Each year the Scottish government conduct a Scottish Household Survey that gives us an insight into the composition, characteristics, attitudes and behaviours of Scottish households and individuals. The […]
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Pamela Conacher explains how jewellery designer Gilly Langton made her move to the Highlands & Islands.
ANDY WHITE is a poet and powerbook-toting troubadour. He grew up in Belfast, surrounded by Irish beauty and terrorist violence. His 13th international release, Garageband, is released this month to coincide […]
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MARCUS WILSON spoke to singer/songwriter VASHTI BUNYAN about the importance of her journey to the Highlands and Islands four decades ago
In July 1968, Vashti Bunyan had set off by horse and cart for the Isle […]
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After all the preparation and planning we have finally arrived in New York after an early start, straightforward flight and taxi to the hotel. ‘We’ are a group of twelve Craft curators/officers who are […]
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Before I went on my travels, my son took it upon himself to organise my MP3 player – alphabetically, by genre and with a special section of music for New York! The one song that keeps playing through my […]
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September has been so jam packed with events, I felt it best to chart them from the beginning and work my way through!
From Skye to London via Inverness, I have seen work that has ranged from community knitting […]
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One of the many great plus points about my job as Craft Development Coordinator for the HI-Arts is that I get out and about throughout the Highlands and Islands to meet many inspiring and positive people.
On […]
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After being overwhelmed by SOFA on Wednesday evening it was great to return yesterday and actually meet some of the makers and talk to people involved. We still came to the conclusion that the European and […]
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When I was a girl growing up in Arisaig, a friend of my mothers came to stay. Norma Morgan was an artist from NYC who was on a sabbatical to the UK as she was fascinated by moors and mountains and wanted to […]
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In the depth of winter, we planned a Makers Day with An Tobar on Mull.
May would be lovely we agreed, as we battled against snow and gales and thought of spring, sunshine and calm seas! Little did we know […]
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I always look forward to visiting Collect – ‘the international art fair for contemporary objects’- in London. For the past 5 years it has been held at the V&A and at the beginning of the year, around the end of […]
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Taking Time
Taking the West Highland train home from Edinburgh takes around 6 hours compared to 3 ½ hours in the car. It is a spectacular journey in daylight and one I have done numerous times since […]
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Travelling Makers
From Shetland, Westray, Iona, Lochaber and Inverness, we arrived by trains, ferries, buses, taxis, planes and in some cases, all five!
Organising Highland invasions like this seems to be an […]
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Collect
Our group visit last week was for makers who aspire to participate at Collect in the future. It was good to have a group who, once more spent time together catching up, discussing their own practice […]
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Eileen Gatt, beaker
On the 4th June we had our afternoon event to Celebrate Craft and our Mentoring Project, Making Progress. It also saw the opening of our exhibitions, Made It! and Laura West’s Spotlight.
As […]
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Assemble
On Tuesday I was in a very hot London for the Craft Council Conference, Assemble. Set in the lovely surroundings of LSO St Lukes, I had high expectations for the day, hoping to come home inspired and […]
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Time Out
This is the time of year when many of us try to take a break and escape from our usual routine by relaxing with family and friends, hoping to return refreshed and inspired.
How many of us devote […]
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Crafting TogetherMany of our projects address the need for our makers to get together; sometimes in a formal way through events such as Makers Days and at other times it just happens that the people involved […]
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On Wednesday I spent the day in Edinburgh with a group of colleagues discussing, amongst other issues, curating craft exhibitions.
Amongst all the doom and gloom of funding cuts and the difficulties of making […]
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On the first hot and sunny day for several weeks makers came from far and wide to listen to inspirational speakers for our summer event in Inverness.
‘Selling the Sizzle’ was Tina Rose’s suggestion for a […]
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At the end of last month Facebook users saw one of the biggest refurbishments to the social network there has been, since it went global. The introduction of the Facebook Timeline has created a lot of […]
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What is it that stops, prevents, or puts people off attending or participating in the arts? One of the biggest hurdles we face when considering marketing or audience development is how to attract those who have not engaged before or have become a lapsed attender. Of course there are numerous reasons why individuals may not be […]
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Some of the more tricker aspects of Audience Research is thinking about the types of questions that you might like to ask your audience, or even knowing what questions to ask in the first place. Tomorrow I am off to Melrose in the Scottish Borders to talk to a network of venues and promoters in the […]
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The Tip Sheet: Family Friendly Initiatives is my most popular blog post, recieving 719 views last month. With that kind of interest I have complied some more practical help guides, tips and advice which could help you on your way to developing a family friendly initiative, organisation and/or event. The Family Friendly Iniative – Making Your Arts […]
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“Culture and creativity are important drivers for personal development, social cohesion and economic growth.” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Back in 2007 the Education and Culture Directorate-General of the European Commission commissioned the TNS Opinion & Social to carry out a survey of public opinion on culture and its…[Read more]
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Carrying on with the theme of segmentation, at last week’s Arts Marketing Association Conference (you can still watch all the keynote speeches here … AMA Conference 2011 ), I attended a breakout session presented by Andrew McIntyre, of Morris Hargreaves McIntyre . If you haven’t come across this particular consultancy agency then it’s about time…[Read more]
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Posters are a controversial issue, different people have different ideas of what works and what does not work. Of course one important factor for an effective Poster is the ‘white space’ left for venue details, dates and ticket availability when touring a production. Equally important is the impression that posters leave on potential…[Read more]
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Knowing who your audience is, and who it could be, is not only essential when marketing, promoting or selling, but it also makes it much easier for you when thinking about potential new markets or opportunities. One particular group which presents us a regular opportunity is Scotland’s tourism market. We all feel the surge as tourists […]
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Family Friendly Thank you for visiting the Audience Development Blog – this is one of the most popular posts – and I was wondering if I might be able to ask you for a little bit of your time before reading about Family Friendly Policies for Arts Organisations. I am keen to find out if this tip sheet […]
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Customer care is what makes your customers want to come back. A quality product can only do so much, in such a competitive environment the quality of customer care can be the deciding factor in determining success or failure. You should really review your Customer Care strategy regularly . In order to do this you first need a […]
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A Mission and Vision Statement is an essential asset for all businesses, organisations and individuals. Do You Need a Mission Statement? The answer depends on whether or not the mission statement you compose has significant meaning to you, or is this just another business planning exercise in futility? A mission statement can guide you…[Read more]
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From Mission Statements to Marketing Objectives All strategic planning needs to take the overall mission and purpose of the organisation as their starting point. Your mission statement gives you a sense of the overall purpose of the organisation and what it aspires to do, therefore your mission will be an important reference for what your […]
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Research is imperative! Most arts promoters and organizations will need to conduct market research at some point. It is better to do this now, then wait until it’s too late! Why Bother? To collect information for a specific purpose or to resolve an identified issue. For instance, finding out which method of promotion will work best or […]
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