissions now open:

goNORTH are delighted to accept submissions for films to this years festival. Yesterday goNORTH announced nationwide that together with a curated features strand, they have a call for submissions open to any filmmaker – new talent, student or seasoned director for any genre up to 20 minutes.

Filmmakers will have the opportunity to screen their films at goNORTH on Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th June 2012 across venues in Inverness. Following on from the success of last year’s screening tour taking in Celtic Media Festival, Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Tiree Music Festival, Knoydart Festival, The Wickerman Festival and Loopallu we are building on these partnerhips to include some new European film festival partners. Details will be announced later in the year.

The programming of the films at goNORTH 2012 will be designed to get maximum audiences and exposure with ScreenHI showing films before workshops and training sessions as well as alongside curated features.

For more information and submit your film here: http://www.gonorth.biz/screen/ . Deadline for submissions 30th March 2012.

Music Submissions: Apply To Showcase From 27/1/12

goNORTH are delighted to announce that the submission window to showcase at goNORTH will open on Friday 27th January 2012. The goNORTH live showcases will take over Inverness city centre across the 6th and 7th of June this year, with over 70 bands showcasing to a broad range of music industry delegates and a large public audience.

Please note, the submission window will open on the afternoon of Friday 27th January 2012 at: www.sonicbids.com/gonorth

“The response to last year’s submission window was fantastic and the live programme was one of the strongest we have seen at goNORTH ” said Director for Music, Shaun Arnold. “The event has proved a great platform for a number of acts to go on to further success, and the live showcases always bring enormous energy to the city”.

A  significant volume of artist invited to showcase at goNORTH will also secure additional slots on the goNORTH Festival Tour, with our 2012 schedule including Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, The Wickerman Festival, Summer In The City 2012, B-Fest and Loopallu.

The submission window will open on Friday 27th January 2012. For full submission details, please click on the Music Submissions function on the right hand side of the gonorth website. Deadline for submissions 30th March 2012

goNORTH radio

For this year’s festival, a new online radio station, goNORTH radio, will be launched. This will be a live streamed radio station broadcasting interviews with guest speakers and delegates, clips from films, live gigs, highlights from the workshops and seminars and specially recorded performances.

The Festival Radio will be managed and delivered by ScreenHI’s radio and media partner Dabster Productions along with 10 trainees from the across the Highlands and Islands who will learn how to run a radio station, developing key industry skills transferable to most genres and platforms.

“This year will see a bigger and better screen and broadcast strand for goNORTH 2012 and we hope many people from across the Highlands and Islands, Scotland and internationally are able to attend this important creative industries festival.

Something I’m really excited about this year, is the launch of Radio goNORTH, another way we’re showcasing our talent here in Scotland while also developing our industry practitioners in the Highlands and Islands”. Amanda Millen, Screen and Broadcast Director, goNORTH and Director, ScreenHI

goNORTH Festival Tour: 2012 Schedule Confirmed

Last year the goNORTH Festival Tour was introduced, an exciting development which saw  goNORTH go back to its roots and support emerging talent across a range of top independent festivals. The inaugural tour proved a massive success and goNORTH are delighted to confirm that the 2012 schedule will include Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, The Wickerman Festival, Summer In The City 2012, B-Fest and Loopallu. They are also working hard to make further additions to this year’s tour and will release full details over the coming weeks.

The introduction of the Festival Tour means a significant volume of artist invited to showcase at goNORTH will also secure additional slots across the touring schedule.

“The Festival Tour proved an excellent addition to our 2011 campaign and generated over 50 additional slots, adding enormous value for our showcasing artists”, said Director for Music Shaun Arnold. “We have worked hard to achieve geographic diversity across the tour and are really excited to have developed the schedule to include B-Fest in Wick”.

The Excite Project: Play Three Top European Festivals

goNORTH are delighted to have developed their Excite Project to include three top European festivals. This development means that one act selected to showcase at goNORTH will also secure the opportunity to play the following three festivals in association with their partners on the Excite Exchange Project: Play Festival (Belgium), Freeze Festival (Netherlands) and SPOT Festival (Denmark).

