Culture Fund: Orkney Arts Society

We hosted 5 music concerts as planned over the Winter Season, together with 2 visual arts events and 2 literary events in addition to the Summer Events.  The Summer Events had attracted sell-out audiences with the Winter reflecting more normal attendances.  Our Final concert was exceptionally popular with an audience of 97.

We had to relocate from Stromness to Kirkwall due to the renovation of the Town Hall over Winter, with it being re-opened in time for our final concert.  With the renovation going on, we took the opportunity to send our Fazioli grand piano down to Glasgow for re-stringing – it having been badly affected by the damp and variable heating in the Town Hall over previous Winters.  Whilst expensive, the refurbished piano was a key feature in our final concert and hopefully the Town Hall works will mean that similar damage does not recur in the future.

The piano/voice duo were greatly appreciated at the Orkney Dementia Friendly singing group, where they led a session of singing songs from the past.  The Science Festival workshop featuring violin-maker Colin Tullock and Charlotte Rowan was a sell out (and was filmed and streamed worldwide) and Trio Havisham led workshops at Pickaquoy as part of a week of music making in the county for schoolchildren, both demonstrating good playing style but also inspirationally talking about growing up as young musicians in China, Austria and Romania.  Naom Pavri concluded our workshop series in a workshop with 10 young cellists ranging from Primary to Secondary age (Grade 2 to Grade 8).  We also hosted a Foy in October with the theme of Home and Homelessness.  As last year, it attracted contributors from a wide range of nationalities including Ukrainian refugees and provided an opportunity to raise nearly £800 for refugees via Shelterbox.

The funding has been critical to us in terms of hosting our programme of activities – it provides the seed funding which enables us to seek additional funding from Chamber Music Scotland and enables us to bring top quality musicians to Orkney over the Winter at prices that are affordable to Orcadians.  These activities greatly enhance the quality of life of Orcadians and encourage and develop the music performance skills of children and adults in the County.