(and a farewell to Ceòl Mòr) Guest blog by Stewart Aitken Since 2000 AIYF has been producing a range of events designed to introduce, inform and inspire young musicians to the wealth of opportunities through playing Scottish traditional music. Led by David Francis, the annual summer programme as part of the international festival has explored, … Continued

Greentrax Recordings is without doubt the country’s leading folk label, with a catalogue in the hundreds that reads like a who’s who of traditional music in Scotland over the past thirty years. The business model for recorded music has substantially changed in recent times, almost to breaking point some would argue. Ian Green, Greentrax’s Managing … Continued

The Traditional Music Forum/ TRACS is a member of the the Culture Counts campaign, a body comprising most of the national cultural organisations in Scotland.  Culture Counts has developed a toolkit which is now available. The toolkit contains the information and evidence you need to make the case for the value of your organisation, project … Continued

Donald Smith reflects on the recent Celtic Summer School at the Scottish Storytelling Centre Last year TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland) piloted a Summer School exploring Scottish culture in the round. This has now become the Celtic Summer School, running for a week, beginning on 1st August – Lammas or Lughnasadh – traditionally the … Continued

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