Source:
Amanda Millen & Shaun Arnold
Directors, goNORTH

The Arts award is aimed at young people who are passionate about visual art, music, theatre, dance, literature and film, and is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the involvement of young people within the arts. Thousands of young people across Scotland regularly contribute to their communities in a variety of ways and many have made a difference to their local community by sharing their time, talent or creations.

Kenneth Fowler, Director of Communications, Creative Scotland commented: 
‘It’s great that the Young Scot Awards recognise the value of the arts and we are delighted to sponsor this category. There is a wealth of young creative talent in Scotland from all walks of life and from all parts of the country. These young people produce some great work across all art forms, from visual art through to dance, from music to photography and, in 2012, the Year of Creative Scotland, there has never been a better reason to celebrate and recognise this work.’

Louise Macdonald, Chief Executive, Young Scot, commented: 
‘The Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards are the perfect opportunity to recognise and celebrate hard working, passionate and entrepreneurial young people across the country. With thirteen categories to choose from this year we’re encouraging people to get their nominations in for inspirational young people, giving them the recognition they deserve.

The Arts Award is an amazing category and we are delighted Creative Scotland has come on board. Like them, we feel very passionate about creativity and supporting young people interested in the arts. By sharing these positive stories we can help challenge negative perceptions of youth and celebrate the real truth about Scotland’s young people.’

Nominations are open until 26 February 2012. Nominate now for the young person you feel has really made a difference to people’s lives through the arts. The three finalists in each category will receive a VIP invitation to attend the awards ceremony at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel in April. For full details visit: http://tiny.cc/qb4p0

There are 13 different categories in which you can nominate:

• • Sport (sponsored by sportscotland)
• • Volunteering (sponsored by SCVO)
• • The Arts (sponsored by Creative Scotland)
• • Community (sponsored by The Scottish Government)
• • Truth About Youth (sponsored by The Co-operative Foundation)
• • Heritage (sponsored by Historic Scotland)
• • Health
• • Unsung Hero (sponsored by SOLACE)
• • Enterprise (sponsored by Scottish Gas)
• • Entertainment
• • Diversity and Citizenship (sponsored by Young Scot)
• • Environment (sponsored by Scottish Gas)

Sunday Mail Readers Award (sponsored by Sunday Mail)

Source: Creative Scotland

Exclusively using poems by female Scottish writers, the collection of songs, dubbed Fiere (a Scots word for companion or friend), is a collection of new songs by the trio who met via twitter, showcasing the creative output of Scottish women through fresh and innovative compositions.

The unique collaboration explores the the lives, loves and experiences of women in Scotland and will be released as an album, in March as part of a UK spring tour.

Drawing from a mixture of Gaelic, Scots and English texts, Fiere includes poetry from a wide range of esteemed writers such as Carol Ann Duffy and Morag Montgomery and also features a traditional Gaelic waulking song and a poem by Sheila McLeod commissioned especially for the project.

Joy Dunlop said: ‘This is the first time that these poems have been put to music but as soon as we read each one, they just cried out to be sung. There was something unique in each poem that caught our attention but they all had one thing in common, an ability to touch the reader and therefore, the listener. From a musical perspective, poems are perfect songs in the making due to the flow or rhythm of the language, in many cases it was as though the tune was already in them.”

One of the poets involved with the project is Meg Bateman who has written work in both Gaelic & English. She said: “Walter Pater wrote in 1873, ”All art aspires towards the condition of music.” There are probably many poets who write because they can’t sing very well.

“A musical delivery is able to make more of the mood and dynamics than the spoken word ever could.  It was through Francis George Scott’s settings of Scottish poems that I came to internalise poems by MacDiarmid, William Soutar and Campbell Hay. It is an honour and a treat that our poems have been taken up and it will be an even greater honour if they slip unnoticed into the tradition to be sung for years to come.”

A prominent figure in the Scottish music and Gaelic scene, Joy Dunlop was nominated as ‘Gaelic Singer of the Year’ at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2010 and 2011. She also won the Fatea ‘Tradition Award’ in 2010 and her critically acclaimed solo album “Dùsgadh” (Awakening) won the ‘Roots Recording’ Award at the 2011 Scots New Music Awards.

