MINISTER TO HEAR OF FÈIS SUCCESS
17 September 2007
Scottish Government Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, Linda Fabiani MSP, is set to attend Fèisean nan Gàidheal's Annual Conference in Aviemore this weekend, where she will hear that the Fèis movement has enjoyed a record year, with its work now reaching over 28,000 people throughout Scotland.
The Minister will receive Fèisean nan Gàidheal's Annual Report which will be published this Friday at the organisation's Annual General Meeting and shows that:
- 5,237 young people took part in Fèisean
- 6,211 pupils in Highland Council and East Lothian schools benefited from traditional music tuition through the Youth Music Initiative, delivered by Fèisean in each locality
- 2,320 took part in Gaelic drama, either through specific Gaelic drama fèisean run in cooperation with schools in the Western Isles and Argyll, or through Gaelic drama work with Fèisean nan Gàidheal's Meanbh-Chuileag Theatre-in-Education group
- The 2006 Blas festival attracted 4,681 of an audience and is continuing to grow
- 9,998 people attended Cèilidh Trail performances throughout the Highlands during the summer of 2006
- 43 Fèisean are members of the umbrella organisation
Katie Adam, Fèisean nan Gàidheal's Chair said in her introduction to the Annual Report: "2006-07 was an extremely productive year, with new Fèisean having been established and numbers at Fèisean and year-round classes across the country were on the up. We welcomed the fact that the Scottish Arts Council were to make Fèisean nan Gàidheal a foundation-funded organisation and there was fantastic news from Highlands & Islands Enterprise that they were to invest £632,000 in Fèisean over 3 years. We published a beautiful book celebrating the first quarter century of the Fèis movement, and a highlight of the year was Fèisean nan Gàidheal picking up the 'Best Community Project' award at the annual Scots Traditional Music Awards in Fort William, which was recognition of the achievements of the whole Fèis movement, and in particular of the volunteer effort."
Arthur Cormack, the organisation's Chief Executive, said that those working voluntarily in the communities were worthy of great praise: "Without people working to organise them, the Fèisean wouldn't exist. Although they get assistance from our staff, the Fèis movement is still entirely reliant on volunteers. The Gaelic language is at the heart of all Fèisean activities and over the last 12 months the Fèisean, and Fèisean nan Gàidheal, have been working hard to develop the use, and quality of use, of Gaelic. I would like to congratulate all Fèisean on their efforts in implementing the organisation's Gaelic Policy and our Board for their willingness to have their meetings held entirely in Gaelic."
Linda Fabiani MSP, the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture said: "I welcome the opportunity to join Fèisean nan Gàidheal at their annual conference. The Fèis movement has made an immense contribution to the lives of many young people and has strengthened both traditional music and the Gaelic language throughout Scotland.
"This Government supports a strong, diverse and confident cultural life in Scotland and Gaelic language and culture is a crucial part of that. I commend the energy and vision of groups such as Fèisean nan Gaidheal - their continued success and growth will add to the richness and diversity of our distinctive cultural life."
Fèisean nan Gàidheal also revealed that well-known Gaelic singer Jenna Cumming has recently been appointed as a full-time Development Officer to support the Western Isles Fèisean, a new post part-funded by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. Emily Edwards, presently working on the Seanchas Ìle project in Islay, has been appointed to co-ordinate an innovative collecting and archiving project involving young people at Fèisean, which has been funded partly by the Heritage Lottery Fund."
Fèisean nan Gàidheal's Annual Conference will be held at the MacDonald Aviemore Resort on Friday and Saturday this week. Representatives of Fèisean from throughout the country will be present, and among the items on the programme will be a talk by Elspeth MacGillivray of the local Fèis Spè on famous Badenoch musicians.
Arthur Cormack explained: "Since we are to be in Badenoch & Strathspey, we want there to be a strong local influence on the programme and, in addition to Elspeth's talk, we will have music from young Fèis Spè musicians, a visit to the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore and a session from Jennifer McGlone of the Scottish Arts Council on how Fèisean can access YMI funds. This year, we have been able to redesign our website to make it entirely bilingual and our own Marketing & Communications Officer, Chris DePlano, will be explaining to the member Fèisean how they can best use the site."
