Cutting funds is not the answer

GORDON MACLEAN, the director of An Tobar, the Tobermory Arts Centre on Mull, sounds off on the current threat to the Highland Festival’s funding from Highland Council, and demands more support for the arts at all levels.

I understand that the latest idea is to try and copy Canada’s Celtic Colours Festival, which goes back to the idea of the festival covering the whole of the Highlands.

From my position out in the wilds of Mull, I feel that the local promoters’ scene across the Highlands has really grown in strength over the last few years, and that they don't particularly need the idea of a Highland wide festival.
 

I remember in the early days of the Festival that there was quite a bit of animosity about the Festival “parachuting events into places they weren’t wanted” or annoyance at local events that were happening anyway being used in the Highland Festival programme.

Sometimes it seems that you can’t win, but a lot of the dissent was probably a result of the fact that most Highland promoters achieve amazing programmes on shoestring budgets and are very sensitive to the needs of their local audience – the idea of a big festival swallowing them whole must have been worrying, especially as, so often, initiatives from on high can be driven by fickle motives that change every couple of years.
 

However, the Highland Festival proved there was a need for something on a bigger scale while also being sensitive to the needs of the smaller promoters.

There is already lots happening on the ground – it’s possible to live in the Highlands and take in a few world class events in any month of the year. These local organisations need more support, but not at the expense of a showcase like the Highland Festival, which I would see as a flagship for all the Highland promoters.
 

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