Twelfth Day is at the forefront of innovative, modern British folk music.  With a fresh, open minded approach to song and tune writing, the duo create an entirely unique sound, interweaving masterful fiddle and harp playing with beautifully harmonised vocals in stylish and dynamic arrangements.

From opposite ends of Scotland, Orcadian Catriona Price (fiddle/vocals) and Peeblesshire Esther Swift (harp/vocals), knew of Joy through her pianist brother Andrew, who studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with the girls. Initially communicating through twitter, they recognised a shared passion for musical exploration and decided to work on a song together. This proved to be an exceptional meeting of creative minds, which generated the idea of producing more work together. Their enthusiasm for Scottish culture, in particular traditional music and literature soon evolved into the idea of a song circle based upon poetry created by Scottish female writers.

Masterminded solely by the trio, the project is completely self-funded and all of the ground work was undertaken by the musicians themselves, including approaching the writers.

Joy said: We knew which poets were on our wish list but that’s exactly what it was – a wish list. When we first contacted them we fully expected a lot of hard work and even some knock backs when it came to persuading these talented women to let us use their material and explaining what Fiere is all about.

“These writers are some the most acclaimed and respected in Scotland and their response was overwhelming. Every single writer that we approached gave us their permission and some are even hoping to come to see us perform on tour. “To be able to bring together a body of work that celebrates the experiences of Scottish women in a completely new and unique way has been a privilege.”

The trio will be touring the new material from March with six of ten venues confirmed to date including Glasgow, Orkney and Manchester.

Follow the link for a preview of one of the songs featured in Fiere:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6NxJFxBdQs

Tour Dates

23^rd March 2012 – St Andrew’s in the Square, Glasgow

24^th March 2012 – Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh

26^th March 2012 – Sandwick Hall, Sandwick, Orkney

27^th March 2012 – Hoy Kirk, Hoy, Orkney

29^th March 2012 – Eastgate Theatre, Peebles

31^st March 2012 – Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester

Source: Joy Dunlop & Twelfth Day

Brahms’ Love Song Waltzes will be performed along with love songs by Britten, Fauré, Quilter & Vaughan Williams with the perfect accompaniment of complimentary champagne and chocolates.

The dates of these performances are as follows:

• Saturday 18th February 2012, 7.30pm – The Town House, Inverness, Tickets minimum donation of £12 to Highland Hospice
• Sunday 19th February 2012, 3.00pm – The Drawing Room, Foulis Castle, Evanton, Tickets minimum donation of £12 to Highland Hospice

The events are organised as part of the fundraising efforts of seven local people taking part in a cycle for the Hospice in Vietnam and Cambodia in October this year.

Download a booking form here: Songs of Love Booking Form Feb 2012

Source: Highland Hospice

Commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and written by social researcher François Matarasso the report highlights how Orcadians have developed a unique cultural lifestyle which is a major draw for international tourists to the islands. Its findings show how community leadership, a strong ethos of volunteering and working together have combined with the natural archaeological and historical assets of the islands to develop a cohesive cultural identity.

Chessa Llewellyn-White of HIE said: “HIE wanted to carry out this research as we recognised that Orkney has been particularly successful in this field. Looking at success stories like the St Magnus International Festival, the Pier Arts Centre and craft industries, we wanted to see if there were lessons which could be transferred to other parts of the region and to ensure continued success in Orkney.”

“This is an excellent report which uncovers how Orkney has achieved its well-deserved cultural reputation. The insight that it provides into the conditions that have helped the sector to grow will help to shape any future cultural support programmes.”

“In undertaking this research François consulted widely but also took the time to experience first hand what Orkney has to offer. His report includes the views of event organisers and also those of the audience members that he met. ”

The report offers recommendations to other arts bodies including advice that they should focus on how Orkney has developed culturally, rather than replicating the specific festivals and events. It suggests that answers lie in communities finding value in their own cultural assets.

Robert Livingston of HI-Arts commented: “Every part of the Highlands and Islands has a unique cultural story to tell, but in Orkney’s case that story is of particular interest because so many recent cultural developments have become so central to the islands’ identity, community, and economy. Orkney’s story therefore makes an ideal case study, and François Matarasso has told that story with insight and empathy.’

