The Nairn Book and Arts Festival is now in full swing, and a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of being one of the Panel of judges for the first Nairn Open Art Exhibition, which forms a core part of this year’s event http://www.nairnfestival.co.uk .  Georgine Coburn reviews the exhibition elsewhere on this site http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/default.aspx.locid-hianewp9t.Lang-EN.htm , but what I want to write about just now is the enterprise of the festival team in embarking on such an ambitious project.  This is not, after all, one of the big, well-established festivals that loom like monoliths on the cultural calendar.  This will be, I think, only the fifth annual festival, and, except for a highly able and energetic part-time Administrator, all the effort in putting together the substantial programme is undertaken by volunteers.

The judging process for the Open was run with a cheerful efficiency that was almost military in its organisation.  This being the first open exhibition, the organisers had, of course, no idea of the kind of response they would get, but they nonetheless put in place collection and transport arrangements that would cover most of Scotland, and artists across the country responded enthusiastically.  This could have faced us judges with a huge challenge, but the many helpers on hand were so well-drilled, and so hard-working, that we finished the job in half the time anticipated. Even an excellent sandwich lunch was produced within seconds (or so it seemed) of the judges deciding to take a much needed break!

And of course, bear in mind that, huge project though this is, the Open is only one component of a wide-ranging festival that encompasses readings, lectures, theatre, music and workshops.  Moreover, this is just one of three major festivals now presented annually in Nairn, sitting alongside the long-established and much-loved Jazz Festival, and the eagerly awaited successor to Tilda Swinton’s and Mark Cousins’ extraordinary Ballerina Ballroom Film Festival.  Then, step back and consider that these are just three out of some 75  arts festivals organised annually across the Highlands and Islands (not to mention 33 local feiseàn, numerous local Mods, and much else), most of them largely or entirely run by volunteers, and the sheer scale of the combined enterprise becomes staggering.

Some of these festivals—St Magnus in Orkney and the Hebridean Celtic in Stornoway come to mind—are now such crucial landmarks in the calendar of their respective island communities, that the social and economic impact of their loss would be immense. Back in 2001, Steve Westbrook’s report for HIE calculated that volunteer input to the arts in the Highlands and Islands was equivalent to 220 fulltime posts and represented an equivalent annual cash value of almost £2 million http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/arts_reports_2001.htm .  The growth of festivals, feiseàn and local promoters since then means that, eight years on, those figures need to be radically revised upwards.

We underestimate this massive commitment by volunteers at our peril (and I haven’t begun to think about the equivalent numbers in the heritage sector, which may be even larger). Without this effort, much of the cultural landscape of the Highlands and Islands would resemble a Siberian tundra, the monotony relieved only by the cultural equivalent of an occasional mountain, or clump of wind-blasted trees.  After all, even the biggest arts organisations, the Eden Courts and the An Lanntairs (and HI~Arts, for that matter) still rely on volunteers to populate their Boards of Management. Perhaps it’s time we all did more to nurture this fantastic resource.