As part of the RSA 182nd Annual Exhibition, Mary Gillies has been awarded The Highland Society of London Award (￡500), for the best work in any discipline by a Highland artist) for her work entitled Midwinter. Mary was brought up on the Isle of Barra in the Western Isles where she attended Castlebay Secondary School, then later, The Nicolson Institute in Stornoway. After graduating from Gray's School of Art in 1993 she received the RSA John Kinross Travelling Scholarship to Florence.


16 May 2008

A Band Called Quinn's latest album, Sun Moon Stars will be released later this summer (as opposed to this month) due to remixing.

14 May 2008

Heat 4 of Battle4Bella will be held this Friday (May 16th) at Invergordon Arts Centre. The Line up is Samina Karatu,
Patchwork Simplicity, Fate of Nations, Messiane, Lucy Teale, Ben Anonymous. Doors open at 7:30pm and tickets are £5 entry on the door. The first band on stage at 8pm.


14 May 2008

If you like High School Musical you will LOVE this! NO experience required, get fit, have fun and make friends and learn how to dance, make music, and sing your socks off for four days (Mon – Thurs)!  The Workshops will be in Moray from 21 July until 7 August at various venues in Buckie, Forres and Llanbryde.

14 May 2008

Nothing to do? Want to make a drama out of nothing? At the W.O.T club (21st – 25th July 2008 at Anderson’s Primary School, Forres) they will fill your head with games and your belly with laughter. They will find stories to tell and characters to become. Meet Lucy and Ruby who will lead you in play, inside and out.
14 May 2008

Should the arts be ethical? What kinds of values should the arts represent? Do artists have a moral responsibility to speak out? These are just some of the questions that will be asked at Culture and Consequence - a major conference in June on the role of ethics in the arts promoted by the London Centre for Arts ad Cultural Enterprise (LCACE) in partnership with the Cultural Leadership Programme.

14 May 2008

In this solo exhibition, which runs from 6 June - 17 July, artist James Ryan presents a body of abstract paintings that centre around a deep interest in geometry, relating to the world around us.

14 May 2008

Over the Hills & Far Away is showing in St Fergus Gallery, Wick from 16 May until 7 June. This displays the work from the 2006/7 Highland Council Exhibitions Units Craft Residency Project and also features local artist Beth Legg. Meanwhile Swanson Gallery in Thurso is showing Scape and Landscape.

14 May 2008

One of the most important collections of Scottish Victorian Art in the country is now on display at Broughty Castle Museum in Broughty Ferry near Dundee. The Orchar Collection was built up by James Guthrie Orchar (1825-1898), a prominent businessman, great patron of the arts and a former Lord Provost of Broughty Ferry.

14 May 2008

Pupils from secondary schools across Wester Ross and Skye will have chance to visit the Travelling Gallery this week, as the custom-built art gallery in a bus returns for another visit with its latest exhibition from Monday 19th - Friday 23rd May.

14 May 2008

PFT Season Opens with Wild Honey by Michael Frayn, from the play without a name by Anton Chekhov When the young Chekhov completed his first play, he cannot have anticipated that a century later, it would be given a dazzling makeover by the author of Noises Off - nor that his youthful musings would be turned into a sharp, wildly funny midsummer comedy of love, lust and locomotives!

14 May 2008

Artsplay Highland has been running a series of projects since September 2007, including an intergenerational one, Melody, Rhythm and Rhyme for under Fives and a pilot in storytelling with nurseries.
13 May 2008

This 5 month project aimed to improve communication and understanding between generations within a given locality.
13 May 2008

The Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at the University of Glasgow seeks to appoint to three fully funded AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Awards.
12 May 2008

YDance are delighted to announce that after the success of the three year Dance in Schools Initiative (DISI) they are once again joining forces with the Scottish Government Health Department on a new Project to get teenage girls active through dance. As part of the Health Department’s ongoing commitment to combat obesity in the young people of Scotland they are funding this three year Initiative to encourage girls aged between 14 and 18 to explore dance as an alternative to PE and other sports activities.

09 May 2008

A last call for entries to this year’s Country Living Magazine’s The Balvenie© Artisan Awards has been issued to crafts people in the Highlands and Islands.


08 May 2008

Some of Scotland’s top musicians will join a host of leading artists from around the world including kd lang, Joan Armatrading, Levellers and Billy Bragg, at this year’s Cambridge Folk Festival.

08 May 2008

Scotland’s cultural and creative entrepreneurs are being sought to follow in the footsteps of Hollywood A-lister Kevin Spacey and present their work on the world stage. The event, known as Creative Clusters 2008, is in Glasgow from November 17 to 20.


07 May 2008

Two tickets for the 16 May sellout Kaiser Chiefs show at Strathpeffer Pavilion have been given back to the Pavilion by a mystery donor.

07 May 2008

Do enjoy a good yarn? Would you like to learn storytelling skills? Between the 4th -10th August 2008 audiences and prospective storytellers will get the chance to take part in the Shetland Arts Storytelling Festival.