Researcher François Matarasso spent six month working on the project. He said: “Orkney’s cultural life is exceptional in its richness, quality and variety. So many people are involved in so much activity that the study would need to be two or three times as long to account for it all. But the important and interesting question is why – why an archipelago of 20,000 is such a cultural lively place. I hope the report goes some way to answering that question and that the answers may be helpful to people involved in promoting arts and culture elsewhere in the Highlands and islands or indeed further afield.”

Councillor Stephen Hagan, Convener of Orkney Islands Council, said: “I welcome this important study into the rich and varied cultural activity that contributes so much to the life of our community.

“It is an impressive piece of work and its author – a much respected expert in his field – provides a wealth of evidence that Orkney is exceptionally successful, with cultural assets of national and international importance.

“We have much to be proud of and much to enjoy in our heritage, literature and crafts, and in our performing and visual arts. The vibrancy of Orkney’s cultural mix shines through in this extremely positive report.”

You can download the report by clicking here.  

Source: Highlands & Islands Enterprise

Inverness Museum & Art Gallery is hosting Life Drawing Workshops on the 14th & 15th February 2012 from 10am – 4pm.

The cost of this workshop is £60.

For more information & to book please call 01463 237114.

Source: High Life Highland

The course will be run under the direction of Professor Maggie Kinloch from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly RSAMD) and Artair Donald, the new Gaelic Drama Artist in Residence at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and also the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Online booking and further information on the course can be found here:  http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/Foghlam/Tagh-Cursa/Cursaichean-Goirid/cursa-drama_en.html

Accommodation at the College can be arranged if required.

Source: Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

Welcome to From Inspiration to ISBN, a week-long creative writing course from 28th May to 1st June 2012 for aspiring writers of all ages and abilities, delivered by established author Susy McPhee and trainee publisher Helen Lewis in May at a stunning location in Plockton.

With impressive literary pedigrees as well as a wealth of training experience, Susy and Helen will inspire you to think creatively and unlock your writing potential.

Arguably the most picturesque village on the West Coast, Plockton has long provided a haven for artists of all disciplines. Set amid a background of islands and mountains, the main street is an idyllic mix of neat whitewashed cottages and palm trees that nestle around a tiny harbour. Imagine having the opportunity to dedicate yourself fully to your writing in the peace and quiet of such an inspiring setting with none of the usual distractions that so easily take over your life. Imagine spending a week in a community of like-minded people who feel as passionate about writing as you do. Imagine the satisfaction you’ll feel from challenging yourself to master new skills and techniques, and achieving results you’ve only ever dreamed of. Whether you’re just getting started or want to build on existing skills, you’ll find our course uplifting, inspiring, hard work and, above all, a lot of fun.

Enough with the imagining. Find out more, or to book your place, contact Miriam Drysdale at the Plockton Gallery on miriam@plocktongallery.com  t (+44)01599 544442

Source: M Little

Call for Submissions: Sublime Artist Residency

The Sublime Artist Residency is a partnership between IOTA and the University of Aberdeen’s School of Biological Sciences and is funded by Creative Scotland. The residency’s main aim is for an artist to participate in internationally significant marine biology studies at the Lighthouse Field Station in Cromarty.

Fee: £6,000 (over 3 – 6 months) + £2,000 presentation budget

Deadline: Friday 2 March 2012, 5pm

This project offers a dynamic and unusual context in which to research and make new work.

Well, well, WEL – Nairn Talks & Events

The Art and Wellbeing Residencies at Nairn’s Primary Care Centre with Georgina Porteous and Simon Fildes & Katrina McPherson are underway. The artists have now completed the WEL programme and a series of dates are listed for you to come along to the Centre, meet the artists and get involved. Free, all welcome, no need to book.

ARTISTS’ TALKS // TUESDAY 31 JANUARY // 12.00 – 1.00

An informal session with Georgina Porteous and Katrina McPherson & Simon Fildes discussing their past projects and WEL experiences.

ARTISTS’ SESSIONS //

EVERY TUESDAY 7, 14, 21 FEBRUARY // 12.00 – 2.00

Katrina McPherson & Simon Fildes discuss their unfolding commission and explore ways to get involved.

