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| GEORGE GUNN |
My anxieties about 2007 have not gone. I still worry about what comes in 2008 and if the Highland Council and Events Scotland are going to have a high profile Arts Festival at Eden Court or thereabouts at the expense of the rest of the rest of the Highlands and Islands.
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I still have grave reservations re. the lack of arts strategy in relation to 2007, and the suspicion still remains that this is a civic exercise by Highland Council who wish to glean the maximum publicity and profile out of the event without any clear idea about long term provision for, or promotion of, the arts in the north of Scotland.
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The local authority is reluctant to engage in any dialogue about future aims and is paranoid, it seems to me, in regard to any criticism of 2007, however mild, and especially in regard to their relationship with Cameron MacIntosh, which I find nauseous.
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I do not believe there is any clear vision of what they are hoping to achieve re. 2007, or how the cultural infrastructure of the area can be improved or the artists working within its boundaries encouraged.
I still believe, because I have seen or read or heard nothing to the contrary, that this is nothing but a civic exercise which disguises the real and chronic problem arts practitioners face, and how that interfaces with the cultural life and expectations of the population.
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I believe the 2007 company have shown themselves to be both mediocre and opportunistic, and the sooner all cultural provision is taken away from Highland Council – in fact, from all local authorities – the better. I believe this is the root cause of the civil war raging between COSLA and the Cultural Commission. I do not believe, either, that the Executive is interested in sorting it out, and I fear that they have no commitment to sourcing new money in any shape or form.
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On the positive side – yes, there is one! - Grey Coast will be participating in 2007 with a three year project, "Butcher's Broom", which is a theatre project based on Neil Gunn's novel involving Lybster and Dunbeath Primary Schools, culminating in a big production (well, biggish) at The Light In The North Festival in Dunbeath in November, 2007.
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Our community theatre wing, The Skraelings, will also be involved in a three year project for 2007 culminating in a community play in Thurso in 2007 (when not exactly clear) which will be a Caithness take on "Don Quixote" by Cervantes.
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The "Butcher's Broom" project has received £18k over three years from the Community Fund and The Skraelings will be applying in September.
What I would suggest is that the 2007 company, HI-Arts, Highland Council, the Scottish Arts Council, the Highland Theatre Network, Féis Rois, etc, should have a conference at the end of 2007 or early in 2008, and that the Arts Journal should facilitate it, and see where we are, what has been achieved - successes, failures etc- and if there is any strategy emerging which we can all sign up to. We need commitment from the authorities, not tokenism, and whatever else it is, 2007 is a token event.
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In Caithness we are in the process, through Caithness Arts, of forming a cultural strategy for the county. It won't amount to a hill of beans if it is not part of a Highland wide vision.
Artistic Director, Grey Coast Theatre Company
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| August 2008 Editorial |
How Inspiring Is That?
Posted by Commissioning Editor, Kenny Mathieson, on
Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:01:00 GMT |
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