07 May 2008

Air Disathairne 24mh Cèitean, bidh Ceòl ’s Craic (club oidhche Gàidhlig Ghlaschu) a’ comharrachadh àirdean cruthachail litreachas na Gàidhlig, agus tàlant ar bàird, sgrìobhadairean nobhailean is sgeulachdan goirid Gàidhlig. Nam measg, tha Ceol ‘s Craic fìor thoilichte innse gum bi na sgrìobhadairean is na bàird a leanas an làthair: Anna Frater, Rody Gorman, Griogair Labhraidh, Màrtainn Mac an t-Saoir, Fionnlagh MacLeòid, Aonghas MacNeacail, agus Tormod MacGill-Eain. A’ leantainn len dealais airson obrachadh tro chruthan-ealain Gàidhlig, tha Culture & Sport Glasgow a’ cur an tachartais litreachail ùr Ghàidhlig seo– Leabhar ‘s Craic, air chois, a’ chiad fhèis litreachail Ghàidhlig, ann an com-pàirt le Comhairle nan Leabhraichean, is iad ag amas air an tachartas dearbhaidh seo a leasachadh gu bhith na thachartas stèidhte ann an cùisean nan ealan Gàidhlig sa bhaile.

07 May 2008

On Saturday 24th May, Ceòl ’s Craic (Glasgow’s Gaelic night club) will be celebrating the creative heights of Gaelic literature, and the talents of our Gaelic poets, novelists and short story writers. Amongst these Ceol ‘s Craic are delighted to announce guest writers and poets to be attending as Anna Frater, Rody Gorman, Griogair Labhruidh, Martin MacIntyre, Fionnlagh MacLeòid, Aonghas MacNeacail, and Tormod MacGill-Eain. Continuing their commitment to work across Gaelic artforms, Culture & Sport Glasgow are initiating this new pilot Gaelic literary event – Leabhar ‘s Craic, the first all Gaelic literary festival, in partnership with the Gaelic Books Council, with the aim of developing this pilot event into an established date in the Gaelic Arts calendar in the city.

07 May 2008

Winners of the 2007 Critics' Circle National Dance Award for Best Repertoire (Classical), Scottish Ballet continues to garner critical acclaim and captivate audiences with the passion and athleticism of its performances. Among the Company's up and coming presentations is a mixed programme at various rural venues around Scotland. For details please see  http://www.scottishballet.co.uk/whats-on/current-productions/summer-season-2008/summer-season-2008.htm.

Organisers are preparing for the sixth year of the unique Fife Traditional Singing Weekend that takes place on Fri 16, Sat 17 and Sun 18 May. The event brings together some of Scotland's finest exponents of traditional singing for a weekend of old songs and bothy ballads in concerts, singarounds and workshops/talks on topics related to traditional song and culture. Described by the organisers as "A celebration of traditional singing for singers and enthusiasts", the weekend starts with three days of events all taking place at the Fife Animal Park in Collessie in the Howe of Fife.


07 May 2008

This is a collaborative Installation and Exhibition of Poetry, Printmaking, Writing and Photography by Visual Artists Rebecca Marr and Carol Dunbar and Writer and Poet Valerie Gillies, (the 2007 Edinburgh Poet Makar....Poet Laureate to the City).   The exhibition can be seen from the 9th May to 29th June - at Inchmore Gallery, Inverness.


07 May 2008

CURTAIN UP!
Alison Taylor (soprano) and Sheila Bruce (piano)

05 May 2008

The Watermill Gallery has on loan a very fine exhibition of abstract oil and acrylic paintings by contemporary Dorset artist, Brian Graham.
05 May 2008

Pitlochry Festival Theatre (PFT) learned today that the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) intends to convene a series of meetings with current and potential funders to discuss an entirely new funding arrangement for PFT in the future.
05 May 2008

Please read on for the latest information from Distance Lab.....
01 May 2008

Following sell out performances in recent years, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra makes a welcome return to Fraserburgh’s United Reformed Church and the Universal Hall in Findhorn between 6 – 7 June.

01 May 2008

The Scottish Arts Council was at Westminster yesterday (Wednesday 30 April) as part of a UK arts councils Art in Parliament day.

01 May 2008

Visitors from seventy countries look set to travel from around the world to attend the Hebridean Celtic Festival. 

They will even be joined by a Scottish couple who have chosen to schedule their marriage around the event with the first day of their honeymoon coinciding with the festival’s opening night.

01 May 2008

Following its recent award for Outstanding Repertoire (Classical) at the National Dance Awards, Scottish Ballet is delighted to introduce a brand new, second full-length production to its annual touring programme. This Spring will see the world premiere of critically acclaimed choreographer Krzysztof Pastor's Romeo and Juliet which starts touring venues in Scotland on Tuesday 13 May until Saturday 7 June.

01 May 2008

Fiddle Frenzy, Shetland Arts’ fiddle school and festival, will run from the 4th to the 10th of August this year. The weeklong event combines fiddle tutoring and concerts with tours of Shetland and cultural experiences.

01 May 2008