THURSDAY 9 & FRIDAY 10 FEBRUARY // 10.00 – 3.00

Session with Georgina Porteous to explore memory through colour and light.

Announcement: Neville Gabie heads to Achiltibuie

IOTA is delighted to announce the return of artist Neville Gabie to the Highlands, straight from Olympic Park where he’s currently in residence for London 2012. Neville was the key note speaker at the Invernessian Clanjamfrey in 2009 and takes on a new residency in Achiltibuie as part of IOTA’s Roaming programme. 

Feedback: Freaky Fridays

Freaky Fridays received some fantastic press coverage and you may have caught us on BBC Reporting Scotland or STV news. For those who didn’t make it to the weekly interventions at the multi-storey before Christmas, here’s some of the comments we’ve received:

‘Both Team Recoat and IOTA have a new found supporter in me and I will look forward with excitement for projects by both … I am over the moon with the end result.’ Ewan, car owner

‘You and the others really explained how public art is about so much more than just creating a ‘piece’ to be looked at.’

For more information and details about all of the news items please visit www.invernessoldtownart.co.uk

Lastly we’re delighted with IOTA’s feature in this month’s Scottish Art News and would like to thank Katie Baker. Magazines can be purchased at the Hunterian (Glasgow), Aberdeen Art Gallery and the National Galleries and Fruitmarket (both Edinburgh).

IOTA is an arts organisation dedicated to engaging the public and bringing contemporary art to the Highlands of Scotland. IOTA creates and brokers opportunities for public art projects through forging unexpected alliances across diverse situations and supporting work about and in response to the Highlands.

IOTA is funded by The Highland Council, Creative Scotland and Inverness’ Common Good Fund. 

Source: IOTA

26th January 2012 (1.30pm to 3.00pm)
Have you ever thought about doing some voluntary work but been unsure about what’s involved? Go along to the cafe on Thursday 26th January between 1.30 pm and 3.00 pm for free tea and cakes and an opportunity to chat about volunteer opportunities at the Museum, in the Glen and on the National Nature Reserves at Moine Mhor and Taynish. If you’re interested but unable to attend on that date please get in touch and Kilmartin House Museum will send you more information about the opportunities available which include walk guide, working in the garden and office work.

25th & 26th February 2012 (10am to 4pm) – a weekend of Aboriginal Art with Jan Hendry. Jan will help you draw inspiration from the Glen to produce your own piece of aboriginal style art. The weekend will include a walk in the Glen for inspiration, making your own aboriginal style paints and producing a piece of finished work. No previous drawing experience is necessary. This workshop is suitable for adults and accompanied teenagers and costs £55 per person which includes all materials. Booking essential.

Dates for your Diary:

• March 3rd – Seed Swap in Kilmartin Museum cafe
• March 7th – Exploring the Bryophytes of Argyll’s Ravines
• March 17th and 18th – Basketmaking with Jane Allan

Full details of all these and other 1st quarter events are available from the Kilmartin House Museum website:  www.kilmartin.org.

Source: Kilmartin House Museum

Gillian Barton, Principal of Ballet West said:  “I am delighted that Michael will be joining us for our Scottish tour.  Ballet West will benefit enormously from his skills and experience and we are very keen to develop a close relationship with our namesakes in Utah.  I do hope Michael will be able to indulge his passions for golf and mountain climbing while he is in Scotland.”

The 60-strong company will also feature Sara Maria Smith who won a Genée medal for her portrayal of Black Swan and 2011 Genée finalist, Sarah Mortimer. Students on Ballet West’s BA course in Classical Ballet and Dance Performance have the opportunity to dance alongside the resident professional dancers and guest artists on the tours. The production of Swan Lake will tour to China in the early summer.

Michael Bearden, principal dancer with Ballet West in Utah began his training with Kirt and Linda Hathaway at the Academy of Ballet Arkansas in Little Rock, Arkansas and continues his training at the University of Utah Department of Ballet.

