Case Study Culture Fund 24-25: The Orcadian Story Trust

Orkney Storytelling Festival is now well-known and well attended in Orkney. Overall, we were very pleased with the way the Festival went. We organised eight events over four days, and using unusual and atmospheric venues, including the Flotta Community School, the Old School Quoyloo, St Mary’s Church in Burwick South Ronaldsay, and the always-popular Betty’s Reading Room. All the venues worked well, and the audiences were warm and appreciative.

We invited three guests to the festival, Dougie Mackay (Borders-based), Cath Little (Wales) and Liz Tulloch (Shetland). We were especially please to welcome Liz – she is the daughter of legendary storyteller Lawrence Tulloch, and her storytelling journey has only recently begun. As part of our ‘Shetland Share’ initiative in March 2024 (funded by OIC’s COVID recovery fund), Liz had come to Orkney to learn new stories, discuss ideas with local tellers, and develop as a teller. Her appearance at the Festival was another important step for her.

We started the Festival with a graveyard tour, ‘Absent Friends’. This year’s festival went back to an old favourite, St Michael’s in Harray, and over 40 people came to the event, including relatives of the ‘featured’ stories, who all thoroughly enjoyed it. 

As usual, our island jaunt was a highlight, with the trip to Flotta resulting in a packed out event. It remains important to the ethos of the Festival that we ‘take it out there’ to the more remote or less-visited parts of Orkney.

Two of our regular committee members hosted events for the first time – Chris Perry at the event in Shapinsay, and Nela Scholma-Mason, at Betty’s Reading Room. We are pleased to see the continuing development of three emerging tellers, Chris Perry, Nela Scholma-Mason, and Liz Tulloch. They will continue to grow as storytellers and hosts.

We were also delighted to be back in the Stromness Town Hall for the final night, it has such a special atmosphere. Overall we were pleased with how it all went, and our reputation continues to spread throughout the storytelling world.

First and foremost, the funding enabled us to put on a Festival. The Orkney Storytelling Festival is now in its sixteenth consecutive year, and that is something to be proud of. We have resisted the temptation to expand the Festival in terms of time, or by booking larger venues, as we feel that the intimate and cosy feel of our events is crucial to our success. Part of our marketing describes us as ‘the small festival with the big heart’.

We local tellers benefit enormously from sharing stories with storytellers from other places. It enables a crossing of cultures and experiences, which enhances our knowledge and pleasure as artists. Storytelling is a very communal art form that lends itself well to cross-fertilisation with other practitioners. The Festival also showcases the local talent too, and our visitors go away having heard us doing our stuff.

Throughout the year, local storytellers are approached by tour companies, schools, and community groups to tell stories, based on what they have experienced during the Festival. The storytelling world is very well-connected, and our Festival is highly regarded by everyone who has attended. Our reputation extends far beyond Orkney and has led to some fruitful connections and ideas for future collaborations. Culturally, Orkney is enriched by our Festival and it can take its place rightly as a traditional art form, alongside music and dance as part of Orkney’s artistic heritage.