Special feature - Best of the fests
Best of the festsOctober 2007 HI~Arts' John Saich discovers why the Highlands and Islands are now home to over seventy arts festivals. |
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| Never in history has there been such a vast array of festivals in the Highlands and Islands, or indeed such an astonishing variety from community based celebrations to large scale mainstream rock festivals. In 2004, the obviously rapid growth in the sector prompted HI~Arts to compile an online Festivals Guide which currently has no fewer than seventy entries from Campbeltown in south Kintyre to Lerwick in Shetland. |
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The fact that so many festivals are enjoying continued success, and also that many new ones are appearing, points to a growing confidence in Highland culture. That confidence is not only about our own artists, musicians and writers but also about the increasing numbers of promoters and festival organisers that can attract international performers, and audiences, with great success. In setting up the HI~Arts Festivals Guide we were absolutely certain of one thing, that visitors love it here and almost always want to return. Many international performers, especially those visiting for the first time, find the Highland experience breathtaking and are great ambassadors for us on their travels around the world. The definition of Festival is a broad one. Some are modest in scale, and deliberately so, but no less successful for that; the deservedly acclaimed Drams in the Field in Glenelg continually presents a top class programme of professional acts, and the Boat of Garten Winter Festival runs series of events around it’s beautiful location within the Cairngorms National Park. Throughout the Highlands and Islands there are many locally based music festivals, Feisean and Piping competitions that attract audiences and participants year on year, making an invaluable contribution to community life. |
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Some of the larger and long established festivals continue to thrive, notably the St. Magnus Festival in Orkney, founded by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies with music at its heart but also celebrating literature, drama and the visual arts. The Shetland Folk Festival, established in 1981, is famous the world over and like many festivals run by a committed and energetic body of volunteers. The Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway has consistently presented a programme to rival any festival in the UK, with headline acts including Moving Hearts, The Proclaimers and Van Morrison. As a growing festival, Heb Celt not only has international appeal but also has its roots firmly in the local community, a combination that is perhaps one of the key elements to continued success. While music is still the major focus of festivals, there are a growing number of events dedicated to other artforms and specialist interests. Inverness now has a Film Festival based at Eden Court Theatre, Kingussie hosts the dance festival Strathspé Away, and across the region there are festivals dedicated to books, poetry and story telling. There are also festivals celebrating the enjoyment of food and drink. Unsurprisingly, partnerships between food, drink and the Arts can work very successfully, with the Black Bottle Islay Jazz Festival enjoying continued success and more recently, Artsfeast in Argyll. Also in Argyll, Cowalfest continues to promote an intriguing relationship between art, culture and environment, a theme similarly explored by The Outsider festival near Aviemore. In October, Inverness hosted the inaugural theatre festival Drama Na h-Alba, a project of the Highlands and Islands Theatre Network and the first of its kind in Scotland with a grouping of 35 theatre enterprises, 28 from the Highlands and Islands. A relative newcomer to the festival scene, but one with unquestionable impact, is Blas. This three year old festival is currently unique in the Highlands in that, rather than being specific to one location, its fifty three shows in 2007 were staged in forty eight venues right across the whole region from Lochaber to Caithness. Blas has Gaelic at its core, showcases the foremost international touring acts in Highland traditional music and is the result of a working partnership between The Highland Council, Feisean nan Gaidheal and the Promoters Arts Network. |
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For contemporary music lovers, there have been some dramatic additions to the festival calendar in the last three years. Of the big hitters, Rock Ness and Tartan Heart at Belladrum are amongst the most outstanding, both attracting UK national media profile and mainstream radio coverage. Artists appearing at Rock Ness have included Groove Armada, the Chemical Brothers and Fat Boy Slim and both festivals are largely the work of Highland based promoters with an increasingly recognised international track record. Of a similar vein, Loopallu in Wester Ross is growing in stature, securing Franz Ferdinand as headline act in 2007. A further feature of all three is a commitment to providing a stage for unsigned acts, working in partnership with Go North, the music industry showcase festival that for the first time was held in Inverness in 2007. Longer established, and a huge name on the UK festival circuit, is the Skye Music Festival that in 2007 included Primal Scream, Kasabian and Union of Knives on a stunning line up from mainstream rock to acoustic folk. |
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2007 also saw the introduction of Connect in the grounds of Inveraray Castle. As a younger and smaller sibling to DF Concerts T In The Park, Connect brought Bjork, the Beastie Boys and the Jesus and Mary Chain to an audience of over 16,000 in September and looks set to continue in the coming years as a major attraction for discerning music lovers. In comparative terms, the Highlands & Islands must certainly have a festival scene rivalling that of any in Europe. We are fortunate in having much to offer, and our festivals increasingly take a broad minded approach to programming - how often could you get to see The Magic Numbers and Blazin Fiddles on the same day? Performers love the Highlands, and our audiences are amongst the best in the world. Online ticket booking has revolutionised how promoters reach their market, and Highland festival organisers have been quick to capitalise on it. When HI~Arts hosted two Festival Conferences in 2004 and 2005, it was clear that while there are many opportunities, most successes are due to the vision and determination of committed people, and also to all the hundreds of volunteers, community groups and helpers that play a vital part in making the Highlands and Islands festival circuit what it is. As with all things there are challenges, and any festival organiser will tell you it’s a hard and sometimes thankless task, but their efforts are now more than ever making an impact across the globe we can be immensely proud of. |
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John Saich |
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