Michael’s performance highlights with Ballet West, Utah, include Oberon in Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream; Pinkerton in Stanton Welch’s Madame Butterfly; Whip Boy in Glen Tetley’s The Rite of Spring; Tie Boy and Ghost in Christopher Bruce’s Ghost Dances; a principal role in Ben Stevenson’s Three Preludes; the Prince in Stevenson’s Cinderella; The Lover in Antony Tudor’s Lilac Garden, The Husband in Tudor’s Echoing of Trumpets and The Painter in his Offenbach In the Underworld; and a leading role in George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco.

Michael’s additional interests include golfing and mountain climbing. In 2007, he climbed Mt. Rainier in Washington, and in 2009 he climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Ballet West is a dance school and company based in Taynuilt, near Oban, Argyll, established in 1991 by Gillian Barton. Ballet West was the first Scottish dance school to launch a BA course in Classical Ballet and Dance Performance three years ago.  The course is run in association with North Highland College, an academic partner of the University of the Highlands and Islands.  It gives students the opportunity to gain an academic qualification in parallel with their performance training.

During 2011 17 performances of Romeo and Juliet were given in 12 cities around China. Ballet West also delivers courses for Aspiring Professionals in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Perth, an extensive local outreach programme, and School Holiday courses in Taynuilt.

Source: Scottish Ballet

With over 2100 artists performing in 300 events taking place in 20 venues across 18 days, Celtic Connections 2012 features an outstanding line up of theatre, including a vibrant dramatization of the life of fiddler and composer Captain Simon Fraser, a celebration of the hugely influential Woody Guthrie and the world premiere of a very special Scots play for all the family.

Highlights include:

The Captains Collection

Wednesday 25^th– Thursday 26^th January, 8pm, Tron Theatre

Originally the brainchild of Blazin’ Fiddles’ Bruce MacGregor, Dogstar Theatre Company’s award-winning music theatre production Captain’s Collection vibrantly dramatises the life and work of Captain Simon Fraser – fiddler, composer, publisher, dispossessed laird and Empire soldier – whose 1816 collection The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles, preserved a wealth of ancient Gaelic songs and tunes for posterity. The cast comprises Matthew Zajac (winner of Best Actor at the 2009 Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland) and Gaelic singer/actress Alyth McCormack, with live music from Jonny Hardie and Ingrid Henderson. Written by Hamish MacDonald and directed by Alison Peebles

Woody Sez

Sunday 29^th January – Thursday 2^nd February, 8pm, Tron Theatre


The political strand within Celtic Connections’ 2012 programme overlaps wholly organically with the festival’s centenary celebration of Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (1912-1967), the “dust bowl troubadour” who both chronicled and protested the Great Depression, “singing for the plain folks and getting tough with the rich folks.” Named for his Daily Worker newspaper column, this dynamic production features four multi-talented actor-musicians – playing guitars, fiddles, banjo, mandolin, dobro, autoharp, dulcimer, jaw harp and spoons – who bring to life both Guthrie’s own colourful, arduous story and the rich cast of characters who shared in it. The show features around 30 classic Guthrie songs, from desolate ballads to defiant rallying-calls, paying tribute to a towering folk icon. Produced by Mary Cossette Productions in association with UK Arts International

The Boy and The Bunnet – World Premiere

Friday 3^rd February (2pm) – Saturday 4^th February (7pm), Tron Theatre

This ambitious new Scottish production receives its world premiere in its Scits version during Celtic Connections and is hailed as Scottish traditional music’s answer to ‘Peter and the Wolf’.

The Boy and the Bunnet unites the talents of Booker-nominated author James Robertson and pianist/composer James Ross. Robertson’s Scots text, narrated by Gerda Stevenson, tells the tale of a wee boy who gets lost in the woods, and encounters an array of real and supernatural creatures, each characterfully conjured by Ross’s typically imaginative, lyrical score.

Originally premiered in Aonghas MacNeacail’s Gaelic translation at the 2011 Blas festival, this inaugural Scots performance again features Ross with Corrina Hewat (harp and voice), Patsy Reid (fiddle), Neil Johnstone (cello), Angus Lyon (accordion) Fraser Fifield (pipes) and Signy Jakobsdottir (percussion). Bring all the family wearing their bunnets and your family ticket will be £31!

Source: Celtic Connections