The Inverclyde Music Festival is one of the oldest music festivals in Scotland. The first Festival was held in Greenock Town Hall over 95 years ago, on the 25th and 26th April, 1914. Every subsequent Festival links since then has been held at the same venue. The Festival has always had strong connections with the local community and with local musical groups and traditions and this has been reflected in the sources of many of the prizes and trophies awarded at the Festival. This connection was evident at th... Read More

Orkney Folk Festival started in 1982 and has established itself as an important event in both the Orkney and Scottish folk calendars. The festival is based in Stromness, however events also take place in Kirkwall, Deerness, Evie, Finstown, Harray, Hoy, Rousay and Sanday. There is a deliberate policy in the festival to combine local talent with well-known and talented musicians from further afield. The festival takes place every May. ... Read More

Programme strand in the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival March 2022. The strand included a new commission for Marion Kenny: one of Scotland’s leading storytellers, and award-winning musician, singer and songwriter: Mairi Campbell, to respond to two films in the National Library of Scotland (NLS) Moving Image Archive featuring Marjory Kennedy Fraser (1857 – 1930). Fraser was one of the foremost folksong collectors and composers in Scotland. She visited many of the islands to the west of Scotland, recordi... Read More

In September 2022, The Scottish Fisheries Museum unvield new version of their Scottish Whaling Gallery, enriched with a bespoke installation of textile art, inviting visitors to make a deeper and more imaginative connection with the subject matter. The main narrative of the exhibition aligned Anstruther and the museum’s building itself with the background of the wider story of Scottish Whaling, drawing out untold stories of the Northern Whale Fisheries from smaller Scottish ports including Anstruther’s ... Read More

The importance of the fishing industry to the communities of the Ross of Mull and Iona was recorded in a new film Cliabh an t-Seanachais (Creel of Stories). The film was created in collaboration with Alasdair Satchel of Struthach Films, and celebrated the islands fishing stories and the place of the fishing industry in the fabric of the local area. Alasdair also created the What We Do in the Winter podcasts series. Children at Bunessan and Iona Primary Schools were invited to take part in the film - contrib... Read More

On the evening of Saturday 24 September African and Caribbean Elders in Scotland (ACES) hosted an online event offering a sneak peek at stories collected as part of their oral history project, One Life, Two Cultures. Twenty-five people attended the session. Nine different speakers shared their stories of life in Scotland and what it was like to move to the country from Ghana, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Jamaica, the Gambia, Uganda, and Nigeria. Participants joined in from all over Scotland, including Glasgow, ... Read More

Evanton Community Wood celebrated their 10th anniversary by involving their regular users and new visitors in creating, enjoying and being inspired by stories relating to the wood, the wider local area and participant's imaginations. Storytelling events took place throughout the year exploring themes of midsummer, environmental champions, stories from other cultures, Samhain and midwinter. The programme culminated with a mini festival of storytelling, artwork and music. This event was supported by the Ye... Read More

Standing Tall Stories was a project working with separated young people seeking asylum in Scotland. The young people are supported by Scottish Guardianship Service, which provides tailored support for unaccompanied children in Scotland. In celebration of Refugee Festival Scotland on Saturday 18th of June Standing Tall Stories hosted an afternoon of arts, music, and food at Scottish Youth Theatre to celebrate the launch of this project and the work we have made so far. This event was catered by Afro-Fusion C... Read More

In celebration of ‘Scotland’s Year of Stories’, and in partnership with International arts company Kinetika and Highland artist- storyteller Lizzie McDougall, the Nairn Books & Arts Festival worked with local community groups to develop ‘Stories of Nairn’ . This was a collection of 20 silk flags, encapsulating in striking visual form, some of Nairn’s stories – "who we are, what we love about our town, where we come from, and the characters, histories, languages, myths and legends that make up... Read More

THE DANCE AND THE STORY consisted of two activities for adults and children. ROBERT BURNS LEARNS TO DANCE : Storytelling and Historical Dance project for the adult community of Sanquhar, Scotland. Dance was also one of Robert Burns great passion's and influenced many of his songs and poems it is said that he loved to step onto the dance floor. In 1779 he took his first lesson aged 17 yrs in Tarbolton,Aryshire, against the wishes of his father. The project worked with researcher Sue Knight and her published ... Read More

Families of Glenkens turned out on a glorious sunny day to celebrate Scotland’s Year of Stories and the bicentenary of the iconic Ken Bridge. 150 people joined a parade which carried puppet dragons, birds and airplanes to under the Ken Bridge. Local story teller Anne Errington told tales of ancient Scottish folklore mixed with stories from New Galloway. Under the beautiful arches of the Ken Bridge, families picnicked next to Mark Zygadlo’s Water Organ. A fantastical contraption based on an 18 ft ... Read More

'The Walk' - 3 days of temperance walks - is held every year at the Buchan Rathen coastal villages of St Combs, Inverallochy and Cairnbulg in the North East of Scotland. Local walkers, led by flute players and people playing drums and triangles, have been carrying out this tradition for 160 years. The first couple to walk behind the flute band is the oldest man of the village with a female partner, followed by other walkers. Once one village has been ‘walked’ walked round the walkers get on buses and wa... Read More