Guest blog by Mairi McFadyen One month ago I took a Ryanair trip across the North Sea to help out at Geiteberg Folk Festival in Southern Norway. Running from the Friday evening to the Saturday night, the festival aims to ‘showcase the best of Scandinavian, Celtic and Roots music’ with a focus on close kinship, historical ties and … Continued

Flora Douglas, a participant in Aberdeen’s Scottish Culture and Traditions (SC&T) programme, and recently appointed board member of the organisation, reflects on the vital role of community music organisations in providing access to traditional music. I’ve just been asked to join the SC&T (Scottish Culture and Traditions) board and I aim to do whatever I … Continued

Guest blog by Susan Rhodes In December 2015 it will be a hundred years since the birth one of Scotland’s most prolific poets: George Campbell Hay (8 December 1915). This is being celebrated in Tarbert (Loch Fyne), Argyll, with a series of music, art and language workshops throughout 2015, culminating in a concert of new … Continued

Alison Carlyle writes: If your organisation employs any staff, new pensions regulations mean that you will soon be obliged to provide a workplace pension scheme for them, automatically enrol those staff who are eligible, and make contributions to the pension scheme for eligible staff. The regulations apply even if you only have one employee (although … Continued

Guest blog by Charlotte Hathaway This April I had the pleasure of selecting and accompanying a group of 5 young traditional musicians to perform at UKM Arctic’s Art Impuls festival in Northern Norway. This is the second year of the visit and it is a partnership which I hope continues to develop. This April I … Continued

This year’s Trad Talk day, which took place at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on Saturday 28th March, had the theme Crossing Points. Where are the points where our interests and experiences converge? And what can’t we agree on? How do traditional artists, as a community, find our feet in the rapidly changing Scottish cultural scene, … Continued

Guest blog by Nod Knowles When Burnsong commissioned me to research the possibility of bringing a Folk Alliance International (FAI) event from North America to Europe – and specifically to Scotland – I talked to a lot of trad music people in Scotland and the UK about the idea. Initially I’d assumed that there would be a … Continued

Live Music Now musicians deliver thousands of performances for older people each year, all around the UK. These people usually tell us that they feel uplifted and happier, and their carers often notice the effects lasting for many days afterwards, even in the cases of people who have quite advanced dementia. It is important work, … Continued

Collaborative art is like skimming a stone across a pond. A ‘pebble’ catches your eye you weigh it in your hand and give it your best shot. You hold your breath as you count the bounces and as the pebble sinks the ripples form.

Although the TMF did not make a submission to the recent Smith Commission on Scottish devolution, as a member of the Culture Counts group it signed up to the following statement (which states some important principles regardless of the outcome of Smith). The Scotland Devolution Commission is an important opportunity for both the UK and … Continued