Highland 2007 has today announced that the Scottish Executive’s sustainable development campaign - It’s Our Future - will become the principal sponsor of The Outsider Festival in June 2007. This is the first major event to have secured the support of the Scottish Executive’s new sustainable development campaign – It’s Our Future – which aims to get people thinking about their legacy for future generations. The sponsorship deal is worth £50,000 per year for 3 years.

The Outsider will take place at Rothiemurchus Forest in the Cairngorm National Park over the Midsummer weekend (22nd – 24th June 2007) next year. This festival will make environmental issues inclusive – wanting to save the planet doesn’t mean losing your sense of enjoyment. The Outsider will provide, for the first time, an mix of entertainment and activity over the weekend: top music acts and brilliant comedy together with the UK’s fastest growing participation sports – mountain biking and running – not to mention more eclectic interests such as wild food foraging and stargazing.

The Outsider Festival will celebrate our important relationship with nature and the environment in the north of Scotland; it will be family friendly, organic, educational and most importantly edgy and entertaining. Unlike any other festivals, The Outsider will encourage festival-goers to leave the site in order to explore, appreciate and learn about the immediate surroundings. Participants can kayak at dawn on Loch Morlich, go badger and owl watching at night, debate local and international ‘green’ issues, go on a ranger-led walk or watch film or top comedy acts and discover the wealth of nature in the Scottish Highlands. It is one of the main events to be staged for Highland 2007.

Unique Events and Hillside Agency have devised this brand new and ground-breaking festival which is set in an awe-inspiring location with the backdrop of the Cairngorms and Loch an Eilean nearby. A full programme will be announced at end of January.

The Outsider, while core funded by Highland 2007, is also supported by HIE Inverness and East Highland, The Highland Council and the Cairngorm National Park Authority. Media sponsors are Press & Journal and Sunday Herald.

Pete Irvine says “We believe that The Outsider will break the mould for festivals. The landscape of the Highlands will be the headline attraction but it will also be a great cultural feast – ‘your absolute best weekend’. It’s hugely welcome that the Scottish Executive has chosen to lend their support to The Outsider.”

Environment Minister Ross Finnie said: “The need to combat change for the sake of future generations is an ever increasing reality, yet sometimes we lose perspective of the impact that our unsustainable lifestyle actions are already having on the natural world around us. I am delighted that the Scottish Executive It’s Our Future campaign can fund this festival in such a beautiful area of Scotland. Through the use of music and outdoor activities I hope that more people will understand that we need to start taking action now, if we’re to protect the world we live in.”

Alison Magee, chair of Highland 2007, said: “It is great news that The Outsider is to receive this additional support as it fits well with the aims of this new initiative. The Outsider is a celebration of the outstanding natural environment we have here in the Highlands and will encourage people to appreciate and enjoy it all the more.”

For more information on Highland 2007 and a full event listing visit www.highland2007.com. Tickets will be on sale from beginning of February 2007. For updates register your details at www.outsiderfestival.co.uk